How to sell land
This article explains the mechanics of safely selling land inworld.
To set a parcel of your land for sale:
- Right-click on the ground and select About Land.
- In the GENERAL tab of the About Land window, click the Sell Land button. The SELL LAND window opens.
- Under Set a price, enter the amount in L$ for which you wish to sell the land.
- Under Sell the land to, select Anyone or Specific person. See below for more information on selling land to a specific Resident.
- Under Sell the objects with the land?, choose either to keep or sell the objects on the parcel.
- Click Set Land for Sale.
Your parcel is now for sale. Unless you set the land for sale to a particular Resident (see below), your lisitng appears automatically in the Search window's Land & Rentals tab.
Selling land to a specific Resident
If you wish to sell your land to a specific Resident, it is very important that you take advantage of the Sell the land to: setting, or your land may be purchased by someone else. Some Residents use scripted agents, or "landbots," which can detect land at below-market prices the moment it appears in search, teleport to the spot and buy the land faster than any human can. While landbots are legal in Second Life and provide a valuable service for Residents who wish to sell land quickly, you risk losing your land to the wrong buyer if you do not follow the steps below. Remember, all sales are final. In the event that your land is purchased by someone other than the Resident you intend, Linden Lab cannot reverse the sale for you.
To sell land to a specific Resident:
- Right-click on the ground and select About Land.
- In the GENERAL tab of the About Land window, click the Sell Land button. The SELL LAND window opens.
- Under Set a price, enter the amount in L$ for which you wish to sell the land.
- Under Sell the land to, select Specific person. The CHOOSE RESIDENT window opens.
- Enter the name of the Resident and click Go.
- Select the Resident's name and click OK.
- Under Sell the objects with the land?, choose either to keep or sell the objects on the parcel.
- Click Set Land for Sale. The specified Resident can now purchase your land.
Maturity ratings
If you have set your land for sale to a specific Resident, that person must have maturity settings adequate to the parcel. For example, a Resident with a General-only maturity preference must adjust maturity preferences to include both General and Moderate content in order to purchse Moderate land. See Age verification for additional information.
Renting land to others
Land rental is a thriving business in Second Life. If you own a large amount of land or a Private Estate, it can be profitable for you to lease some of your land to other Residents.
To learn more about renting land in Second Life, see Renting land from other Residents.
Basic rental
Rentals in Second Life consist of a tenant/landlord structure. Tenants pay a landlord a regular fee for the use of a defined quantity of the landlord's resources. These resources may vary from situation to situation; some landlords rent predetermined parcels of land, while others may charge for a finite amount of land capacity in a Region.
There are many ways to collect rental fees from tenants; some landlords prefer informal direct payments and real paper record-keeping, while others use Resident-created, automated rental machines. Settle on the collection method with which you're most comfortable, and inform your tenants up front about your payment policy.
You also need to determine what level of control you want your tenants to have over your rented land. One common approach involves the creation of a "rental group," which forms a common bond between your land and your tenants. As long as the parcel is set to the rental group and your tenants use their rental group tags, they can place objects on your parcel without fear of auto return. For more information on how group land and objects work, see Group-owned land.
To evict a deadbeat tenant from group-owned land, eject the Resident from the land rental group. Upon ejection, any objects on the parcel are returned to the Resident's inventory.
Private Region rental
Estate owners have a number of tools at their disposal to make land rental easier. In addition to exercising greater control over the general environment in their regions, estate owners may divide their Private Regions into parcels for sale. When a Resident buys a parcel in a Private Region, he gains control over that parcel as though he owns it. This added feature eliminates the need for rental groups or complicated rights-granting rituals sometimes associated with rental properties.
To evict a deadbeat tenant from land in your Private Region, use the Reclaim Land button from the About Land window:
Advertising land rentals
There are three ways to list your land as a rental property in Second Life search:
- Create a classified ad
- Set the parcel's land category
- Include specific keywords in the parcel name or description
Each of these methods causes your land to appear under the "For Rent" section of Land & Rentals searches.
Create a classified ad on the land parcel
To create a new classified ad:
- Stand on the parcel you wish to rent out.
- Click the search icon at the left of the Viewer to open the Second Life Search window.
- Click Create a Classified on the Search window home page. The Edit Classified section of the My Profile tab opens.
- Fill in an appropriate title and description for your land rental classified ad.
- Click Set to Current Location to set the ad's location.
- From the Category dropdown, choose Land Rental.
- Click Publish to publish your new rental advertisement.
Set the parcel's land category in the About Land window
You can set a land parcel's category to Rental using the following procedure:
- Choose World > Place Profile > About Land.
- Click the OPTIONS tab.
- Set the category dropdown to Rental. The category dropdown can be found just above the parcel snapshot.
- Make sure Show Place in Search is checked so your parcel appears in search results.
Include specific keywords in your parcel name or description
If you use certain words or phrases in your parcel's name or description, it appears as a land rental in search results. To set your parcel's name and description:
- Choose World > Place Profile > About Land.
- Click the GENERAL tab.
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Use one of the following case-insensitive phrases in the Name or Description field to mark your parcel as a rental property in search results:
- Parcel for rent
- Mainland rental
- Estate rental
- Homestead rental
- Land rental
- Private Estate rental
Additional steps for rentals on private estates
If you are renting out parcels on your private estate, you must set the rental parcel for sale. To avoid misunderstandings, set the price as the weekly rental price and disclose any other setup fees or deposits in the parcel description.
Edited by Jeremy Linden