Ok, I may get into rant mode here. I officially do not understand why people rent land! Renting vendor space in a mall…now that’s different, that’s all well and good. Some vendor spaces are more expensive than others, some offer a higher prim limit than others, but in the main – it’s all cool. Now, renting actual land on the other hand…Why?? Perhaps I should set this rant in some sort of context before you all drop off to sleep…
Remember the oceanside land I bought a few posts back? The land on which I was going to build a shop and bar extravaganza? Well, I’ve been keeping a little secret to myself…after renting some vendor spots for a couple of weeks and seeing that was going ok, I sold the land. It’s mostly due to rl financial issues (aren’t most things?? Blah!). The plan was then this: Downgrade my premium account to a basic one and save the $9.95 a month; and eventually rent some land on which to build the Urban Elf headquarters. A seemingly good plan…until I looked at rental prices! How do these people seriously make a living? Here’s an example:
Let’s call this rental land part of Fart Hart Estates (name changed to protect the greedy). Looks pretty empty behind me doesn’t it? Here’s the reason why…To rent a 1024 sq. metre piece of land here will cost you a one time fee of L$22400 and then a further L$5600 (or $20) a month in rent. Whoah! Slow down there! That’s double what I would pay for the land if I bought it outright (the current going price for 1024 land is about L$12000 – and I actually saw some today selling for L$10286); and yes, that means I would also have to pay monthly for a premium account and Linden Lab tier fees. But let’s work this out…That would cost me L$12000 for the land and $14.95 a month in account and tier fees…Compare that to Fart Hart Estate’s generous offer of L$22400 up front and $20 a month fees…Now am I losing my mind or is that a crappy deal?
But Fart Hart Estates are not alone. It seems that rental prices are overblown across the Grid. The better land barons will only charge you L$1 to lay claim to your chosen piece of land (quite a difference from L$22400!!) but the monthly tier fees still don’t add up when you compare them to what you would be paying Linden Labs for land the same size.
Plus there’s all the rules and regulations! Sheesh…no laggy scripts, no huge builds, don’t build close to your neighbour’s land, don’t use ban lines, don’t do this, don’t do that. I know that nobody wants to live next to a butt ugly club that blocks out the sky and is filled with laggy camping chairs…but do you also want to feel like you’re in school again? I know I don’t, it was bad enough the first time!
One last gripe, might as well get them all outta my system now! Why can you no longer find normal, bog standard land to buy in the SL Search? It’s all land barons, rentals and covenants. If you want land to call your own (and not be somebody else’s rent paying bitch), I’d suggest searching the secondlife.com forums instead…real land is still out there, you just have to work a little harder to find it.
Rant over!
P.S. You could do worse than check out Darius Lehane’s Guide to Land: How to Own Land and Make Money (or not spend much) – Brilliant!
