Buying land

[Mace41]

Is there any way to buy land without having a prem account ?

[Jonathan VonLenard]

no.

[Mace41]

Not even by a another resident?

[Wildcat Furse]

you could instead rent a piece of mainland from someone (which is sometimes a good option for starters) ... *meows*

PS. or lease a piece of land on a private island (doesn't have to be mainland of course!) which is easier and gives you more control, as you can buy the land and then can return it easily after the lease .... back to the owner.

 

[Anastasia Zulaman]

You can rent land from other residents, and in some cases, you can 'own' the land as well which would let you change the media settings, access settings, name, description, etc. Whether you buy/rent from another user or buy mainland, there is going to be a teir/rent associated with it. For premium members, you pay by the month based on your total landholdings across the mainland. You can rent, typically by the week, from other users on private regions. Note that some private regions have rules about the land use - make sure you read the covenant before buying to ensure you can live there and build how you want to. Look around the land forums for people renting land in the size you want, or post asking for a specific sized plot of land or to find out what you can get within your budget. Some land owners also use the marketplace to advertise, so you could check there. There are also groups in SL that allow users to advertise their land for rent - try searching for groups about advertising land or land for sale.

[Jennifer Boyle]

Yes.  You can rent tier for L$0.25 per square meter per week.  The way it works is you make a group to own the land, which is really a good idea anyway because groups can own 10% more land for the same tier.  You invite a representative of the people you rent the tier from into the group, and she donates the amount of tier you are renting.  I have rented most of my tier for several years, and it has been completely satisfactory.  Renting tier is especially attractive is the amount of land you own is toward the lower end of one of the tier brackets.

The other way you can "buy" land without a premium membership is to buy on a private island, in which case you are really just renting it from the island owner.  That has never been attractive to me because if the landlord fails to pay LL, you lose your land.

A premium membership is, IMHO, not a bad deal if you pay by the year.  The L$300 per week stipend plus the value of the 512 sq m tier you get (L$128 per week at the above price) actually is worth more than it costs you.  I don't need it often, maybe once a year or so, but when I do chat support can be a lifesaver.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Whenever you "buy" land from another resident, unless you are a premium member and buying mainland, you are actually just giving the other resident extra money upfront (in my opinion, a foolish thing to do).  You'll still have to pay some form of tier (rent is what most landlords call it).  If you "purchase" any land from anyone other than Linden Lab you are are at the mercy of whoever it is who pays Linden Lab the tier owed for the land.  It that person fails to pay the tier to LL the land gets taken from that person..........and you get ejected from that land with little or no recourse.

 

So that "No" is the most accurate.  The only "yes" part is in the definition of "buying".  Buying from another resident (unless that other resident is selling mainland and you are premium) is renting.........renting with substanial risks to your investment.

[LoveAngeL Lyre]

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Mace41 wrote:

Is there any way to buy land without having a prem account ?

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Hello Mace. Yes you can do that on a Private Estate, no on Mailand. In this case "buy" means that you get most rights of the owner and still you have to pay a weekly or montly tier. You can buy from a small plot till a whole region. You pay the tier to another resident who usually gets the region directly from LL.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

You can buy or rent from another SL resident who is a landlord or estate owner without a premium account  The terms rent and buy are sometimes confusing to people and sometimes not used correctly by the landlord or estate owner.  So below I have tried to explain the differences to you, as the terms are generally used.

A landlord is someone that owns land that they rent out.  An estate owner owns the sim where the land is.  A landlord generally spells the terms out in a lease, whereas an estate owner generally uses the covenant of the estate to set the rules.  If you have a lease, you will also need to abide by the terms of the covenant if there is one, as a covenant over rides a lease if it has tighter restrictions.  Be sure that you can agree to all the terms of the lease AND covenant prior to making a commitment, because if you don't, you will be evicted without refund.

You can 'rent' property.  Generally this is used for smaller properties that are inexpensive to rent.  It may come with a building that may or may not be furnished or it may just be an apartment or small shop.  You don't get title to the land, as it generally stays owned by the landlords group.  You get a membership in that group to allow you to rez objects and perhaps change media and/or manage access to it etc., depending on the terms of the lease.

You can 'rent' land that gives you all the same rights an owner has. Sometimes the landlord will provide a building and furnishings for free or for a small additional charge.  Generally you 'buy' the land by paying the first week's rent.  When you no longer want it, you can't resell the land, you just stop paying the rent and leave.

When you buy land, there is generally a down payment plus you must pay the first tier due.  The down payment can be anywhere from $1L to thousands depending on the desirability of the lot.  Tiers are paid monthly or weekly in Lindens or in RL US funds via PayPal, depending on the estate owner.  When you no longer want it, you can resell the land for whatever you can get for it OR you can just abandon it back to the estate owner.  In either case though you don't get a refund of the downpayment you paid for it.

It is important to note that if you have a dispute with your landlord or estate owner that Linden Lab will not get involved with it as it is a contract between you and the person you are renting or buying from.  If the landowner or estate owner doesn't pay the tiers and loses the land you have no recourse with LL even if  you've paid the rent or tiers in advance.  Unless the person refunds the money to you, which is rare,  you will lose it.  So its wise to seek a landlord or estate owner that has been around a while and has a good reputation for fairness and stability.

[Rolig Loon]

Yes, there certainly is.  You can buy a private estate as a Basic member.  With a private estate, you can do much more ambitious terraforming that you can on the mainland, you can design your convenant to be as open or as restrictive as you wish, and you can choose your own sim name, among other things.  You also pay more for the monthly fee, of course. :smileywink:

[Jonathan VonLenard]

As I said no,

 

none of the other mentioned ways is actually buying land.  On a private sim you can pay all you want the owner of the actual sim can just yank it from you anytime and SL will do nothing, you own nothing.

[Sy Beck]

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Rolig Loon wrote:

Yes, there certainly is.  You can buy a private estate as a Basic member.  With a private estate, you can do much more ambitious terraforming that you can on the mainland, you can design your convenant to be as open or as restrictive as you wish, and you can choose your own sim name, among other things.  You also pay more for the monthly fee, of course. :smileywink:

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^ This is the correct answer to the question.

 

There would be a $1000 setup fee too to consider, but recently LL have been dropping the setup fees for a limited time offer.  The monthly tier is $295

[Rolig Loon]

Unless, as I said, you buy the private estate yourself. :smileywink:

Although it does happen that a landlord can "yank [rented land]  from you at any time," that is not very common.  It would be impossible to put numbers to it, but I think it's fair to say that there are way more satisfied renters on private sims than unsatisfied ones.  Like many things in life, renting is a measured risk (in RL too), but it's one that a very large number of people take successfully all the time.

You are right, though, that technically you can never "buy" land anywhere, regardless of your membership status.  We all ultimately rent from Linden Lab.  The question is simply to whom you mail the rent check.

[Wildcat Furse]

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Jonathan VonLenard wrote:

As I said no,

 

none of the other mentioned ways is actually buying land.  On a private sim you can pay all you want the owner of the actual sim can just yank it from you anytime and SL will do nothing, you own nothing.

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then the best solution for you is to go premium, no? *meows*

[Peggy Paperdoll]

In a virtual world such as Second Life,  you don't own any land that you "buy" no matter who you buy that land from......including Linden Lab.  When you "buy" land from LL you are paying them upfront money (usually for setup costs) and then paying periodic fees (in LL's case, monthly tier) to continue to "own" the land..........the fact is, you are "renting" server space that the land it hosted on.  The only entity who owns the land is the entity that owns the servers that provide the space that the land is hosted on.  In SL that is Linden Lab.

 

When LL provides the space on the servers for land they give rights and priveleges to the person they host the land for.  One of those priveleges is that the "owner" can sub-lease (or rent) all or part of the land to others.  But the "owner" of the land is the person who is obligated to pay for the server space......and that "owner" has the most power (aside from LL) about what happens on the land.  When you buy land and pay someone other than LL the tier you are trusting someone else to pay LL monthly and that that person will treat you fairly as long as you pay them.  Most landlords are trustworthy.......but not all.  It's that "not all" that makes renting (even if you think you are "buying) land from anyone other than LL more risky.  LL's concern is with the person who pays them directly.........not a person who pays someone else to pay LL.  You have no protection at all if someone decides to change the rules and kick everyone off their land.  You have no protection if the owner defaults on their tier and looses the land due to non-payment.  You are at that person's mercy and goodwill.  If you can trust that person, great...........but it's almost impossible to know who are are really dealing with.  Linden Lab has a presence on the Internet, a history of about 9 years, and a street address in San Francisco making it considerably more trustworthy than someone who is only known by a user name in Second Life.

 

If you know the risk and are okay with that risk then renting (or "buying") from another resident and you are not a premium member, then that's fine.  But from the threads posted almost daily about someone being "ripped off" by a land owner it appears a substainial percentage of people don't know the risk.

[Jonathan VonLenard]

Not sure if you meant to reply to me, I wasn't the one asking.  I'm superpremium 4,096 land and i pay nothing  

[Wildcat Furse]

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Jonathan VonLenard wrote:

Not sure if you meant to reply to me, I wasn't the one asking.  I'm superpremium 4,096 land and i pay nothing

 

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oops sorry Jonathan ..... it was meant for Mace ..... /me gives you a big wet lick on ur nose :matte-motes-delicious: *meows*

[Christopher Organiser]

Yes, there is a way to buy land without having Premium Membership, and that is by buying land on a private estate instead of land on the mainland.

To find out more about the difference between land on a private estate, and land on the mainland, go here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Land_Buying_FAQ#Q3.29_What_is_the_difference_between_land_on_a_private_estate.2C_and_land_on_the_mainland.3F

Hope this helps!  

[Jennifer Boyle]

I am going to describe in more detail what I do because everyone else here seems to think it can't be done.  I have a premium membership with an allowance to own 512 sq m of land.  I own a group.  The group owns all of my land, which is all mainland, the majority having been received directly from LL when Zindra opened.  I donate my 512 sq m to the group.  I pay some people who are in the business of doing this to donate the remainder of the needed tier to my group.  They do this by having one of their associates join my group and donate the tier.  I pay them L$0.25 per sq m per week for their donation.  I have been doing this for over three years and it has been completely satisfactory.  I could do the same thing as a basic member, except that I would have to rent an additional 512 sq m of tier.  (I might have to be premium for one month to buy the land---I don't know if one has to be a premium member to "buy for group," as I never tried it as a basic member.  Does anyone know?)