Just so I am clear on buying land....

[gregthos]

So if I read this right Linden Labs charges you $1000 "Set Up" and $295 a month to own a piece of land with 15,000 prim? And you have to be a Premium member to even do that?

[Amethyst Jetaime]

No premium membership is needed to own a private estate sim.  You can also buy them on the secondary market for half or less than what LL charges.  See the land forums, classifieds and there are also groups you can join where buyers and sellers of sims are members and send notices out.

[gregthos]

So land can be purchased for less than LL charges is what you are saying?

[Tamara Artis]

Land can be rented for less than what LL charges, right now I see full sims for around 18000L$ per week and I rent a homestead - size of the full sim but only 3750 prims instead of 15000 for 6800L$. 

To rent land means to pay tier to some other avatar either by paying to in-world rent box or through paypal, it is cheaper and comes with a risk, you don't have any warranty the person who you are paying the rent will not disappear one day so if you rent the land make sure to chose a company that has many sims and it is well known SL business or simply don't pay too many weeks in advance.

[gregthos]

I get that but you are still paying over $100 monthly. That is a lot of money, real money. I think LL are making out like bandits when it comes to land and the price the charge. And more than likely people who are renting out homesteads are people that are locked in at a different price and are making money anyway. I just get a little frustrated with this stuff because I think LL charges too much for their land and maintenance fees are a joke. Just my two cents.

Thank you for the replies by the way

[gregthos]

Ok, so let's say I buy a Homestead from another player for $200. After I buy it will I then be making a monthly payment to LL and if so, how much?

[Callum Meriman]

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gregthos wrote:

I get that but you are still paying over $100 monthly. That is a lot of money, real money. I think LL are making out like bandits when it comes to land and the price the charge. And more than likely people who are renting out homesteads are people that are locked in at a different price and are making money anyway. I just get a little frustrated with this stuff because I think LL charges too much for their land and maintenance fees are a joke. Just my two cents.

Thank you for the replies by the way

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Owning a full region isn't a game most begeinner players choose. It's something you grow into from your first 512M2 block at $5 a month, through your 4096M2 ($20) and 8192 ($40) and so on until you get to the point of spending $100 a month.

Many people will have established stores that can pay that teir for them in sales, or they will gamble on a build that will get a lot of people and pay for itself in donations.

If however you just want a whole sim for your house, a place that you have almost complete control over then yeah, it's going to cost you.

Why? Servers cost money. Electricity, airconditioning, maintenance, staff, networking... it adds up.

As an example I run an OpenGrid server as well. $80 a month to run 4 regions, but without the investment in staff.

 

To answer your next post, you can't "own" a homestead unless you have a full region first.

 

Honestly, rent it. Look for a real estate group you trust and pay your $30 a week for a homestead and know you can walk away from it at any time without the hassle and expense of trying to resell it, or just abandoning it, and losing all that setup money.

[Tamara Artis]

I am also doing a lot of work in SL which is paying my costs, if I would get bored with it and stopped then most likely I would be homeless or rent some tiny peace of land just so I don't have to search for a clean sandbox. As a person before me said, you don't have to get the biggest piece of land available if it is too much money for you. There are many options and we just need to see what works best for each of us

[Qie Niangao]

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gregthos wrote:

Ok, so let's say I buy a Homestead from another player for $200. After I buy it will I then be making a monthly payment to LL and if so, how much?

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You can't do that, in fact. Homesteads can only be owned by estates that already have at least one full-primmed sim. LL would simply not make the transfer to you.

Or, there is an even more confusing bit of language abuse: You can "buy" a parcel the full size of the Homestead from the estate owner. This means nothing other than granting you permission to pay rent to the estate, so it's at best misleading that this is called "buying" anything.

[gregthos]

I see people posting in forums they are selling thier regions for let's say $250 (plus tranfer fees). What exactly does that mean? Does LL transfer the region to you and change the name to whatever I want? And what are the monthly fees after that? Will it be $295 a month for "maintenance"?

In other news: Regardless of staff, servers, air conditioning or whatever else was cited earlier, that cost is excessive. It's not out of my price range but whether or not I can afford it is irrelevant. I have rented various size lands and I am not new to SL, and the reality is that they charge too much money but have us pigeon-holed. It's a form of gouging if you ask me. Linden Labs will make their money and would probably have more people investing in private regions if costs were lower.

 

[Tamara Artis]

Ok so the point of starting this thread was not to ask for help or any sort of explanations from us - users like you but to whine about the prices that you already know about since you are not new to SL? 

LOL

I would advise you to go play in a sandbox (since it costs you nothing, only people who own it pay rent and fees) but I guess you already know sandboxes are free. 

Have a good day. 

[Callum Meriman]

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gregthos wrote:

I see people posting in forums they are selling thier regions for let's say $250 (plus tranfer fees). What exactly does that mean? Does LL transfer the region to you and change the name to whatever I want? And what are the monthly fees after that? Will it be $295 a month for "maintenance"?

In other news: Regardless of staff, servers, air conditioning or whatever else was cited earlier, that cost is excessive. It's not out of my price range but whether or not I can afford it is irrelevant. I have rented various size lands and I am not new to SL, and the reality is that they charge too much money but have us pigeon-holed. It's a form of gouging if you ask me. Linden Labs will make their money and would probably have more people investing in private regions if costs were lower.

 

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There are groups in world where people will buy and sell regions.

Initially you can buy from the lab for a huge amount of money - which covers the costs of the setup, or you can transfer an existing island from someone who owns it to you far cheaper. The latter is done in a support ticket where you both lodge one, the buyer saying who they are buying from and how much (either Linden or USD) and the seller (who might have concierge support) saying who they are selling to and how much.

If both support tickets match then the Lab perform the change of ownership and transfer the agreed amount from buyer to seller (less a fee to cover their work)

At the time they do the transfer the Lab will also rename the island how you like (within TOS) and also move it.

I've abandoned a few homesteads in my time, they are not worth the hassle of selling, but they often sell for as little as "you pay the transfer and you can have it for free". Would I pay US$250 for a homestead... NO WAY! It's way over price.

Would I pay US$250 for a full region, sure, that's about right depending on how many weeks of teir left.

I say that as the teir date won't change. If the previous owner paid on the 10th of the month then you will too. Full Stop.

 

So, as you ask about $295... I will assume a 15,000 prim full region. If you buy one for say $250 then you must pay $295 teir every month from that time on, on the teir date... if there is one day left to teir when you buy then you will pay US$250 for the island and a day later another US$295 for the teir, then a month later $295 for the teir, then a month later $295 for the teir and that will continue until you sell the island to someone else.

If you fail to pay the teir your account will be locked and you will not be able to play until you pay.

If you still fail to pay that recurring $295 charge then you lose the island and potentially your account.

 

The cost each and every month is less for a homestead (US$110ish from memory), but you only get 3750 prims/LI to use, you can only have 20? avatars maximum and you can't buy a homestead unless you have a full island. Again, you can't have one unless you own and maintain the $295 full payment.

 

Renting, as I said earlier is easier, and to be honest almost as good.

[gregthos]

Thank you Callum!

Clearly you were paying attention unlike the previous poster before you and you answered my questions perfectly. That was exactly what I wanted to know so I can figure out what to do going frward.

Tamara, why you felt the need to attack me was a little out of line, and if you read my post instead of wasting time working on your insult maybe you could have provided me the information I was looking for.

Thanks again Callum!