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[Rolig Loon]

I'm late to the party.  As you can see from the posts above mine, you will get a range of opinions on almost any question that you ask.  In the end, you'll just have to decide for yourself.  Check out possible spots on the mainland to see what the neighborhoods are like.  Check rental prices and covenants on private estates too.  As a Basic member, I can rent anywhere, so I never felt a great need to upgrade to Premium just to have a spot for a shop.  Over the years, I rented shop space on several regions on the mainland and in private estates and was happy in all of them.  Now that I am selling only through Marketplace and own my own estate, it's no longer an issue for me.  If you're considering an upgrade yourself, I think you'll find that other Premium benefits (like the sandbox, the weekly stipend, the access to Live Chat, and the Premium gifts) are likely to be more important than the ability to buy land on the mainland --- unless you plan to live there or in a Linden Home.

[Maitimo]

6 hours ago, xebian1982 said:

Hi all I'm after some advice so is it worth upgrading my membership to second life my question is liden homes can I build my own on that land can I remove the house they give me also can the land be used for selling items from? Is it worth the money each month or am I better off renting land or even buying? Regards steve 

You can't do those things with Linden Homes, but it is exactly what Mainland is for. There is an upfront purchase cost but most land is stupidly cheap right now, so if you aren't dead set on waterfront or adult land you can pick up a 1024 sq m parcel for the equivalent of about 50 cents, and aside from the cost of your premium membership, there will be no additional monthly fees for that size of land.

Factor in the weekly stipend (they give you back L$300 per week), and if you pay annually at L$99; the whole thing will add up to a net cost of about 15 bucks a year.

You can't rent anything in SL for that cheap.

[Lindal Kidd]

4 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

A 1024 has an LI of 351. Someone is getting ripped off renting a 4096 at 312 LI.

Not if it's a Homestead parcel on an estate, as the poster specified.  They only have 1/4 as many prims as a full region, and estates have only 20,000, vs. 22,500 on mainland full regions.

[Lindal Kidd]

4 hours ago, xebian1982 said:

 

OK great thanks for the info we'll I may as well no go premium and then decide what u want so I used to play second life around 8 years ago is it still somthing that is goung to stay around is there still the user base as before from what iv seen its dead to what it used to be or is that because I'm not premium and not seen all locations? 

I think SL will be around for quite a long time yet.  However, the fact that things look empty to you is not due to any difference in Basic or Premium membership.  SL has ALWAYS been mostly empty.  The reason is simple math.

There are over 20,000 regions on the grid.  At any given time, there are around 40,000 or so people on line.  That's an average of about 2 avatars per region.  Since many times, there are crowds at the more popular places...well, it makes for a lot of empty regions.

[Qie Niangao]

6 hours ago, xebian1982 said:

[...] I used to play second life around 8 years ago is it still somthing that is goung to stay around is there still the user base as before from what iv seen its dead to what it used to be or is that because I'm not premium and not seen all locations? 

As Lindal says, it's nothing to do with not being Premium; that only really excludes you from Premium sandboxes -- which are very nice but not that crowded.

Thing is, eight years ago things weren't all that different from what they are now: roughly the same number of regions and only slightly higher concurrency, so probably you're just looking in the places that used to be popular but not so much anymore. One example: InfoHubs used to be a thing, now they're pretty much forgotten. There were way fewer shopping events back then, but more folks going to individual retail stores. And etc. So it may take a while to find where it's all happening now -- all the more reason not to rush into any huge irreversible commitments until you discover the lay of the land as it is now.

Now thirteen years ago, the grid was genuinely crowded because the Lab simply couldn't print new land fast enough to meet demand. When there was enough of a new continent available, folks could claim "first land" 512s; when a new batch was released, folks were cheek-by-jowl terraforming, building, decorating, and chatting up the neighbors. Kinda like Bellisseria is now, only much more compressed.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Qie Niangao

[Selene Gregoire]

3 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Not if it's a Homestead parcel on an estate, as the poster specified.  They only have 1/4 as many prims as a full region, and estates have only 20,000, vs. 22,500 on mainland full regions.

I must have missed seeing that part about it being a homestead. I used to have one and I did have a few rentals. But that was way before they upped prim count/LI. It's still in my Picks and on the grid, too. lol

 

ETA: I went back and looked. I didn't see where anyone mentioned homesteads until you did Lindal. Would you mind pointing me to it? Please.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Parhelion Palou]

7 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Not if it's a Homestead parcel on an estate, as the poster specified.  They only have 1/4 as many prims as a full region, and estates have only 20,000, vs. 22,500 on mainland full regions.

My estate has 30,000 -- far more than a mainland region. 😉 A 1K parcel has 468 LI.

[Lindal Kidd]

1 hour ago, Parhelion Palou said:

My estate has 30,000 -- far more than a mainland region. 😉 A 1K parcel has 468 LI.

Yes, of course...if you pay the extra fee for that.

[Gwin LeShelle]

Although you can not use your Linden Home for Commercial use you can infact rezz a skybox if you don't like the house!

Or a skydome with house in it, and with decent mesh you can have a quite nicely decorated place like that, but mainland is also a very nice option tho ^^

[Resi Pfeffer]

On 9/20/2019 at 5:28 PM, Selene Gregoire said:

A 1024 has an LI of 351. Someone is getting ripped off renting a 4096 at 312 LI.

I talked about a 4K sqm parcel on a homestead. 5000 LI divided by 16 (parcels of 4K sqm each) equals ~312 LI

Edited September 23, 2019 by Resi Pfeffer
typo

[Selene Gregoire]

On 9/20/2019 at 6:25 AM, Resi Pfeffer said:

People like me prefer to rent on private sims and homesteads, because there is mostly way less anarchy, compared to madlands ™️ mainland, when its about "ugly" buildings and 30 meter high walls.

First mention of homesteads is in this sentence. The sentence says nothing about prim count or LI nor does it say the OP is renting a homestead.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Lindal Kidd]

Not to pick nits, but in the same post, in the sentence immediately preceding the one you quoted, Resi Pfeffer said:

" Its up to you what you want and what you need.
Think about if you need to upgrade to premium at all. For about 8 UDS a month, what equals the amount you have to pay for being premium, you also can rent a 4096 sqm parcel on a homestead, including 312 Land Impact." (emphasis mine).

Well, okay, yes...I AM picking nits.

What can I say?  I'm a floccinaucinihilipilificatrix!

[Selene Gregoire]

1 hour ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Not to pick nits, but in the same post, in the sentence immediately preceding the one you quoted, Resi Pfeffer said:

" Its up to you what you want and what you need.
Think about if you need to upgrade to premium at all. For about 8 UDS a month, what equals the amount you have to pay for being premium, you also can rent a 4096 sqm parcel on a homestead, including 312 Land Impact." (emphasis mine).

Well, okay, yes...I AM picking nits.

What can I say?  I'm a floccinaucinihilipilificatrix!

ok. Still the OP never mentioned renting on a homestead. That was my whole point. In fact, in the OP's second post they stated they wanted mainland, not private. So the whole back and forth over homestead LI allowances is a moot point. 

And that's my lint licking nit picking for the day. 

[Resi Pfeffer]

10 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Well, okay, yes...I AM picking nits.

Thanks for jumping in.
But i will refuse further commments on this topic, as Selene dances to a different drum. Its not worth it.

[Selene Gregoire]

22 minutes ago, Resi Pfeffer said:

Thanks for jumping in.
But i will refuse further commments on this topic, as Selene dances to a different drum. Its not worth it.

I did concede to your point. Sorry if that wasn't very obvious. It just didn't have anything to do with my point that you seem to still not get but it's all good.  I'm not upset or anything and I hope you aren't as well. 

Cheers!