Cheaper to rent or get premium and buy 1024?

[AdamZadig]

What's the cheapest option? Get Premium membership to buy a plot (1024) or rent a plot that gives approx 300 prim allowance? And if so, where is the cheapest place to rent?
Azure seems to be the lowest rental costs ive found.

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

These calcs have been mentioned a few times.  It totally depends on how you view things and how you look at the L$300 stipend that you would get weekly - and whether or not you are in the US or might have VAT and/or international transaction fees.

L$300 per week for a year is L$15,600.  If you assume roughly L$250 per US $1, then that is $62.50 per year.  If you actually cash it out to pay for the yearly fee, you need to subtract out the 3.5% 'sell L$' fee and that results in $60.22 per year.  Thus, if paying for Premium yearly, it will cost roughly US $1 per month, which would be approx. L$250 per month.

If you don't actually sell those L$, then you are still getting approx. $62.50 of your fee back in money to spend inworld.  For a 1024 sqm piece of mainland, you'll get 350 LI/prims (or 700 if a double-prim lot).  You'll also need to take into account the price of actually buying a piece of mainland.

Then compare all of that to the price of renting, along with whether you have a preference or not for Mainland vs Estate living.

The Premium will also give you up to 60 groups (if you care), access to private sandboxes (if you care), access to 90 days of transaction history instead of 30 days (if you care), access to Live Chat rather than just support tickets, and a few other things.  Only you can decide if any of those things matter to you.

Edited March 19, 2018 by LittleMe Jewell

[Chic Aeon]

Following up on LittleMe's excellent answer, I went over to Azure to check on those low prices. I have seen lower but Azures are 350-360 a week for a 1024.  There is a $46 buy charge -- at least on the 1024 I checked. So doing the math, the rental would cost about $21-22 a year.  If we use the $12 a year for mainland premium 1024 then it cost about $10 a year more to rent. 

You DO have to pay for the land of course, so unless you could find a very inexpensive lot, renting would be cheaper. You can rent on either private or mainland. Mainland renting is often cheaper.  

It ALL really depends more on what you want really as it can be pretty much even when comparing just dollars. 

The lot that I looked at at Azure was flat sand, inside, no view and tiny waterways, so comparable to a pretty ho-hum mainland lot. 

[iamyourneighbour]

You can usually get 1024 in auctions for 0.5-0.6 per sqm, for a 1024 lot you look at about L$500.

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, iamyourneighbour said:

You can usually get 1024 in auctions for 0.5-0.6 per sqm, for a 1024 lot you look at about L$500.

I think that will no longer be the case now that a 1024 is the NEW "512 lot.   There have been VERY few on the market since the tier was increased. At one point there was nothing in the 1024 range except those 40,000 and up lots that are SO ridiculous.  My land group sold their 1024 for $9000 in less than a day. it was a good lot but not "that" special.

 

 

[iamyourneighbour]

7 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

I think that will no longer be the case now that a 1024 is the NEW "512 lot.   There have been VERY few on the market since the tier was increased. At one point there was nothing in the 1024 range except those 40,000 and up lots that are SO ridiculous.  My land group sold their 1024 for $9000 in less than a day. it was a good lot but not "that" special.

 

 

Good on them. Must be a Jeogeot thing I gather.
I brought half sim as 0.5 per sqm with two sailable waters at Khisanth and the neighbour hates me for adding my personal touch to the land so I put him on the ban list to make sailing more enjoyable for him.

[K9Mark]

9 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

I think that will no longer be the case now that a 1024 is the NEW "512 lot.   There have been VERY few on the market since the tier was increased. At one point there was nothing in the 1024 range except those 40,000 and up lots that are SO ridiculous.  My land group sold their 1024 for $9000 in less than a day. it was a good lot but not "that" special.

 

 

I've got quite a few 1024 sqm plots for sale and none of them cost anywhere near LS40000 (or even 9000,) my most expensive ones are just over 6000 for Adult, and quite a lot less for all the others.

[Chic Aeon]

And my group got some 1024s at 1.5 so it is possible, agreed. That isn't exactly the question the OP was asking. And there really isn't any concrete answer as we have seen many times on these forums. 

And today there are certainly more 1024s of land -- ones being chopped up much like has happened with the 512s. I watched the land next to our new group land go from a 4096 to 1024s. It took the guy less than five minutes :D.   But nothing in land search under $3500 right now although I see land for $3000 right NEXT to that land when I look on the map. Prices are also changing in the blink of an eye with the land flippers in full force . So interesting to watch.  

Meanwhile I am moving which is a huge job but getting there. 

[Qie Niangao]

I'm 95% confident that Mainland prices will fall substantially because the Lab will surely ramp-up auctions of abandoned land to meet demand. The very last thing they need is a purchase price barrier to folks filling tier.

The question is how aggressively should the Lab move on that. Right now it's very difficult to judge the market because speculators have taken on a whole lot of quite worthless land; eventually (suddenly?) that junk will end up abandoned or back on the market for less than L$1/sq.m.

I have to admit, I don't see much downside for LL if they were to flood the market with the entire abandoned inventory as fast as they can. They'd raise a little less at auction, I guess.

[Chic Aeon]

2 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

I'm 95% confident that Mainland prices will fall substantially because the Lab will surely ramp-up auctions of abandoned land to meet demand. The very last thing they need is a purchase price barrier to folks filling tier.

The question is how aggressively should the Lab move on that. Right now it's very difficult to judge the market because speculators have taken on a whole lot of quite worthless land; eventually (suddenly?) that junk will end up abandoned or back on the market for less than L$1/sq.m.

I have to admit, I don't see much downside for LL if they were to flood the market with the entire abandoned inventory as fast as they can. They'd raise a little less at auction, I guess.

Well lots of 1024 auction lands currently with many around the $5000 range and of course they haven't closed yet.  So The Lab WILL be making some money off of that which is good.  If they make enough on auctions, then perhaps the new fee hike talked about in the  Developer's Meeting (seemingly part of the move from "land taxes" to "sales taxes") will be delayed. To me, it sounded like a Marketplace fee increase which I wouldn't love. Seems like many actively creating shop owners (not retired or MIAs) would simply raise their prices a bit to compensate OR there could be a buyers tax (that isn't a new concept as other grids use it in some form) . 

It will be good to see mainland filling in --- even if ugly.  Happily I had JUST designed a new shop because of a really ugly neighbor and it downsized perfectly to a 4096. And it is also selling well - LOL. So all this land change was VERY TIMELY for me. 

Almost moved and glad of it! Marketplace listing fixed and SO VERY GLAD that is over. 

 

 

 

[Alyona Su]

17 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

These calcs have been mentioned a few times.  It totally depends on how you view things and how you look at the L$300 stipend that you would get weekly - and whether or not you are in the US or might have VAT and/or international transaction fees.

L$300 per week for a year is L$15,600.  If you assume roughly L$250 per US $1, then that is $62.50 per year.  If you actually cash it out to pay for the yearly fee, you need to subtract out the 3.5% 'sell L$' fee and that results in $60.22 per year.  Thus, if paying for Premium yearly, it will cost roughly US $1 per month, which would be approx. L$250 per month.

If you don't actually sell those L$, then you are still getting approx. $62.50 of your fee back in money to spend inworld.  For a 1024 sqm piece of mainland, you'll get 350 LI/prims (or 700 if a double-prim lot).  You'll also need to take into account the price of actually buying a piece of mainland.

Then compare all of that to the price of renting, along with whether you have a preference or not for Mainland vs Estate living.

The Premium will also give you up to 60 groups (if you care), access to private sandboxes (if you care), access to 90 days of transaction history instead of 30 days (if you care), access to Live Chat rather than just support tickets, and a few other things.  Only you can decide if any of those things matter to you.

• L$3500 (average) to purchase a 1024m2 parcel on the mainland.
• 15 minutes to DEREZ unsightly neighbor garbage.
• 12 minutes to terraform any damned way you please.
• Building your own place or prefab-shopping: L$1000 in time or cost.
• NEVER EVER PAYING WEEKLY RENT OR BEING KICKED OFF YOUR LAND EVER BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE HAS CONTROL OF IT: PRICELESS.

Edited March 20, 2018 by Alyona Su

[Prisqua Newall]

On 3/21/2018 at 1:20 AM, Alyona Su said:

• NEVER EVER PAYING WEEKLY RENT OR BEING KICKED OFF YOUR LAND EVER BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE HAS CONTROL OF IT: PRICELESS.

When you buy mainland, you do not have to pay a weekly tier? It is just a one off fee?

[LittleMe Jewell]

19 minutes ago, Prisqua Newall said:

When you buy mainland, you do not have to pay a weekly tier? It is just a one off fee?

After you purchase your mainland, you pay monthly tier (tax) to LL - BUT only for any amount over the 1024 limit that comes with your Premium account.  So if you only own 1024 or less, you only pay for the initial purchase and your continual Premium membership.

Edited March 22, 2018 by LittleMe Jewell

[Alyona Su]

7 hours ago, Prisqua Newall said:

When you buy mainland, you do not have to pay a weekly tier? It is just a one off fee?

 

7 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

After you purchase your mainland, you pay monthly tier (tax) to LL - BUT only for any amount over the 1024 limit that comes with your Premium account.  So if you only own 1024 or less, you only pay for the initial purchase and your continual Premium membership.

What LittleMe says. Most cost-effective way to do it is to subscribe to Premium annually ($72 U.S>/year). Along with all the other perks (and more have been announced as coming) - you also get "Tier 1" (512m2) and "Tier 2" (1024m2 with 350 prims/LI) for free. This means you purchase the land and that's it. No more daily, weekly, monthly, whatever fees or rent.

It also means if you double that (2048m2 with 700 prims/LI) - the only "rent" you pay is $7 U.S. per *month* (= about 1750L @250:1) or 438L/week - and that's paid to Linden Lab - you still "own" the land outright: no one can kick you off or anything else. There's nothing wrong with renting, and certainly, some rental places are beautiful. It just comes down to whatever your own priorities are. Though a lot of newcomers in SL only see the "Rental" aspect, they may not even be aware of the "purchase your own" aspect.

[Prokofy Neva]

On 3/19/2018 at 5:21 PM, AdamZadig said:

What's the cheapest option? Get Premium membership to buy a plot (1024) or rent a plot that gives approx 300 prim allowance? And if so, where is the cheapest place to rent?
Azure seems to be the lowest rental costs ive found.

 

If you donate 1024 m tier to my group you get a $450/wk off any rent. Most of my 1024s cost around $250 with 350 prims. The cheapest is $225/wk with 375 prims.

[vanessa Lavecchia]

i currently am paying about 60L$ a week for 702 prims with the new premium, along with the perks it seems a lot better value than renting 

[AdamZadig]

Some really good answers here. Lots to consider. Next is to find out if you can pay for membership with your Linden Dollars or does it have to be with PayPal/Credit Card

 

[Alyona Su]

3 hours ago, AdamZadig said:

Some really good answers here. Lots to consider. Next is to find out if you can pay for membership with your Linden Dollars or does it have to be with PayPal/Credit Card

 

You can pay with L$.

• Go to your web dashoard and SELL L$ - you need to sell enough to earn that cash amount to cover the cost (e.g. $72 annual)
• Once you have the $ U.S. credit, you can now buy (upgrade to) Premium. Select your payment method (PayPal, Visa, whatever)

When the charge/order page appears, on the left side is the option "Use Credit" and "Do not use credit" - be sure "Use Credit" is selected and the price being charged will say $0.00

TADA!

Edited March 25, 2018 by Alyona Su

[LittleMe Jewell]

4 hours ago, AdamZadig said:

Some really good answers here. Lots to consider. Next is to find out if you can pay for membership with your Linden Dollars or does it have to be with PayPal/Credit Card

 

While you can pay for the membership with a US$ credit balance, you must still have a payment method on file and it must be valid. The reason for this is that you will not be able to sell L$ until your financial timeclock has hit 30 days.  It takes payment info and then using said payment info in some way (either to buy L$ or to buy premium membership) to start that financial clock.

[LamyaeNeferati]

Yep premium cost Real money, but it allows stipend and 'really' owning ur Land that seems for me the main advantage vs rental.

With owning, u set ur own rules on ur Land, no Covenant, no building limits, and till u pay ur premium & eventual fees u r sure ur items will stay There. If u rent, whatever the rental IS, if the owner choose to eject u for 'covenant' violation or neighbour that are owner best Friends, or if the owner does not pay fees, u are ejected without refunding with some potential broken objects returned and à Big mess in ur inventory since return does not return each object separately but in à whole.

Definitively i rather prefer an annual IRL billing for safety than running each week for jobs/hunt/fish to earn lindens to pay rental without be safe that Home will be Still there tomorow 

[AdamZadig]

Premium Membership Mnthly ($9.50) = 2600L$
Weekly Stipend of 300L$: Monthly = 1200L$
Total Payment: 1400L$ Monthly, 350L$ weekly (1024 plot) = 351 prims

Rent: 
364L$ = 374 prims
315L$ = 337 prims
357L$ = 421 prims

Azure Islands

[LamyaeNeferati]

11 hours ago, AdamZadig said:

Premium Membership Mnthly ($9.50) = 2600L$
Weekly Stipend of 300L$: Monthly = 1200L$
Total Payment: 1400L$ Monthly, 350L$ weekly (1024 plot) = 351 prims

Rent: 
364L$ = 374 prims
315L$ = 337 prims
357L$ = 421 prims

Azure Islands

For such a light différence, rather like to own:) . Sure i ve to pay IRL, but i m not to running all aller  my SL running Time  from jobs to jobs trying to earn lindens to Bill rental.

[Hintswen Guardian]

13 hours ago, AdamZadig said:

Rent: 
364L$ = 374 prims
315L$ = 337 prims
357L$ = 421 prims

Azure Islands

Geeze that is some expensive rent!

[So Whimsy]

14 hours ago, AdamZadig said:

Premium Membership Mnthly ($9.50) = 2600L$
Weekly Stipend of 300L$: Monthly = 1200L$
Total Payment: 1400L$ Monthly, 350L$ weekly (1024 plot) = 351 prims

Rent: 
364L$ = 374 prims
315L$ = 337 prims
357L$ = 421 prims

Azure Islands

I would advise strongly against paying monthly for premium.
The yearly option is far better as it only comes down to $6 a month as opposed to $9.50

Yearly Premium Membership Monthly Cost ($6) = 1500L$
Weekly Stipend of 300L$: Monthly = 1200L$
Total Payment: 300L$ Monthly, 75L$ weekly (1024 plot) = 351 prims

Edited March 28, 2018 by Syn Anatine

[Codex Alpha]

On 3/19/2018 at 2:21 PM, AdamZadig said:

What's the cheapest option? Get Premium membership to buy a plot (1024) or rent a plot that gives approx 300 prim allowance? And if so, where is the cheapest place to rent?
Azure seems to be the lowest rental costs ive found.

 

Buy the Premium annual. Cheapest option including stipend that you get back.

This gives you the default Linden home that you can do  small builds, projects, scripting as well as at least a base you can chill at by default.

Premium sandboxes are low population (if anyone), good fps and latency and  you can do big builds there.

Rent some land starting small, I have used a certain 'bee' based rental vendor, not sure if they are the same today, seems a few people are using variants on their company names.

Rent only what you can afford, if 0 traffic in 3 months but sales through Marketplace, no point to keep renting, return back to Linden home.

Good luck