Premium+ Account and Homestead ownership

[MoiraKathleen]

2 minutes ago, Istelathis said:

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.

For me, it's things like having to buy $L's each month for paying the rent or having to worry that if I get sick or ended up in the hospital, I may not be able to get inworld to buy the $L's and pay the rent.  While I've heard that some land companies allow payments outside of SL through PayPal, I wouldn't be comfortable with that.  I'd rather have LL bill my payment method directly each month.  Additionally, if there should happen to be some type of issue with the region, I'd prefer to be able to deal directly with LL - as the region owner rather than as an estate manager. 

[Polenth Yue]

I can also see potential for someone who wants a full region eventually. The homestead is cheaper, but is the same size, so construction work can begin and small numbers of visitors are fine. Then when it's really ready to go, upgrade it to a full region.

[Gabriele Graves]

30 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

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

All types of regions have something about them that makes them unsuitable to be used in some way for some things.  Even full private islands have at least one limitation I can think of, they cannot just be joined up to mainland, there has to be special program/requirements for it, so a mainland region trumps a full private island due to being joined up already.

So with mainland regions vs homesteads there are just a different set of limits and a bunch of pros-and-cons on each side, I don't see either as "first" or "second" class.  It's more selecting the right product that fits your needs.

For example: Neither of the limits of land impact (5000 is plenty for my needs) or number of visitors (I am never going to need as many as 25) matter to me that much and so it's great that LL can bring me that at a much reduced price point than they could previously.

That's the brilliant thing though, there are already quite of a lot of nuanced options to choose from for SL land and now there is one more.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Gabriele Graves

[Jaylinbridges]

Why did LL come up with this silly requirement that you had to own a full region before you could own a  Homestead?  Were they afraid most would go for a Homestead and they would lose money? 

Claiming you are getting a reduced price, because you don't need to own a full region from LL now with PP+, is strange thinking to me.   Does GMC require I buy a top line Cadillac CT6 from them before I can own a Chevy Spark?

The brainwashing at SL is strong.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Jaylinbridges

[TimKoul]

4 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

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.

I'm sorry, I don't see how anything that adds cost to a subscription fee can be a perk.

[Blaise Glendevon]

5 minutes ago, TimKoul said:

I'm sorry, I don't see how anything that adds cost to a subscription fee can be a perk.

The perk is the nearly $3K USD yearly discount.

Obviously.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Blaise Glendevon

[TimKoul]

3 hours ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

The perk is the nearly $3K USD yearly discount.

Obviously.

Usually when you have a subscription fee, you don't add to the cost and call it a perk. I see what you're saying but I stand by what I said.

[Gabriele Graves]

The perk is the ability to take up the offer and actually they do get to call it a perk or whatever the heck they feel like.

[Blaise Glendevon]

6 minutes ago, TimKoul said:

Usually when you have a subscription fee, you don't add to the cost and call it a perk. I see what you're saying but I stand by what I said.

So, you'd expect a free Homestead to just be a "perk" for the PP folks?

[Gabriele Graves]

Check out the announcement @TimKoul it doesn't mention perk at all.  They are calling it a benefit:

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, TimKoul said:

I'm sorry, I don't see how anything that adds cost to a subscription fee can be a perk.

 

14 minutes ago, TimKoul said:

Usually when you have a subscription fee, you don't add to the cost and call it a perk. I see what you're saying but I stand by what I said.

 

As Gabriele says, it is a 'benefit', not a perk. 

The "benefit" is not the 'paying for the Homestead' part (i.e. adding cost to the subscription).  The "benefit" is allowing a P+ person to buy one without the current requirement of also having to pay the setup fee and monthly cost of a full region -- thus saving that person hundreds or thousands of dollars that they would otherwise have to spend.

[Katherine Heartsong]

On 11/2/2022 at 4:40 PM, Dragon Mommy said:

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.

7200/week for a homestead? Wow. There are reputable, established, and highly recommended rental companies that charge 6100.

[Dragon Mommy]

6 hours ago, Katherine Heartsong said:

7200/week for a homestead? Wow. There are reputable, established, and highly recommended rental companies that charge 6100

Can you point me to them? Last time I shopped around most were over 7500. I've had my current one for awhile. I'm not above moving to save money long term, much as I like my current company. 

[Rowan Amore]

12 minutes ago, Dragon Mommy said:

Can you point me to them? Last time I shopped around most were over 7500. I've had my current one for awhile. I'm not above moving to save money long term, much as I like my current company. 

I sent you a PM

[TimKoul]

Well ok, it's a benefit. I don't see how increasing the cost is an enhancement. You save on the cost of a full sim but you're increasing the annual price over $1000 if you choose to get a homestead when you can just rent for cheaper. If you can rent for cheaper, what's the benefit?

[TimKoul]

20 hours ago, Blaise Glendevon said:

So, you'd expect a free Homestead to just be a "perk" for the PP folks?

No. But I would expect the cost to at least be competitive with current land barron pricings if LL are going to do this. Because currently, the homestead I rent is cheaper so if I was PP, this benefit wouldn't benefit me at all. I mean, as long as there are cheaper options, it's not really a benefit is it?

[TimKoul]

12 hours ago, Katherine Heartsong said:

7200/week for a homestead? Wow. There are reputable, established, and highly recommended rental companies that charge 6100.

Dreamseeker has homesteads for even less than that. L$6099

[LittleMe Jewell]

23 minutes ago, TimKoul said:

Well ok, it's a benefit. I don't see how increasing the cost is an enhancement. You save on the cost of a full sim but you're increasing the annual price over $1000 if you choose to get a homestead when you can just rent for cheaper. If you can rent for cheaper, what's the benefit?

There are folks that do not like renting from others. They want to fully own their land.

If I rent from someone else, I have to remember to log in periodically and pay someone L$ - so also making sure I have enough L$ at said payment time.  While some renters do allow payments via outside systems like PayPal, that would be mingling RL and SL, and plenty of us do not want that to happen at all, in any way.

While it is of no benefit to you, that does not mean that it is not a benefit for someone else.  We all have our priorities and preferences in life.  

[MoiraKathleen]

5 minutes ago, TimKoul said:

Dreamseeker has homesteads for even less than that. L$6099

For 52 weeks, that's L$317,148.  If I were to buy that amount in lindens today that would cost me $1315.13.   

If I was buying L$'s each month to cover the rent, that would add a few more dollars on because I'd have more transaction fees for purchasing L$'s more frequently. 

At $109 a month for a homestead direct from LL, 12 months is $1308. 

[MoiraKathleen]

Not all benefits of premium or premium plus are things that everyone wants or needs.  People that own their own regions or are happy renting from private estates don't always need or want the free LH or 1024 sqm free tier.  Others don't go to events so don't need the ability to get into full regions. Others don't need the increased number of groups ...  

Evaluating the perks and benefits is something that each person needs to do for their own situation.  What one person sees as beneficial may not be beneficial at all to someone else, and that's OK.  

 

[Rowan Amore]

3 minutes ago, MoiraKathleen said:

happy renting from private estates don't always need or want the free LH or 1024 sqm free tier.

I never used my free tier until 2020 and I've been premium since 2009.   

 

[TimKoul]

19 minutes ago, MoiraKathleen said:

For 52 weeks, that's L$317,148.  If I were to buy that amount in lindens today that would cost me $1315.13.   

If I was buying L$'s each month to cover the rent, that would add a few more dollars on because I'd have more transaction fees for purchasing L$'s more frequently. 

At $109 a month for a homestead direct from LL, 12 months is $1308. 

You forgot to include your PP cost.

[TimKoul]

26 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

There are folks that do not like renting from others. They want to fully own their land.

If I rent from someone else, I have to remember to log in periodically and pay someone L$ - so also making sure I have enough L$ at said payment time.  While some renters do allow payments via outside systems like PayPal, that would be mingling RL and SL, and plenty of us do not want that to happen at all, in any way.

While it is of no benefit to you, that does not mean that it is not a benefit for someone else.  We all have our priorities and preferences in life.  

And you don't have to make sure you have $109 a month in your account to cover the maintenance fee? 

Do people not realize they can just click and buy Linden right from inside the viewer? It's instant. 

[MoiraKathleen]

Just now, TimKoul said:

You forgot to include your PP cost.

I could be premium plus already for other reasons, whether or not I was interested in getting a homestead, so to me it was a separate category of costs. 

I also didn't do the calculations for higher weekly homestead rental costs such as some of the higher costs mentioned by some above (6100, 7200 or 7500 L$'s/week).  

I'm one who would rather have the convenience of having LL bill me through my payment method automatically each month than having to buy large amount of L$'s and pay rent at a rental box all the time.  I also would want to be the actual owner rather than just having estate manager rights. So, for me, the extra for premium plus less the value of the stipend received and the free 2048 sqm tier which I do use, would just be a cost for convenience (and after the stipend and free tier are taken out, it's not that much of a cost to be a deal breaker).

[Gabriele Graves]

1 hour ago, TimKoul said:

No. But I would expect the cost to at least be competitive with current land barron pricings if LL are going to do this. Because currently, the homestead I rent is cheaper so if I was PP, this benefit wouldn't benefit me at all. I mean, as long as there are cheaper options, it's not really a benefit is it?

LL competing too closely with those they sell the majority of their private islands would not be a smart move.  This is because LL will always have the competitive advantage due to the fact they provide the service to everyone and would most likely end up driving many estates from the land market.  After all who would stay in a market where the service provider makes it almost impossible to make bank?

Why does that matter?  LL finds the estate market beneficial obviously or they would put a stop to it. In many ways, collectively, they are like franchise owners, brokers, bulk resellers, etc. and so for some special pricing many different flavours of offerings become available from which they get revenue where otherwise may get nothing.  Offerings that LL may not be interested in providing themselves or may find difficult to provide for one reason or another.  Others providing this frees up LL to focus more on their core business and pursue other strategies.

Just like it isn't a given that all people would go with the lowest cost and some prefer to go direct to LL, conversely there are many who don't want to go direct to LL, would prefer a lower cost product and/or a variety of flavours of themes, rules and approaches to land management.

However in between those are many people who would go with the lowest price but if LL targets these then they most likely would lose all those different offering flavours.

So short version, LL would be nuts to be competitive with estate pricing in the sense you mean.
 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Gabriele Graves