Rent or Own?

[EllieAnne Silverfall]

I found a nice 1/3 sim that I fell in love with. It was listed as a rental and has a rental box. I joined the group, paid the rent for 4 weeks, and found out I couldn't do anything. I contacted the Landlord and was told that I had to purchase the land to be able to rez anything. So, the land purchase (same as a week's rent) was added to my lease, to give me another week. So, I am a little confused. Am I renting or do I own? If I choose to move on, do I sell the land or do they take it back? I've never purchased land in SL before, I've only ever rented. I do know my 512 tier is covered as a premium member - how does that count toward my rent (if it does at all?) So confused. 

[Lisa006 Baxton]

*waves* @EllieAnne Silverfall

It sounds like you are renting on a private estate. The only point to purchasing the land is to gain full rights to the land, you will continue to pay a rental box. Once your time is up, if you decide to move on, the landlord will reclaim the land on their own and put it back on the market. You can also abandon it yourself thru the land settings and it will automatically go back to the estate owners name. The premium 512 sqm perk is only for mainland purchase and has nothing to do with the land you are renting on the private estate. Here is a link to some more info about renting land from other residents that may help you understand better. Congrats on your new land! 

 

[Chic Aeon]

It IS confusing and really the terms are wrong. When you "buy" from a private landholder (island rather than mainland continent) you are pretty much "leasing". You have more rights than some mainland rentals -- or not, it depends on the land owner.  Many private lands that are for rent- lease are $1 to buy in, yours was a weeks rent but sounds like it was used as rent -- so pretty much the same thing.

Your 512 tier waiver is only applicable to MAINLAND which you do BUY (prices vary widely). From then on the tier payment comes out of your dollar balance or gets charged through Paypal. You can STILL have a 512 on mainland for free. But you will need to purchase it. There are plenty of 512 lots for $512, I have seen them as low as $300.  So mainland lots are different than private land lots. You don't need to be premium to buy private lands; you do to buy mainland. 

[EllieAnne Silverfall]

Thank you all for the information. I understand the situation much, much better now. I still really like my place, so I think I'll keep it. I might just have to open a lil place on a 512, since I get it for free. Out of curiosity, if I were to pick up a larger parcel on the mainland, would the amount set for a 512 still be applied (aka lesser tier for me) or is that only applicable to a 512? Thanks again

[Qie Niangao]

Right, the 512 "Premium bonus" applies to any Mainland, so if you were to pay US$5/month, the 512 sq.m. tier level, you'd be able to own 1024 sq.m. total. (Or slightly more if all the land were deeded to group, because there's also a 10% "Group bonus.")

[Chase01]

@Qie Niangao

What is your weekly cost for that property out of curiosity? Chic really hit on a lot of great points but I did want to add that private sim rentals are also a nice option but you have to find out what the terms of that rental are. The private sim I live on is great—there is zero lag and the landlord has also been flexible on what I do with the lot and giving me a fair price based upon the lot size and the number of prims I needed.

I do know from having shopped around that some landlords are far more restrictive as is the case where you are now. Ask a lot of questions and have an idea of what you want to do with that lot before talking with any future landowners.

[EllieAnne Silverfall]

L$2500, it's a private island on navigable water in an open community. I think I have 16,000 LI, of which maybe 300 are used by items the landlord placed (which I can return if I want). The only thing I can't do is put up ban lines and if I were to get an orb, I have to add the managers. I personally don't find it too restrictive and my lag is zilch. Not sure how the price rates, but I fell in love, so... Lol

Edited April 8, 2017 by EllieAnne Silverfall

[Qie Niangao]

9 hours ago, Chase01 Resident said:

@Qie Niangao

What is your weekly cost for that property out of curiosity?

I'm guessing you really meant to ask EllieAnne, in which case you already have your answer, but the question appeared directed to me -- perhaps to contrast private Estate and Mainland costs. That's a dreadfully complicated subject, though, depending on how one values Premium membership. (For example, net of stipend, an annual Premium membership is very cheap per week, especially if one were going to to use the same currency to buy that amount of L$s anyway.)

[Chic Aeon]

It should be also noted that you can RENT mainland much cheaper than paying tier on the mainland and have almost all the control that you would when owning.  You need to find a long term stable landlord of course. I  I pay $52 a month renting over $75 a month if I owned. That can add up. 

[EllieAnne Silverfall]

On 4/7/2017 at 0:52 PM, Qie Niangao said:

Right, the 512 "Premium bonus" applies to any Mainland, so if you were to pay US$5/month, the 512 sq.m. tier level, you'd be able to own 1024 sq.m. total. (Or slightly more if all the land were deeded to group, because there's also a 10% "Group bonus.")

So, I could create my own group, buy to parcels next to each other, join them and deed them to the group, and I would only have to pay for the second (tier, of course, I get that I have to purchase the parcels up front), with a  10% discount, and I would have 350 prims to use across the parcels? 350 seems so low now that I've been spoiled (although paying for it lol)

[EllieAnne Silverfall]

6 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

It should be also noted that you can RENT mainland much cheaper than paying tier on the mainland and have almost all the control that you would when owning.  You need to find a long term stable landlord of course. I  I pay $52 a month renting over $75 a month if I owned. That can add up. 

I think the place I am renting right now adds up to about $50/mo and it's a private island in an open community. I like the low lag and the peace and quite. Even though it is open, I never see my neighbors. I love having such a high LI allowance. But, if I decide to save some L and spend it on other things, it's nice to know how I can do so and still get a decent place on the mainland that I can decorate and have mostly paid for. 

[LittleMe Jewell]

35 minutes ago, EllieAnne Silverfall said:

So, I could create my own group, buy to parcels next to each other, join them and deed them to the group, and I would only have to pay for the second (tier, of course, I get that I have to purchase the parcels up front), with a  10% discount, and I would have 350 prims to use across the parcels? 350 seems so low now that I've been spoiled (although paying for it lol)

The 10% is not a discount on tier payments to LL or the price of land itself, it is a tier bonus that groups get.  So if you paid for 512 sq m of tier, took that and your 512 Premium tier and donated it to a group -- i.e. 1024 sq m donation, the group could then own 1126 sq m of land -- 1024 + 10% (102). 

[Chic Aeon]

3 hours ago, EllieAnne Silverfall said:

So, I could create my own group, buy to parcels next to each other, join them and deed them to the group, and I would only have to pay for the second (tier, of course, I get that I have to purchase the parcels up front), with a  10% discount, and I would have 350 prims to use across the parcels? 350 seems so low now that I've been spoiled (although paying for it lol)

If you have two avatars in your group (both you) and they are premium, then the 1024 would be free from tier.  The group tier bonus which really doesn't seem to be 10% really doesn't do you much good unless you buy a very odd sized lot or have a LOT of premium avatars :D.  Here is an example of the land tier with group bonus.

Edited April 8, 2017 by Chic Aeon

[EllieAnne Silverfall]

@Chic Aeon

I think I'll stick with the one plot or a combined plot. i only have one premium account and I don't use the alts I created over the years lol. Thank you for the information - it helped me understand it even better. 

[LittleMe Jewell]

@EllieAnne Silverfall - Even just keeping the one account Premium, a group requires 2 people.  So if you want to put the land into a group, then you'll need to at least add one of your alts to the group - the alt does not need to be Premium though.  The only reason to put the land in a group is if you want that 10% bonus, which does make for an odd size parcel.