Premium+ Account and Homestead ownership

[Sid Nagy]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

So Paypal does not go to tax authorities in Europe and tell on me?

Lol, imagine having to pay VAT if I had paid rent a couple years, and Paypal sent in a list over what I had paid to LL... 🥺

It is LL's responsibility to charge the VAT.
They will have to pay up if the EU tax men think it should have been taxed.
We as consumers can assume that the VAT is included in the price (just like on products in all of the EU countries).

[Dragon Mommy]

This is something I've wanted for a long time, as I much prefer a homestead for the privacy. I share one right now with a friend. 

Doing the math based on my current rental (7200/week) it comes out to a little more when taking into account the L stipend. It might be worth it just to have full control and avoid issues like my rental company going under. I'll consider it in the new year.

This is doing the math for 365 days of rental and not just short-handing 4 weeks = one month.

[MagiKesh Tumim]

As announced on Feature News

Premium Plus members will have homesteads.  But what are the details?  is it a special set of homesteads, like Linden homes? Will they be part of the mainland or private? Can you share your PP Homestead by putting next to other Homesteads (PP or regular purchase) creating larger regions? If you already have a Homestead, can you upgrade it to your PP Homestead? A great option to add to the Plus, but a lot of questions about how it is going to work.

[Paul Hexem]

4 hours ago, bigmoe Whitfield said:

I'm going to bet they crunched their own numbers first and figured out they still need to make profit on it.

And then they added something like an 800% markup to come up with 1500 bucks to rent out a piece of a virtual server.

To be honest, if they'd done anything at all with the price as part of this offer, then I think you'd see a huge uptick in P+ sales. As it stands, the way the economy is, this is going to appeal to very few people. Most will rent from a land baron and pay less for the homestead if they really want one.

[TimKoul]

3 hours ago, Liandra Aries said:

I was hoping that they might have done SOME sort of discount for P+ for a homestead.  They aint, so i have zero intention of upgrading, the way this has worked out, it would be cheaper for me to rent a full homestead from a land baron.

It really makes no sense. I guess the "perk" was removing the full sim rule but you're right, you can just rent for way cheaper.

[Gabriele Graves]

It makes perfect sense if you don't want to rent from a land baron and if you don't this is the most cost effective route.  Getting the absolutely rock-bottom cheapest price for something isn't the primary driver for everyone.

[Alwin Alcott]

5 hours ago, Gabriele Graves said:

It makes perfect sense if you don't want to rent from a land baron and if you don't this is the most cost effective route.  Getting the absolutely rock-bottom cheapest price for something isn't the primary driver for everyone.

it makes perfect sense for non Taxed residents. 
You exclude a giant part of the SL residents with you "it makes perfect sense" 
It has nothing to do with getting the best price for something, it's fgs a 500 dollars difference. That's absurd, and a super overthought perk addition (not)
No it's not LL to blame, they don't make VAT apply, but it's not the best marketing strategy to think about only non vat payers.

[Gabriele Graves]

30 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

it makes perfect sense for non Taxed residents.

I stand by what I said.  There is now a private island ownership option from LL that is half the previous cost, the tax has nothing to do with that either way.

30 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

You exclude a giant part of the SL residents with you "it makes perfect sense"

I'm not excluding anyone.  It makes perfect sense if someone wanted to buy an island from LL but was put off by the cost of a full island but find that these changes bring it within their budget and what they are willing to spend.  End Of.  That is all I meant and if you have an issue with that, then I'm afraid that's all yours.

30 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

It has nothing to do with getting the best price for something, it's fgs a 500 dollars difference. That's absurd, and a super overthought perk addition (not)
No it's not LL to blame, they don't make VAT apply, but it's not the best marketing strategy to think about only non vat payers.

In Your Opinion .  Please remember that.  It may mean that for you but you don't speak for anyone else and as such it is pure speculation that everyone thinks like you about it.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Gabriele Graves

[Sid Nagy]

18 hours ago, Gabriele Graves said:

It makes perfect sense if you don't want to rent from a land baron and if you don't this is the most cost effective route.  Getting the absolutely rock-bottom cheapest price for something isn't the primary driver for everyone.

Big long standing land barons (like the Anshe Chung Group, ZoHa and others) will most likely stay in SL as long as the SL gates are open.
And one doesn't have to gable with more than one tier period (that can be a week with some of them). That is money saved easily in no time for Europeans by not paying VAT to them plus no Premium Plus costs.

For me, the stipend isn't what I'm after nor the other PP+ perks. So if I had the money (RL sucks financial wise in Europe at the moment) I would certainly go for one of the long standing land barons instead of the route via PP+.
Otherwise I would throw away a lot of extra money for the same service.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Sid Nagy
Editting makes the world turn round.

[Gabriele Graves]

10 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Big long standing land barons (like the Anshe Chung Group, ZoHa and others) will most likely stay in SL as long as the SL gates are open.
And one doesn't have to gable with more than one tier period (that can be a week with some of them). That is money saved easily in no time for Europeans by not paying VAT to them plus no Premium Plus costs.

That's great for people who want that and they should pursue that.  Some don't including me.  It wouldn't matter how great, reliable or cheap people say they are.

Generally: People in this topic need to get a grip.  At no point have I said that this is a deal that will appeal to everyone or even all Europeans.  I said it makes perfect sense for people like me.  This is all starting to look like people are shilling for the estates.  Some people prefer estates and estates want you to put your business with them, we get it, move on.

*checks topic* Nope, this topic is definitely about P+ and Homesteads and not estates.

 

[Sid Nagy]

I simply don't want to be a thief from my own wallet and I want to share with others that there are other possibilities than the LL and PP+ route, that are equally safe IMHO.
You give your opinions, I give mine.
What others do with it in the end: I could not care less. It is not my money. And as always mileages vary.

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Istelathis]

21 hours ago, Paul Hexem said:

And then they added something like an 800% markup to come up with 1500 bucks to rent out a piece of a virtual server.

It drivers me a bit bonkers to think of how much it costs, when I can host my own regions for free.. but unfortunately such regions lack access to all of my SL avatar's inventory as well as access to SL's grid.  In my own fantasy happy place paradise, I would be able to host as many regions from my own server as I wanted, connected to SL's grid using my SL avatar, for the price of a Premium Super Plus membership 🥰

I personally think land owners in SL are the ones keeping the lights on in LL though, and such a thing can never exist.

21 hours ago, Paul Hexem said:

To be honest, if they'd done anything at all with the price as part of this offer, then I think you'd see a huge uptick in P+ sales. As it stands, the way the economy is, this is going to appeal to very few people. Most will rent from a land baron and pay less for the homestead if they really want one.

I would hope LL put a lot of thought into this, one thing I think might happen is that a few of those who rent might just pull out and purchase their own homesteads.  Even at a higher cost, it is appealing to some people to cut out the middle man and go directly to the source.  Speculation on my own part, is that a  consequence of this, may be some of those homesteads being relinquished by land barons as fewer people want to rent them.  If my speculating is correct, then there would be less homesteads for rent which would lead to more people seeking out a P+ membership, while also purchasing a homestead.  Who knows though?  

[LittleMe Jewell]

On 11/2/2022 at 9:54 AM, TimKoul said:

If you're paying annually + the homestead, it's about $1560. I think Linden Lab can do much better with their PP perks.

That $1560 is still better than the non-Premium+ option of having to first buy a full region and pay monthly maintenance on that in addition to the Homestead costs.

[LittleMe Jewell]

22 hours ago, MagiKesh Tumim said:

Premium Plus members will have homesteads.  But what are the details?  is it a special set of homesteads, like Linden homes? Will they be part of the mainland or private? 

There is no special set of Homesteads.  It is the same type of Homestead that you would get if you already owned a full Region and asked to buy a Homestead.  Like other Homesteads, they will typically be stand-alone islands out on the grid, not next to anything else.  

 

22 hours ago, MagiKesh Tumim said:

Can you share your PP Homestead by putting next to other Homesteads (PP or regular purchase) creating larger regions?  If you already have a Homestead, can you upgrade it to your PP Homesteads.

Second question first:   If you already own a Homestead, then you also already also own a Full Region and thus this benefit does not even apply.  This benefit is specifically for people that do not yet own a Full Region, but want to buy a Homestead.  The actual Homestead region itself is no different regardless of whether you bought it with the qualifying Full Region or if you buy one now just because you are P+ and do not own a Full Region.

One thing that you would have to ask LL about -- whether or not you could put your Homestead next to someone else's Homestead.  As to putting your Homestead next to Homesteads that you already own, that follows existing rules of yes you can group your own Homesteads together -- and that has nothing to do with this new P+ benefit.

Edited November 3, 2022 by LittleMe Jewell

[Gabriele Graves]

5 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

One thing that you would have to ask LL about -- whether or not you could put your Homestead next to someone else's Homestead.  As to putting your Homestead next to Homesteads that you already own, that follows existing rules of yes you can group your own Homesteads together -- and that has nothing to do with this new P+ benefit.

The option to do this is available from my dashboard the same as for any island.

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 minutes ago, Gabriele Graves said:

The option to do this is available from my dashboard the same as for any island.

The part about putting your Homestead next to someone else's or the part about grouping your own regions together?

[Love Zhaoying]

12 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

On 11/2/2022 at 11:54 AM, TimKoul said:

If you're paying annually + the homestead, it's about $1560. I think Linden Lab can do much better with their PP perks.

That $1560 is still better than the non-Premium+ option of having to first buy a full region and pay monthly maintenance on that in addition to the Homestead costs.

Hmm. For only $112/month, you'd get 1/2 a mainland region + twice the LI.  With no setup fee or other requirements (except to buy the land, duh!).

In general, it sure seems the only advantages of Homesteads are, 1) 65535sm, and 2) "not mainland".

[LittleMe Jewell]

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

Hmm. For only $112/month, you'd get 1/2 a mainland region + twice the LI.  With no setup fee or other requirements (except to buy the land, duh!).

In general, it sure seems the only advantages of Homesteads are, 1) 65535sm, and 2) "not mainland".

Yeah, but that "not mainland" is very important to some people -- because you just cannot control what will happen around you on Mainland.

[Gabriele Graves]

23 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

The part about putting your Homestead next to someone else's or the part about grouping your own regions together?

I was meaning about the putting the Homestead next to someone else's.

Isn't it the same though?  Presumably since each avatar can only own one Homestead with P+ then each avatar would be classed as a different person and you would use the same feature on the dashboard?

Edited November 3, 2022 by Gabriele Graves
corrections

[Gabriele Graves]

4 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Hmm. For only $112/month, you'd get 1/2 a mainland region + twice the LI.  With no setup fee or other requirements (except to buy the land, duh!).

In general, it sure seems the only advantages of Homesteads are, 1) 65535sm, and 2) "not mainland".

In addition, with a mainland region you can only choose from what is available, rarely get the whole region (public roads, etc.) and you never get estate rights.  There are also limits to terraforming.

[Love Zhaoying]

4 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Yeah, but that "not mainland" is very important to some people -- because you just cannot control what will happen around you on Mainland.

I assume, that if the other Mainland Regions around you were very low utilization / low script, etc. there is no guarantee your Region will not end up sharing a Simulator Server with busy, high-utilization Regions.

[MoiraKathleen]

The ability to obtain a homestead region by renting from one of the large land companies has been an option for a long time.  Presumably, many people interested in an entire homestead region without having to own a full region first have most likely availed themselves of this option. 

The ability to own a homestead directly from LL without having to first purchase a full region is something that I've seen requested by people over the years. So, there is some percentage of people interested in directly owning a homestead from LL - even though the option to rent an entire homestead already exists.  Now, there is a way that people can achieve this if they want to. 

If I was in a position to be able to get a homestead region, I'm another one of the group that would rather go the premium plus route and get the homestead direct from LL, instead of renting from a land company.  For myself, I would rather deal directly with LL than having to go through a 3rd party.  

Edited November 3, 2022 by MoiraKathleen
added a word

[Istelathis]

6 minutes ago, MoiraKathleen said:

If I was in a position to be able to get a homestead region, I'm another one of the group that would rather go the premium plus route and get the homestead direct from LL, instead of renting from a land company.  For myself, I would rather deal directly with LL than having to go through a 3rd party.  

I feel the same way, even if the 3rd party has recognition for being trustworthy, if I were to want a long term homestead I would feel more comfortable going directly through Linden Lab.  From a financial perspective, I can see how others would feel that is unwise, but ultimately I would worry about factors that could wrong outside of control for the ones that own the homestead.  Simple things, like losing a job, health issues, etc.

[Alwin Alcott]

28 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

it sure seems the only advantages of Homesteads are, 1) 65535sm, and 2) "not mainland".

not only that, but the full control on it, really everything. ( except estate owner)
including all region controls that is, as hights, textures, region wide experiences, maturity setting... and so on

you'll never get all those controls on mainland, not even when owning a full region.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Alwin Alcott

[Love Zhaoying]

I've had private Regions, I've had full Mainland Regions, I've just never had a Homestead region.  

Homestead just seemed like a "second class offering" when they came out (due to the limitations, for "light use", etc.).