Mainland Pricing

[Studmeister Rizzo]

I can't believe that people are taking advantage of noobies to land owning by charging 4,5,6 times the amount the lab would charge per square meter. I understand the need to make a profit, but 600% mark up is gouging in my opinion.

[Qie Niangao]

What is this "amount the lab would charge per square meter"? You mean the standard auction opening price, which is 0.5 or 1.0 L$/m² (depending on location)? But of course for popular locations the Lab routinely gets 10, 20, or more times that amount at auction, so is that the amount the Lab charges? Or is that the bidders gouging themselves?

[Marianne Little]

Well, in an ideal world it would be no capitalism? 

Now that we have a mentor system, I hope that newbies will be told that they can apply for abandoned land. That is the cheapest land people can get.

Before they can buy Mainland, they have to pay for Premium or one of the two other alternatives. 

The land use fees could include information about abandoned land. And also about prices, that land cost a lot or a little, depending on what the seller think it is worth. 

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

The good news is that you can play SL without owning any land at all! 

[Marigold Devin]

5 hours ago, Studmeister Rizzo said:

I can't believe that people are taking advantage of noobies to land owning by charging 4,5,6 times the amount the lab would charge per square meter. I understand the need to make a profit, but 600% mark up is gouging in my opinion.

Welcome to Second Life forums, Studmeister. 

If noobies are daft enough to jump right in and buy any land without doing a bit of research first, ie explore for longer, then they will learn an expensive lesson. Also the pricing of land is not aimed at exploiting noobies, but is about supply and demand generally.

 

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Marigold Devin
rewording

[belindacarson]

if people are that stupid to pay those prices, then they deserve to be ripped off.

Do your homework, look for abandoned land.

Skybox? you could get away with using mountain land which is largely abandoned.

Ground level house? search those empty sims for a plot the size you want.

Sailing? use one of the public rezz zones, most LL water sims have a rezz zone on them.

Driving? same as above, use the public rezzing zones on LL roads.

 

File a support ticket, and LL will sell you it for 1l$ a metre.  Just make sure you take advantage of the 10% group bonus (deed your land to a group and get 10% extra)

[Gabriele Graves]

Some land is set for sale to ridiculous prices and the owner has no intention of selling.  It's a convention that a lot of rental agents employ who want their properties shown on the map in yellow to catch the person looking for land and hope they'll will be enticed by the great rental deal they see.  Often they are removed from sale once they are rented.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Gabriele Graves

[Katherine Heartsong]

It is about supply and demand generally, with the caveat that @Gabriele Graves pointed out sometimes in play. Mostly it does boil down to the three main factors that drive land and housing prices in SL or RL ... location, location, location.

Attractive locations with access to amenities like large bodies of water are always in high demand and therefore going to cost a lot. I mean a lot ... thousands of RL dollars in some cases. I think that's nuts but is it gouging? Both parties agree, it sells, regardless of my opinion.

As others have pointed out there are a lot of 1024 parcels available at prices from 0.3-1L/square metre. Check the mainland for sale thread. I've seen some very nice 1024 water parcels recently for under 5,000 and 1024s as low as 500L so just keep looking.

Then again, I've also seen one advertising a 2048 nice water parcel for about 30K .. but when I went to see it in world there are two 1024s side by side right next to this one you could grab for a combined price under 7K .. so you really need to research before buying.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Katherine Heartsong

[BilliJo Aldrin]

9 hours ago, Studmeister Rizzo said:

I can't believe that people are taking advantage of noobies to land owning by charging 4,5,6 times the amount the lab would charge per square meter. I understand the need to make a profit, but 600% mark up is gouging in my opinion.

My typical markup on an interior 16 sq m parcel is about 1000% and you know what? I always get it. 😁

[LittleMe Jewell]

8 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

What is this "amount the lab would charge per square meter"? You mean the standard auction opening price, which is 0.5 or 1.0 L$/m² (depending on location)?

They might have meant that Price that LL will sell Abandoned Land for -- L$1 per sqm.

[Gabriele Graves]

18 minutes ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

My typical markup on an interior 16 sq m parcel is about 1000% and you know what? I always get it. 😁

There's a reason for that and the word begins with Ext and rhymes with portion.  You'd never shift a much larger parcel size at that markup, it only works because some people are willing to pay to get rid of an annoyance and for a 16sqm even at that markup the price can be a low enough cost way of doing so.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Gabriele Graves

[Rowan Amore]

1 hour ago, Gabriele Graves said:

Some land is set for sale to ridiculous prices and the owner has no intention of selling.  It's a convention that a lot of rental agents employ who want their properties shown on the map in yellow to catch the person looking for land and hope they'll will be enticed by the great rental deal they see.  Often they are removed from sale once they are rented.

That's basically every parcel for sale on Horizons.  They're owned by several.real estate companies and always have an Or Rent For option.

[Gabriele Graves]

3 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

That's basically every parcel for sale on Horizons.  They're owned by several.real estate companies and always have an Or Rent For option.

It's exactly the same at Nautilus City also, the only parcels set to sale theses days are rentals.

[BilliJo Aldrin]

2 hours ago, Gabriele Graves said:

There's a reason for that and the word begins with Ext and rhymes with portion.  You'd never shift a much larger parcel size at that markup, it only works because some people are willing to pay to get rid of an annoyance and for a 16sqm even at that markup the price can be a low enough cost way of doing so.

Not sure why its considered extortion. there's nothing on the parcel, its not like they are trying to get rid of blight.

Oh wait, I know, a bad person might buy it and put up a giant for sale sign and sell it for 10 times more than me... gotcha 😂

[Gabriele Graves]

17 minutes ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

Not sure why its considered extortion. there's nothing on the parcel, its not like they are trying to get rid of blight.

Sure, maybe now but it was only a short while ago when that wasn't true.  People remember stuff you know.

Yes, people do now buy it because of fear that someone worse might come along.  If people have to buy stuff from you in fear, you're not providing value and I refer you to my initial assessment.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Gabriele Graves

[BilliJo Aldrin]

41 minutes ago, Gabriele Graves said:

Sure, maybe now but it was only a short while ago when that wasn't true.  People remember stuff you know.

Yes, people do now buy it because of fear that someone worse might come along.  If people have to buy stuff from you in fear, you're not providing value and I refer you to my initial assessment.

I have never blighted a property I have had for sale, I only set out a small rock as a marker that usually gets returned when sold, but I have never engaged in ad farming. You are obviously confusing me with those other land flippers. 😁

Edited July 22, 2023 by BilliJo Aldrin
added words

[Gabriele Graves]

1 minute ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

I have never blighted a property I have had for sale, I only set out a small rock as a marker that usually gets returned when sold, but I have never engaged in ad farming. You are obviously confusing me with those other land flippers. 😁

Read carefully what I have put.  All I have posted is that your parcels weren't always empty.  I never mentioned ad farming.  I've not confused you with anyone else.

[Qie Niangao]

3 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

They might have meant that Price that LL will sell Abandoned Land for -- L$1 per sqm.

Indeed they may have, but the Lab does not offer abandoned Bay City parcels for L$1/m², nor those in other highly desirable locations. My point was to introduce the idea of a land market value in SL that's quite independent of any set uniform price—where even those "uniform" prices vary (notably, the starting bids at auction). The fact great stretches of abandoned land aren't eligible for direct sale at any price would have made the point too.

Usually there are good reasons people pay more for one parcel than another. As Sylvia said, you don't have to own any of it to have fun in SL. So those who choose to own can choose whatever piece of land they value as much as the asking price—or none at all. Renting is certainly an option, too.

(As other posters observed, there are situations of market manipulation where other land offered at a vastly higher price can interfere with one's enjoyment of market-priced land. I doubt that's what the OP meant here, but it's possible and certainly valid.)

[Hunny Bunny]

1 hour ago, Qie Niangao said:

Indeed they may have, but the Lab does not offer abandoned Bay City parcels for L$1/m², nor those in other highly desirable locations. My point was to introduce the idea of a land market value in SL that's quite independent of any set uniform price—where even those "uniform" prices vary (notably, the starting bids at auction). The fact great stretches of abandoned land aren't eligible for direct sale at any price would have made the point too.

Usually there are good reasons people pay more for one parcel than another. As Sylvia said, you don't have to own any of it to have fun in SL. So those who choose to own can choose whatever piece of land they value as much as the asking price—or none at all. Renting is certainly an option, too.

(As other posters observed, there are situations of market manipulation where other land offered at a vastly higher price can interfere with one's enjoyment of market-priced land. I doubt that's what the OP meant here, but it's possible and certainly valid.)

Additionally, for those seeking adult land to establish their residence, the choices available are even more limited. On the moderate continents, you can sometimes find two or more full regions sitting side by side and abandoned. On Zindra, it is unlikely to come across any abandoned land at all.

 

[BilliJo Aldrin]

8 hours ago, Gabriele Graves said:

Read carefully what I have put.  All I have posted is that your parcels weren't always empty.  I never mentioned ad farming.  I've not confused you with anyone else.

The parcels for sale were always empty.

I also had networked adverizing with ad boards on them, but they weren't for sale.

Are you suggesting I should not have an ad board on my parcel today, if I plan on removing the ad board tomorrow  and listing it for sale?

[BilliJo Aldrin]

8 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

Indeed they may have, but the Lab does not offer abandoned Bay City parcels for L$1/m², nor those in other highly desirable locations. My point was to introduce the idea of a land market value in SL that's quite independent of any set uniform price—where even those "uniform" prices vary (notably, the starting bids at auction). The fact great stretches of abandoned land aren't eligible for direct sale at any price would have made the point too.

Usually there are good reasons people pay more for one parcel than another. As Sylvia said, you don't have to own any of it to have fun in SL. So those who choose to own can choose whatever piece of land they value as much as the asking price—or none at all. Renting is certainly an option, too.

(As other posters observed, there are situations of market manipulation where other land offered at a vastly higher price can interfere with one's enjoyment of market-priced land. I doubt that's what the OP meant here, but it's possible and certainly valid.)

I actually got a 512 sq m 2x protected parcel in Kama City for $1 L per sq m from LL because the owner had abandoned it and I had the parcel beside it.

I suppose they should have put it up for auction, because a flipper would have paid at least $ 10 L per sq m for it, and probably more.

😁

[Gabriele Graves]

7 minutes ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

The parcels for sale were always empty.

I also had networked adverizing with ad boards on them, but they weren't for sale.

Are you suggesting I should not have an ad board on my parcel today, if I plan on removing the ad board tomorrow  and listing it for sale?

I'm just enjoying the reveal.  Nothing I've read from you has so far changed my initial opinion one bit.

[BilliJo Aldrin]

6 hours ago, Hunny Bunny said:

Additionally, for those seeking adult land to establish their residence, the choices available are even more limited. On the moderate continents, you can sometimes find two or more full regions sitting side by side and abandoned. On Zindra, it is unlikely to come across any abandoned land at all.

 

Any abandoned land on Zindra will immediately have a request to purchase made for it.

Like as not, LL will put it up for auction.

But why abandon it? The owner could instead sell it for an insanely low price and it will be almost instantly snapped up.

Edited July 22, 2023 by BilliJo Aldrin
added a line

[Hunny Bunny]

7 hours ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

Any abandoned land on Zindra will immediately have a request to purchase made for it.

Like as not, LL will put it up for auction.

But why abandon it? The owner could instead sell it for an insanely low price and it will be almost instantly snapped up.

You make an astute observation, but my main point is that even though there is an abundance of general and moderate mainland, there is a severe shortage of adult mainland, contrary to the notion that nobody wants such parcels. 😉

[Qie Niangao]

33 minutes ago, Hunny Bunny said:

You make an astute observation, but my main point is that even though there is an abundance of general and moderate mainland, there is a severe shortage of adult mainland, contrary to the notion that nobody wants such parcels. 😉

The Zindra market is very different from the other continents. Folks have suggested that there's some special arrangement covering tier for large land dealers there, but I don't think there's any evidence that's the case, other than the apparent gravity-defying share of land set for sale on the continent. Maybe it somehow pays for itself, maybe not.

That huge ratio of land set for sale is not the only way the Zindra market is special. It's true that you very rarely see abandoned land, but some of that effect is due to the speed with which it's put up for auction, much faster than any other continent. I suppose much of that is due to resellers watching carefully and requesting parcels be auctioned ASAP after being abandoned. (FWIW, there are two Zindra 512 m² auctions to close tomorrow, and yesterday's fourteen total auction parcels included four on Zindra.)

I suspect, also, less land gets abandoned on Zindra because there is an active market for it so it's worth setting it for sale instead of abandoning it. That's generally true of the high-value parts of other continents, too: stuff gets abandoned, sure, but not nearly as much as in landlocked high granite wastelands for example.