🗣 I see a lot of ads for land rentals, but where do people go about purchasing and owning land?
If you'd like to buy land in SL, you must first understand that you can only buy what's loosely called 'mainland'. That is to say, land where "Governor Linden" is the estate manager. (or some other Linden account).
Unfortunately, this requires you to have a Basic Plus, Premium, or Premium Plus account level.
Land 'ownership' is really just 'renting from Linden Lab'.. but gives you full land ownership tools (ban-list, environment/sky, naming, showing in search, etc) plus the right to sell it to someone else, rent it out, and so on.
How much land you own, will affect how much "Tier" you must pay. These are processed in levels.. and it's somewhat exponential in terms of the amount of land you can hold, vs the price.
There is an upshot here however, as the Basic Plus, Premium, and Premium Plus account levels all come with a certain allotment of 'fee free' land holding. (which Prem and Prem+ accounts can apply towards Linden Homes)
- A Basic Plus account has 512m² of fee-free tier
- A Premium account has 1024m²
- A Premium Plus account has 2048m²
From there, there is a fee schedule for tier 'in addition' to your fee-free allotment.
Second Life : Land Use Fees 🔗
If you were Basic Plus (for example), you'd be able to hold 512m² for free each month. But if you wanted to own a 1024m² parcel, you'd need an additional 512m² in tier each month.
Since your Basic Plus membership would cost $5.99 per month, and an additional 512m² would cost an additional $4 a month.. that would bring your monthly costs to $9.99 a month.
just an aside, in this scenario, it may be beneficial to consider the added value that comes with Premium.. while it's be $2 more a month to get the same result, you'd also receive a monthly stipend of L$ back in your pocket each week. The value of that 300L$ stipend is about $4-5 a month.Okay so that's the basics on land ownership, Second Life membership, and "Tier"....
How do you FIND that land?
Well there are a few ways.
1. You can search using Second Life : Land Search 🔗 (you'll get better results if you're logged in)
2. You can open your World Map, and turn on the "Land Sale" checkbox.
You'll see a lot of 'price tags' showing parcels listed for sale. Zooming in, Parcels shown in Yellow are set for sale. Parcels marked in Purple are 'on auction'. (note: sometimes disreputable rental agencies try to make their parcels LOOK like they're for sale, when they aren't.)
3. You can also see this information on the Mini-map, by right-clicking on it, and choosing Show > Parcels for Sale.
4. Land Auctions can be accessed by going to this webpage: Second Life : Land Auctions 🔗 - allowing you and other users to bid for many of the Abandoned land parcels throughout the grid.
5. Fly around looking for "Abandoned Land" inworld. When you find an abandoned land parcel, it'll usually be owned by Governor Linden. You can always 'ask' if you can buy it directly. This knowledgebase article goes into some detail: How to request purchase of abandoned land 🔗
But the basics are, go to Second Life Support : My Tickets 🔗, make sure you're logged in, then go to Second Life Support : Create New Ticket 🔗 and fill out a support ticket with type: ***Land & Region > Abandoned Land***
Then just ask nicely. In some cases they'll say no.. but it's less work for them if they can just sell it outright, than if it has to go through the whole auction process. You'll be much more likely to be approved if you already own land in that region.
6. Lastly, and I really don't recommend bothering with this, you can search the MP listings under SL Marketplace : Real Estate > Mainland > Parcel Sales 🔗
In my experience, the Land Search option (#1) and just looking at the map (#2) are the best ways to search for land.
