How to claim a mainland parcel in place of a premium linden home

[actualkon]

Hi! So I just got a premium membership, and it said on the benefits, in place of a linden home you could get a land parcel.

 

"1024m² tier allotment for use towards a Linden Home (subject to availability) or a parcel on the Mainland"

 

How do you claim that parcel? Or  do you go through a regular auction for it?

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

You can buy Mainland from an auction, or directly from another resident. When you look on the in world map, if you have "Land Sale" checked in the map legend, the yellow parcels on the map with dollar signs are for sale. You can go have a look and buy one if you like it, using the land box on the parcel. You can also (with varying degrees of success) use Search to look for land that is for sale. There is also a forum section for land sale listings: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/forum/286-parcels-for-sale-mainland/.

[Qie Niangao]

3 minutes ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

You can also (with varying degrees of success) use Search to look for land that is for sale.

This may be a way to get started on that kind of search: https://search.secondlife.com/?query_term=&collection_chosen=land&isLeftColOpen=true&sort=land_price_asc&purchase_type=Sale&area_low=1024&area_high=1120&type=main_fullregion

(I included up to 1120 m² because you can Group-own Mainland parcels and get a 10% tier bonus, so that 1024 m² Premium tier can cover up to 1120 m² bought for group.)

If you already know Mainland continents enough to have preferences, searching for yellow on the in-world Map as Sylvia suggests is the way to find land for sale near areas of interest.

[animats]

Lindall Kidd used to give a weekly course on land in Second Life, but she's taking a break.

What you get with premium membership is a "tier payment" for 1024 m^2 of land. That's a monthly charge for owning land, and pays for the servers that keep SL land running. You still have to buy the land.

Real estate in SL varies over a huge price range. Waterfront land, land near roads, and land in nice areas is more expensive. Isolated land in ugly terrain is really cheap. Low-value land is often auctioned off cheap. There's even "abandoned land", owned by no one, which you can request from Linden Lab through a support request. They charge you $1/m^2.

The Second Life map in the viewer has a checkbox that turns on the "for sale" overlay, and then you can see all the parcels that are for sale.

Here's some land at different price points.

Abandoned land. L$1/square meter. This is in the interior of Corsica. For people who like isolated, bleak spots, or plan to build something very large.

Beachfront property in an adult area. L$12 / square meter. On the east coast of Zindra.

Small parcel on the main street of Bay City. L$312/square meter! Only includes the bare land, not the building and furnishings.

There are also arrangements where you're renting land from a landlord but contribute your tier credit towards the group's land fees. Some privately run themed areas use that.

The usual advice is to spend some time in SL before buying land, to see what you want. Look around first.

[Yukiko Yeshto]

1 hour ago, animats said:

The usual advice is to spend some time in SL before buying land, to see what you want. Look around first.

This is the most important if you want to find a place you love on mainland: take your time, and find out what you want.

It has been mentioned already that land can also be bought as a group which gives the group 10% bonus land. I met quite a few people who would hold a small private parcel, and donate the rest of their available land to a group-owned community. I do that myself as well.

If you intend to join a community, they can vary a lot depending on their goals. For example, residential living communities which are not only selling plots around their community area but offer various events for their community residents, from art&culture, to live music, to exploring together and so on. Or communities that have a certain theme, for example an equestrian community. Examples of such communities that I am aware of would be Moorcroft and Campbell Coast.

Good luck finding the right thing for you!

[ArgontheDevil Ormega]

Always check out the parcel before you buy it.  Some can very oddly shaped after years of different owners carving them.  Clicking about land on your menu will show the boundry lines.  The other thing to check is the "covenant"section.  This is not usually an issue on the mainland but on estate land it can be as long as the damnable Bellisarian one.  You will find a lot of land advertised as being "for sale" at a ridiculously low price but what that really is glorified renting and you are dealing with a landlord.  (Actually, all land is technically just space rented on a server from the Lab but when you "own" outright you are dealing directly with the lab and not through a third party.  Think of tier as property tax) The advantage of rented land, however, is that it does not count against your tier.  The main disadvantage is that you have to keep paying the landlord and that can be more expensive than paying tier in the long run.  There is also the quite real danger of the landlord leaving SL and you arriving home to find the home gone.

It is also good to bring up the map when you are on the parcel so you can see what the rest of area is like.  You may not want to buy land in the same region as a busy club.  Those are a nightmare to have for neighbors and if you see place with lines of green dots, buy elsewhere.  You will be happy you did.  Speaking of neighbors, one of the joys of the mainland is that within the limits of the land impact and shape of the parcel you can build just about anything you want to live in.  But that means the folks next door can do the same thing.  Normally not a problem but it is something consider when you look at a parcel.

[Qie Niangao]

2 hours ago, ArgontheDevil Ormega said:

It is also good to bring up the map when you are on the parcel so you can see what the rest of area is like.  You may not want to buy land in the same region as a busy club. 

Great advice! I also always take a look at the Simulator section of the Statistics Bar (Ctrl-Shift-1) especially checking for the Scripts Run percentage and if you're lucky, any Spare Time in the frame. Otherwise you may find yourself sharing an otherwise empty region with a stack of breedable factory farm skyboxes.