Premium membership and open water land

[Rolig Loon]

No. When you request a Linden Home, you may specify which style you want, but you have no choice about which house you get. You may abandon that house and request a new one, but each one you get is random. You may of course buy any 512 sq m parcel on the mainland and use your Premium land fee waiver for it instead of using it for a Linden Home. You'll pay the purchase price, but the monthly fee will be covered.

[Rolig Loon]

No. When you request a Linden Home, you may specify which style you want, but you have no choice about which house you get. You may abandon that house and request a new one, but each one you get is random. You may of course buy any 512 sq m parcel on the mainland and use your Premium land fee waiver for it instead of using it for a Linden Home. You'll pay the purchase price, but the monthly fee will be covered.

[Alwin Alcott]

in addition to Rolligs answer,

 

you can find all landsales in the search window in the viewer.

You can set several filters... mainland, estate... size...price....

[Lindal Kidd]

To add to the confusion (or clear it up, if I'm lucky)...

There are about four ways to live on the Mainland.

1.  Get a Linden Home.  As Rolig says, you can choose the style you want, but not the exact location, and none of them are really waterfront properties, though some may be relatively close to the water.  This requires a Premium membership.

2.  Buy Mainland from another resident, or buy Abandoned land from LL.  Find these parcels in world with the main Map, or by using Search/Land and Rentals/View All Land and Rentals.  You have to pay an initial purchase price.  You won't pay monthly tier on the first 512 sq m. of land you own.  You may buy a larger parcel if you wish, but will pay a monthly tier fee for land over 512 sq. m.  Waterfront land can be rather expensive to purchase initially, but the tier is the same as for any other Mainland.

3.  Buy Mainland through the land auctions.  See here for the auction listings.  http://usd.auctions.secondlife.com/

4.  Rent Mainland from another resident.  The first three options require a Premium membership, but renting does not.  You can find rentals with Search (see #2 above) and you will also find ads in the Mainland Parcels for Rent forum and in the Marketplace/Real Estate category.

When looking for waterfront land, be sure to examine adjoining parcels carefully.  If they are owned by "Governor Linden" and designated as "Maintenance" that means your land is "protected waterfront."  This is desirable because if another resident owns the parcel along your waterfront, they can block your access by terraforming or building on it.  Also check the main Map carefully to be sure that you have enough navigable water for your purposes.  Some waterfront land accesses large ocean areas.  Other parcels have a rather limited amount of water before you run into sim edges or restricted private property.

I teach a class on SL land on Fridays at 5 pm SL Time, at Caledon Oxbridge University.  It's free to attend!