land in second life
Joining Second Life and getting to grips with the basic functions is a steep learning curve! But once you've gotten to grips with the basics and decided you're going to stick around, you might start thinking about owning your own land.
getting started
Do you even need your own land?
There are plenty of publicly accessible places to build or hang out. So do you really need your own land? Well, quite simply, if you're the sort of person who maybe logs in for just half an hour a week and prefers just to wander around, then you probably won't need your own land. However, if you plan on being a frequent user and want somewhere to have a hangout place, house or even a business, then you'll need land.
What's this 'tier' thing I keep hearing about?
Tier is a recurring land usage fee. Once you have bought a parcel of land in Second Life, you will have to pay a weekly/monthly tier fee on it. This applies to all land in Second Life and is unavoidable. When all is said and done, all land in Second Life is essentially just server space, so as with any type of business, you pay a fee for its usage.
Mainland and Private Estate
Once you have decided that you want to own your own land, the next question is whether to take on mainland or private estate. With mainland, you pay your land usage fees, or tier, to Linden Lab. Therefore, in order to own mainland, you are required by Linden Lab to have a premium account (currently $9.95 per month). However, if you don't want to have a premium account, you can still own land by buying on private estates. Private Estates are entire regions of land that have been purchased by companies or individuals from Linden Lab. The owners of these regions pay a monthly fee ($295.00 per month) to Linden Lab for these islands and then sell plots of land to other individuals and charge them tier. Your tier payments will be charged to you monthly by Linden Lab. The frequency of payments on private estate varies from company to company.
What's more expensive? Mainland or Private Estate?
Again, this depends on how much land you want. Bearing in mind that owning land on the mainland already requires a $9.95 per month premium account before you even start on land usage fees, this is money that can be saved by purchasing on a private estate. Though tier can be higher depending on the private estate company, in terms of purchasing fees, these are almost invariably higher on the mainland. The key with any purchase in terms of pricing, whether it be mainland or private estate is to shop around until you find the best deal.
What's a Covenant?
Most private estate companies have a covenant. A covenant is a set of rules by which, upon purchasing land there, you agree to adhere to. Some people would rather not buy from somewhere with a covenant, but in fact, a good covenant makes life for everyone using that sim much easier. For example, at Cove Islands, we do not permit ban lines in our covenant, which means people can fly freely around the sims. This is balanced, however, by allowing security systems. Zoning is also strictly covered in the covenant to ensure that businesses stay on commercial sims and that residential sims remain just residential. Rather than finding this restrictive, many of our residents enjoy the lower lag this results in on the residential sims.
If I have to pay tier anyway, what's the difference between buying and renting?
Essentially, buying the land means you are permitted to resell it. If someone claims you are buying their land but does not allow you to resell it, then this is in essence a rental. In Second Life, rental fees tend to be higher than tier fees.
I've heard that private estate sim owners can just reclaim parcels?
This is true and the fact of the matter is that even if you have paid for a parcel, it can be reclaimed by an estate owner. This is why it is absolutely essential to find out more about the person whose sim you are buying on. Do they plan to keep the sim? Do they already have a number of happy residents? Have they more than one sim? Do they have a good track record? It is always a better bet to buy from a company (such as Cove Islands) with a proven track record, a number of sims and hundreds of satisfied residents. This is because the estate managers will be those you go to when you need any assistance. They can override your parcel settings and you may find you require support on occasion (for example a sim restart). Read around before you buy. Does the company offer easily accessible support?
The Buying Process
Once you have looked around and found the parcel you want, buying it is usually the simple part! It really is a simple case of clicking on the ground itself, going to 'About Land' and then selecting the 'Buy Land' option. This will prompt you to read and check, in agreement, to the covenant (this is often on private estate land where you find tier information). Once processed, your account is instantly debited and the land goes into your name! Right clicking on the land when it is owned by you and going to 'About Land' will bring up a whole host of options that you as the landowner may want to change, such as title and description of parcel, whether to list it in place search, whether to allow others to build on your land and so on.
what makes cove islands a good private estate company
Cove Islands has been in Second Life real estate since January 2007 and, at the time of this writing, has 30 sims! This means we have a portfolio of satisfied residents already as well as an established reputation.
Support: We have a large support team in order to provide assistance in world, or via our live support and ticketing portal which can be accessed by going here. You can also request assistance from staff through the resident group IM.
Facilities: We offer an array of facilities, exclusive to residents, which can be viewed here.
Flexible Tier Payments: We won't make you pay a month's tier up front. We won't even make you pay a week up front. In fact, you pay what you want, when you want, provided you are always in positive credit. No trekking to a central location to pay your tier. No hassle with PayPal. You have a terminal adjacent to your land where you can pay as much or as little Linden, at a time, as you wish. You simply left click it to display your remaining time and our staff team will be happy to add anyone else you wish as an admin on your terminal to give them the ability to pay tier. Additionally, in the event that you were to sell your land, any time remaining on your parcel will be passed on to the next owner. This really is a very flexible system.
No Hidden Costs: Cove Islands decided that we would not charge for administrative tasks, such as parcel merging or swapping. If you take on more land, you simply pay the new tier rate and cost of the land. We believe these services should be covered in the tier you pay to us!
Community: Cove Islands holds community events and our residents seem to create a great atmosphere amongst themselves, making each sim more like a real 'neighborhood' than just a big chunk of land.
The Sims and Prims: Our sims aren't just cut up into a dismal grid like fashion. In fact, each one is carefully mapped and planned before terraforming even begins. Our residential sims have a typical prim bonus of 15% (up as high as 30%) and all of our commerce and commercial parcels have a double prim allowance. The landscaping and themes on each sim makes for some spectacular scenery and an incredibly 'exclusive' feel to the islands.