Should I buy land?

[JennyGully]

Is it worth being a premium? Can I buy land unless I am one? how much would it cost me?

[Rhonda Huntress]

1 - I like it but it depends on what you want to gain for your money.  More groups, reserved seating (sim-over limit) and a little cash are all things I like having but may not be worth it to you.  It's very subjective.

2 - You can buy estates without being premium.  In other words you will be renting from another resident.  If you want mainland or a 512sm plot with a Linden home, you have to be premium.

3 - A premium account costs $9.95 a month or $22.50 quarterly or $72.00 annually.  This will give you 512 square meters free and outside tier.  Total cost depends on how much land you own.

[JamesKisson]

Absolutely NOT worth it. One is better to rent with the falling rent prices out there!!  Take it from someone who used to own a lot of land!

[LittleMe Jewell]

For me it is worth it for two main reasons - the extra groups and not having to worry about logging in every week or month to pay rent.  I've had times where between computer issues and traveling, I didn't log in for about 6-8 weeks.  For the most part, I'm not sure I trust too many landlords out there to pay them very much in advance - even some of the best have up and left without notice.  And it is nice being given the tier of a small plot that gives me 175 LI on top of that.

[suzyst]

It depends on what you want the land for. If you want somewhere where you can have privacy and invite friends over for small parties then premium could be the best solution. When you take into account the stipend and not having to pay tier, plus the option of a house that wont affect your LI allowance it's not that expensive and you are only commiting for a month at a time.  If you rent you may get it cheaper, but as has already been mentioned you have to log in on the same day every week to pay rent and there is no guarantee the landlord is going to be around for as long as you want to keep the place. If you want to build something and need bigger than 512sqm then the options get complicated, but if you go for renting read the land covenant before signing up for anything.

[Phil Deakins]

"Should" you buy land? There is no 'should' about it - either way. It depends entirely on what you want in SL, and only you can decide that.

If you buy L$ to use in SL then, imo, becoming Premium is a no-brainer, because you get almost all of it back in L$. With a Premium account, you get L$300 every week from LL. That's L$15,600 a year. A premium account, paid annualy, cost US$72 a year. The L$300 a week stipend you receive is the equivalent of approximately US$62 a year. So the benefits you would get from an annual Premium account would cost a mere US$10 (approximately) each year. That's what? - about 20 cents a week.

With a Premium account, you can have a 512m parcel of land free of tier, plus other benefits that have already been mentioned. The 512 parcel itself can either be free from LL, in the form of a Linden Home with a house already on it, or you could buy it on Mainland for very little. If you buy a 512 piece of Mainland, there is no further cost involved, except maybe acquiring a house to put on it, and some of those are free. Owning a parcel of Mainland is reliable, whereas, renting a parcel of a private estate means there is always the risk of the sim disappearing, or being sold and the new owner kicking you out. (When you buy any land other than Mainland, you are renting it from another SL user. That's why I used the word 'renting'.)

Maybe you'd want to rent land on a private estate/island, rather than on Mainland. In that case, an annual Premium account would cost you that ~20 cents a week, and you could still have the free 512m Linden Home as well as the private estate land that you prefer. It would be up to you to decide whether or not the other Premium benefits are worth the ~20 cents a week.

As I said, there is no 'should' about it. Nobody can say that you should buy land, and nobody can say that you should not. Whether or not owning land is desirable for you is entirely up to you, and how you want to use SL.

Personally, I've owned land - large and small - for the whole of the 10½ years that I've been in SL, and I'd hate not to own any and be homeless.

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Phil Deakins

[Anna Nova]

I rented for a while, but you always have that pesky 'land covenant' to stop you REALLY annoying the neighbours!  In the end I decided that I wanted to be a land owner on a mainland, next to a highway where I would get random visitors, so I splash out the $72 a year. Now we have a POD station too.  And I collect stats off-world on visitors, so I can blackmail people. :-)

Edited August 24, 2017 by anna2358

[JoeDex]

For me it is worth it. I enjoy having my own land. However, I am glad that I rented first. I made a lot of mistakes on my rented land and I learned. Now I have a great property that cost me L$2,000. 

There are some things to consider about owning land. The first is the rating of the land:G, M, or A. There is a great deal of mainland land available. G rated land is cheaper than M or A rated land. Second, you still rent with mainland. If you have over 512m in space there are tier costs. For a premium member who is already paying $6/month premium, a 2048m lot will cost an additional $8/month in land tier.

Tier prices can be found here: https://secondlife.com/land/pricing.php

 

[Callum Meriman]

I think it's worthwhile. It gives you a place to bind your home to, to change outfits in peace, to set up a few special photos, cuddle people, and to make your own mess in.

Although renting allows you to change your land on a whim, there is nothing wrong with the free 512 you get from having premium. Having premium also gets you A-Listed for sim entry for all those popular events, which to me is a huge draw.

Once you have had land you soon see the benefits. It's hard to go back to not having any.

[BilliJo Aldrin]

18 hours ago, anna2358 said:

I rented for a while, but you always have that pesky 'land covenant' to stop you REALLY annoying the neighbours!  In the end I decided that I wanted to be a land owner on a mainland, next to a highway where I would get random visitors, so I splash out the $72 a year. Now we have a POD station too.  And I collect stats off-world on visitors, so I can blackmail people. :-)

I love living on mainland. My current property (it's beside a full sim owned by family) is blocked from the road by a 512 belonging to a guy that never logs in, but when he does I'm gonna offer him big bucks for his land.

[BilliJo Aldrin]

3 hours ago, JoeDex said:

Second, you still rent with mainland. If you have over 512m in space there are tier costs. For a premium member who is already paying $6/month premium, a 2048m lot will cost an additional $8/month in land tier.

Tier prices can be found here: https://secondlife.com/land/pricing.php

 

Yes, tier is like rent, but the advantage of mainland is there's no landlord telling you what you can't do. LL can respond to AR's ofcourse, but if its just a whiny neighbor that hates your prim build, they won't do anything.

Note to anyone not familiar,  anyone can rent mainland, but can only buy mainland if you are premium.

*waiting for all the premium haters to respond saying why premium completely sucks, has no benefits and is a total utter waste of money*

[Purplerain Horowitz]

1 hour ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

Yes, tier is like rent, but the advantage of mainland is there's no landlord telling you what you can't do. LL can respond to AR's ofcourse, but if its just a whiny neighbor that hates your prim build, they won't do anything.

Note to anyone not familiar,  anyone can rent mainland, but can only buy mainland if you are premium.

*waiting for all the premium haters to respond saying why premium completely sucks, has no benefits and is a total utter waste of money*

I would never say premium is a waste of money. In fact, I wish I would have gone premium much sooner than I did. I was a regular member for several years before switching to premium. I would recommend premium if a person is regularly spending a fair amount of Lindens like I was every month either for rent, goodies or both, because of the weekly $300L stipend. In the end paying for premium was a wash (because of the stipend) regarding how much I was spending.  People can start with a monthly or quarterly and test it out, if they don't like it, they can always cancel.  If people are happy living in the Linden homes, then they have more lindens for merchandise. I lived in the Linden homes for awhile, but then took a chance one day and went with land. I would not go back to renting after enjoying the rights I get with land ownership. I am still learning as far as land goes, working my way up from 512 parcels to larger parcels, but with the right help, it is actually not too difficult. I pay annually now because of the savings but started out quarterly just to check it out, I will remain premium as long as I can.  I know it is not for everybody, I just like sharing the benefits I get from it. It makes my SL much more fun, maybe it will for others as well. 

[Chic Aeon]

Agreed that paying annually is the best method if you can do that. "Almost free" with some nice perks. 

BUT you can often rent land for a lot less money, the bigger the parcel, the more this comes into play. I pay  $52 for my land instead of $75 per month and that can definitely add up over time. If you can find a landlord that has been around a LONG while (mainland cheaper than private land in most cases) then that is certainly an option. 

There is no GIANT reason to go premium though; you can do most anything you want without that commitment. It's all up to you. 

[Akasha Sternberg]

I remember I went premium in my early days ...

I started to rent soon after, I had a full Homestead for a month or two, went back to cornerparcels with water access  and I think 2k prims... still cost me 40€/Month but...I have enough houses, furniture and deco to decorate a sim and change it according to holidays and seasons in a decent variation....  plus the photography stuff I bought when blogging (yeah I know I went havoc... I...don´t wanna think about the amount of RLmoney...I ...really don´t) - so even if you don´t have all that and miss using it (I do... but I just can´t affort either atm)... I´d always rent land from an agency like Azure or any other renouned rental company... 

But I´d always suggest anybody to try both and see for themselves because YOU might not be as much of a nutcase as I am ...and if YOU are the next person might not be... 

[BilliJo Aldrin]

I went premium at about 2 months. I was living in a friends tee pee and had a vertical take off aircraft parked out in front. She said something about it not being in theme. So, i went premium, got a LL house and parked the aircraft on the roof. Against the rules i know, but no one complained.

[Phil Deakins]

12 hours ago, JoeDex said:

Second, you still rent with mainland. If you have over 512m in space there are tier costs.

Just a technicality...

You don't rent mainland from LL. You pay for tier, not land, and tier is the right to own mainland up to the tier level you pay for. You don't need to own any land at all to pay tier. You could say that you're renting tier from LL, but not mainland.

That might sound like a bit of nit-picking, but it's not. It can really matter. I've just found that I came a cropper because of it - to the tune of paying LL US$25 a month for quite a long time, but without owning the land for it. The story is here. I'm only posting this because it's best to know exactly what we pay for, as it can make a difference. Just thinking of it as rent for land that's paid to LL can be costly.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Phil Deakins

[Kia Kiyori]

A lot depends on what you're looking for and what you're willing to spend.

For now, I prefer the premium membership, but there's nothing to say it might not suit me in the future.

Also, I feel it's worth stating something that might seem obvious to many, but might not be obvious to those of us who are new, and that is that you don't have to take a Linden Home if you choose to go premium - you can actually buy 512sqm of Mainland property (I used the world map to find the land I wanted) and pay nothing in tier fees each month (as long as you have a premium membership).

I bought 1024sqm on water and after my allowed 512sqm is deducted from that, I'll only have to pay an extra $5 USD  per month on top of my $9.50 monthly m'ship fee ($14.50 USD per month).

I had considered renting beachfront from a large private estate company but when I worked it out, I'd actually be paying per week, almost what I'm currently paying per month with a premium m'ship and my 512sqm allowance.

Not to mention the L$300 weekly stipend on a membership, which can really come in handy for new residents, imo  

Renting vs tier payments = all money flows to LL via one route or another.

 

[Dakota Linden]

Greetings all!

When I first started in Second Life, owning land was kinda confusing. I am really glad to see a lot of advice and information from other users!  It is what helps make Second Life such a nice place.

I found that if I thought of tier as similar to a Home Owner's Association Fee I found it easier to wrap my head around. 

Estate/Private Regions:

- You pay the fees to the Estate Owner, usually in L$ through a Payment Vendor

- Fees are paid as you go, usually weekly.

- There is a covenant in addition to the Maturity Rating of the region 

- You can be ejected/banned by the Estate Owner if you do not comply with the Covenant or you miss a payment

Mainland:

- You pay fees directly & automatically to Linden Lab in USD monthly

- Your fees are paid at the end of the month, based on the maximum amount of land you owned during the month, unless you only have 512sm of land.  

- The fees for 512sm are included in your Premium Membership fee, so you do not pay anything extra.

- Linden Lab offers Premium Membership users a free house on 512sm of land. The Linden Homes DO have a covenant though, as they are separate from regular mainland. 

- There are no covenants on regular Mainland and you are only restricted by the Maturity Ratings of the region

- If you are late on your payment, you continue to own the land and you can access the land & all of your items once your balance is paid.

 

 

[BilliJo Aldrin]

Since there actually is a Linden that reads this stuff, why does Linden Lab follow a course that ensures mainland will continue to have large swaths of abandoned land?

 I've suggest several times in here that LL needs to put itself on an even footing with estate owners,  and subdivide all of the abandoned mainland into lots of various sizes, and just like estate owners, sell the parcels for $ 1 L each.

Its the monthly tier thats important, not the purchase price.

Linden Lab has been very helpful to me in arranging me to buy mainland many times, and i totally appreciate it, but many don't want to jump through the hoops, being gouged by land barons or outbid by land flippers at auction.

Tons of premium members would be thrilled to see a parcel, buy it for  $1 L and move in just like on a private estate. If they change their mind later, its easy to abandon, since you only paid $1 L And LL collects a full months tier even if the land is only owned for one day. 

And if the land barons buy up every parcel as soon as its on the market, its still a win for LL, but the flippers won't be able to get the outrageous prices they get now.

And one more thing, there needs to be far far more adult land. Zindra is full, you could double the size tomorrow and it would fill up right away.

Just my thoughts.