Will the New Linden Homes Affect the Rentals Business?

[ChinRey]

2 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

The new continent does offer a prim advantage over your own land elsewhere on Mainland - your home on the new continent does not count against the 1024 prim/LI amount. Not quite double prim, but definitely 'more prim'.

That's true but a house like the ones at the demo (I haven't seen the official released sims) can easily be made at 40 LI or less so it doesn't really make that much difference.

I do believe that people really aren't as concerned about the prim amount anymore and for good reason. Even ten years ago good builders could make rich, complete scenes. Since then we've got larger prims, mesh, a revised land impact system and extended prim quotas - all features that allow us to add even more content.

[Qie Niangao]

16 hours ago, Adeon Writer said:

Plus i can extend my drawdistance more without dying.

That's a thing, now that you mention it. I mean, the houses and houseboats and landscaping, etc., aren't the most efficient hunks of geometry, but they're not that bad for textures. In a neighborhood of houseboats, anyway, I think I get all the textures cached pretty quickly. Of course, that doesn't apply to resident-supplied contents, but at least seems that textures (and everything else, somehow) rez faster.

[s2Pandora]

I don't know if it's necessarily related, but the small estate I rent at actually had 4 of it's 8 1/4 regions go up for sale in the last week or two. Could just be funky coincidence, but the new Linden Homes are pretty darn nice.. but it's also the "new" thing. Give it some time until the honeymoon phase wears off and we'll see what happens.

[ChinRey]

8 hours ago, s2Pandora said:

...

but the new Linden Homes are pretty darn nice.

It's very interesting to see how many people say that since they're not really the kind of houses that are suppsoed to be popular in SL. I too prefer this cleaner style with a bit brighter colour and more discreet shading but I didn't expect that to be a common view among SL'ers and it's very different from what the most fashionable house makers do.

 

21 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

...

but they're not that bad for textures. In a neighborhood of houseboats, anyway, I think I get all the textures cached pretty quickly.

It's actually very texture heavy. But texture lag isn't a linear curve. It doesn't cause any problems worth mentioning until the load reaches a certain point but once it goes beyond that "switch point", it can get bad really fast. The real test comes when those houses and gardens have been filled up.

[Pussycat Catnap]

On 4/16/2019 at 5:48 AM, Qie Niangao said:

It does feel strange, though, conforming to the cookie-cutter suburban aesthetic that I've always eschewed.

Growing up in San Francisco which is now covered in an ever-thickening layer of feces - gentrified artisanal dog and millennial human combined - has made me realize that maybe my city doesn't need to be so 'Artisanal' after all... So when those artisanal folks jacked up the prices and left the suburb for my former-ghetto... I moved into their old suburb along with all my chollas and homies and... clean streets...

ya'll can have that wild artisanal city life... I prefer being able to breath without the dust coming in my lungs being mostly poop...

Suburbs ain't so bad, if you got community in them.

Even on 'regular mainland' themed estate rentals are very popular for that reason - despite being 'cookie cutter' to their theme, they inspire community.

I missed out on this Linden Home thing - was actively avoiding the forums for a while and that while was the while for this. Maybe I'll get one in the next round if I have tier lying around.

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Pussycat Catnap

[Marianne Little]

On 4/21/2019 at 8:28 AM, ChinRey said:

That's true but a house like the ones at the demo (I haven't seen the official released sims) can easily be made at 40 LI or less so it doesn't really make that much difference.

I do believe that people really aren't as concerned about the prim amount anymore and for good reason. Even ten years ago good builders could make rich, complete scenes. Since then we've got larger prims, mesh, a revised land impact system and extended prim quotas - all features that allow us to add even more content.

The majority of flowers in my garden is 30 LI together, plus some sculpted big patches and 2 trees. Don't underestimate what 40 LI can do.

Most of the low LI houses I see is cottagestyle with a single open room. I have barely seen a house as low as 40 LI. Unless it is skyboxes, there are some very well made skyboxes and low LI. Nothing stops people at the Linden homes from only decorate the garden, and live 2000 m up in a low LI skybox.

[ChinRey]

30 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

Most of the low LI houses I see is cottagestyle with a single open room. I have barely seen a house as low as 40 LI.

Hmmm, I had a quick look at the Winchester model Linden Home. It's about 16x16 m so I think that counts as a cottage.

Here's a not too different one at 26 LI: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Romantic-cottage-Chin-Reys-Windermere-Cottage-04/8444681

This one is 20 LI: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Four-room-large-cottage-Chin-Reys-Windermere-Cottage-03/8444679

Much larger and more elaborate at 48 LI: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/48-PrimLI-Solid-Mesh-Family-Home-four-bedrooms-Chin-Reys-Coniston-Villa-01B/7413588

Yes, these are all my old houses but i really thought others had caught up by now. I'm not up to date with what others make since I stopped uploading my houses to SL years ago but I would have thought at least some of them would have caught up by now.

As for a house with a single open room, if you can't get it below 15 LI, you're definitely doing something wrong and even that is a little bit too much.

[Chic Aeon]

Just a couple of general comments to things said throughout this thread.  

The reason why you may not SEE people is that they have "others can see and chat with folks on this parcel" turned off. (I do and most of the people I know do that on all their land). So they COULD be down on the ground. Actually I see a lot of folks roaming around at ground level. 

I just did a quick test flying up from 2000 past 4000 meters with my draw distance at 256 and only saw a handful (I think 5) skyboxes up in the sky. About half were empty places like building pads.

I agree that the houses could have been made with less land impact. Presumably they are made for LOD1.25 or even 1 but still, they ARE "primmy".  The are nicely made though. Most folks want more space and more open rooms so I suspect that the next batch of houses out will have those features.

There ARE more styles in the works (Patch mentioned six or so) and they will include more nautical themes as well as (we think - not official) trailers. The old Linden homes WILL (official =Patch) disappear probably by the end of the year and folks will need to move to the new Linden Homes or go mainland. It is likely (honestly can't remember if this is official or not) that there will be some 512 versions of the house for those that want to have a LH but also want a small mainland parcel (like for a shop). 

While there are some sim designs that seem fairly "cookie cutter" the continent has been designed by hand and there are some areas which are outstandingly pretty.  Different designers most likely. All in all I think they have done a great job. 

The new continent (and more are planned) isn't for everyone certainly and there are no commercial endeavors or adult areas. There is also JUST the 1024 size. So there will always be place for the other types of land. The new living choices are part of the long term switch from a land based (tier) economy to one that is more balanced and I think that is a good thing overall. 

All of this info is on other threads. Just putting it here for folks that don't read that often. 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2019 by Chic Aeon

[ChinRey]

45 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

I agree that the houses could have been made with less land impact. Presumably they are made for LOD1.25 or even 1 but still, they ARE "primmy".

The c. 40 LI houses I listed are also made for LOD factor 1 but I wasn't going to criticise LL for that. It's on their prim quota and if they don't see it as a problem, it isn't a problem.

What I was talking about, was what you should expect for a house of similar style and quality if you had to cover the prims yourself and the answer to that is 20-40. It's relevant in this context only because it shows how many prims you actually save by getting the house at effectively zero LI.

Edited April 24, 2019 by ChinRey

[Marianne Little]

4 hours ago, ChinRey said:

The c. 40 LI houses I listed are also made for LOD factor 1 but I wasn't going to criticise LL for that. It's on their prim quota and if they don't see it as a problem, it isn't a problem.

What I was talking about, was what you should expect for a house of similar style and quality if you had to cover the prims yourself and the answer to that is 20-40. It's relevant in this context only because it shows how many prims you actually save by getting the house at effectively zero LI.

I didn't say it was impossible to find a house so low LI. You can find more, I am sure.

One of the arguments against LH is that you have only 4 styles now, but more is promised.

If you have a square plot, the second house is actually to big to fit a 32 x 32 m.

Rentals are usually fine, square or rectangular. There the tenant can sit and not see a green dot around, and look out over pretty water that he can't use. And buy §L to cover the rent.

It is great for those who will be totally alone.

[ChinRey]

12 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

I didn't say it was impossible to find a house so low LI. You can find more, I am sure.

I don't doubt you. I didn't look very closely, I jsut checked sa few of the best known house stores.

But Marianne, I get the impression you're putting far too more meaning into my posts than there's room for in them. I was jsut trying to illustrate the actual value of having the house not included in the parcel's regular prim quota. That all there was to it.

Except, if it's as hard to find good low land impact houses as you say, I think I'll take a look at houses again and maybe upload a couple more models. But that has nothing to do with the new Linden Homes.

Edited April 25, 2019 by ChinRey

[mikka Luik]

Had a few flits through and yep - nice. Nice to see the Lab using LI as not a barrier but as a challenge. Nice that it all seems to be made by people (NNNPD) that actually use the platform.  Actually tempted to fire up a new.

Mega LI for a house? Grin as we make vehicles for < 32 because history.   That being 117 for a 512 back in the day =^^= Reckon could also knock out a few under that.

@Marianne Littlehas a point there.

[Crim Mip]

I think it's very definitely going to affect land rentals, especially for those parcels on open protected water. Anyone doing the math will realize paying for a year of premium means the effective rent for their Linden home will be around 350L/month which is FAR less than what they could rent for. This also goes for marinas since the houseboats have room for another boat next to them. I expect prices for boat slips and beach houses to drop and also for there to be a lot more abandoned land as owners realize they won't be able to cover tier with that sort of rental anymore.

[Aemeth Lysette]

On 4/19/2019 at 5:55 PM, Adeon Writer said:

Some of us just want to play dollhouse in a cookie-cutter town. I don't know how many of us there are, but hey, we filled it up fast so LL knew their demographic here.

That's exactly what it feels like for me!  A fun dollhouse and a way to get to know people. That's why I like it. It's made my SL experience more game-like again.

[Female Winslet]

On 4/26/2019 at 1:52 AM, Crim Mip said:

Anyone doing the math will realize paying for a year of premium means the effective rent for their Linden home will be around 350L/month which is FAR less than what they could rent for. 

By comparison, I have a 150 prim boat slip I rent that normally rents for $L450 per week. It’s free for me  because it’s at a yacht club where I’m on staff. $L350 per month versus $450 per week is a huge difference, but the old rule about location, location, location matters.

This particular location happens to be a sim that is adjacent to Blake Sea, which is still regarded as the best sailing/boating area in the grid. So having it start on the next sim over is a pretty big deal. No need to travel far to get there. 

It’s also something that is quite scarce. If you’ve ever tried getting a slip right on the Blake . . . Good luck. There are only so many of them and demand seems to far outstrip the supply. Even clubs that are pretty inactive these days have their marina rental areas pretty full. 

And it’s also a different product from a house boat. It’s a yacht club. It’s a place where dedicated sailors get together. And it’s a place where you can put things you cannot put in a Bellisseria boat slip. The Bellisaria slips are made to hold a small boat. A 65 foot racing yacht lives in my slip. I’m surrounded by similar size boats. They just won’t fit in the Bellisaria boat slips. 

And, of course there’s also the demographic. There’s a fair number of us out there who rent like this as a way to show support for the sailing community and the people who provide the spaces to do it. I am one of those people. I get this one for free, so I pay for rentals elsewhere at two locations farther away in the sailing estates. Those areas tends to be pretty full too. 

For the very casual sailor, I imagine that something like these rental slips would not appeal much. They are too expensive and it’s just not that appealing if you’re just going to go sail once a week. So those individuals will probably stick to a house boat with a slip in Bellisaria. But I doubt they ever would have wanted to rent in the yacht clubs anyway. 

But if you are a serious dedicated sailor, the value equation changes quite a bit. There’s no replacing a spot close to where the action happens. A houseboat with a slip does not replace the immersiveness of basing yourself at a yacht club like one where you might be based in real life. And you can’t support the larger sailing community at all by renting a Linden Home. 

It’s that type of dedicated sailor who probably rents those expensive slips in the first place. And I don’t imagine they’ll be moving on unless the lab decides to provide a better alternative to the Blake and it’s surroundings. So far I see no effort being made to do that. Bellisaria just provides a different type of product aimed at a different customer meeting a different need in a different place. 

I don’t see Bellisaria as competition for the rental slips market. I do see it as a place that may prompt people to try sailing. Some of those people might get hooked on sailing and become a little more hard core about it.

Hmmm.... I wonder if that’s why attendance at some of the races seems to be going up lately.