What’s the difference between purchasing and renting

[LadyDragoness888]

Very new to the game, but what’s the difference between renting and purchasing a home, and where can I find buyable homes

[ChinRey]

12 hours ago, LadyDragoness888 said:

Very new to the game, but what’s the difference between renting and purchasing a home

There is no real "purchasing" of homes in SL, all the land belong to Linden Lab and we are all renters.

The difference between "renting" and "buying" is that when you "buy", you rent directly from LL, when you "rent" it's through a middleman/woman. There are several reasons why somebody may not want to or be able to rent directly from SL but since that's obviously what you want to, there are three ways:

1. Rent a whole region
   • Gives you as much freedom to do what you like as you possibly can in SL but...'
   • it costs about 200 U.S dollars a month.
2. Become a premium member and buy a parcel on mainland
   • Gives you almost as much freedom as owning a whole region but...
   • your neighbors have that same freedom and there's no way to know what monstrosities that may suddenly pop up right next to your lovely home
3. Become a premier member and claim a Linden Home.
   • It's a bit like an HOA (for those who are familiar with the American way) so strictly regulated and no nasty surprises coming up in the neighborhood but...
   • you're stuck with those strict regulations too.

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by ChinRey

[LadyDragoness888]

Thank you, still learning the basics here, but that makes a lot more sense, 

[Asadora Summers]

Second Life is not a game, it's a Virtual World. 

[Crim Mip]

If you buy land from LL, you still pay monthly tier if it's over your premium account allowance to LL. You need to have a premium account to own land. In return, it's your parcel, you have full control as the owner. If you set up a land group to deed it to, you get the benefit of the land bonus (around 14%). You are allowed to build anything or do anything with the land that doesn't violate the LL ToS. It's nice if you respect the theme of the area if there is one, but you don't have to. The downside is if you can't pay, you can potentially have your account locked. Also, if you ever want to get rid of it, you either have to sell it, or abandon it and lose the original purchase price.

If you rent from somebody else, they are the owner and some of the parcel controls won't be directly available to you (there are things that can only be done by the parcel owner). The rent will almost certainly be more than the the tier cost for that amount of land since the owner probably wants to make at least some profit. There may be specific rules about what you can build or how you can use the land. On the plus side, if you ever want to move for whatever reason, you can with no strings attached. If you have a good landlord, please be courteous and give notice since you may end up wanting to rent from them again at some other place. In fact if you are just looking for a change of scenery, ask them if they have other rentals available. Good landlords are worth supporting. If they are somebody you never want to cross paths with again, just pack up and go and they will figure things out soon enough, but there's no penalty for you doing so. Also, you don't need a premium account to rent whereas you do to own land. 

[Parhelion Palou]

2 hours ago, Crim Mip said:

If you rent from somebody else, they are the owner and some of the parcel controls won't be directly available to you (there are things that can only be done by the parcel owner).

It's not uncommon on estate regions for the renter to buy the parcel with the cost set to one or two weeks of rent. They can then do everything parcel ownership allows, limited by region settings and the covenant. The owner of the region can reclaim the land as needed.

[Annabell Wandsworth]

On 3/13/2020 at 10:53 AM, Asadora Summers said:

Second Life is not a game, it's a Virtual World. 

The poster said was new. Let's not judge the choice of words, and instead be supportive and helpful. Your post was not either.