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This is the first of many guides to Second Life® that I will be writing. This guide is on buying land in Second Life. Buying your first land can be scary if you do not know what kind of land you are buying. Is it Linden Lab land or is is Private Estate land? So I wrote this guide to explain about different types of land and how to go about buying them. So please enjoy the guide!
Buying your first land in Second Life® can be very exciting, however there some things you should know about land before you buy. This will help you choose land that is right for you. The first thing you should learn how to do is look at the land settings. As it is here where you can learn about the land you want to buy. To do this right click the ground and on the pie menu choose About Land, as in the picture below.
Once you do this the land menu will appear. Now when you buy land in Second Life® there are 2 basic land types you need to know about.
Linden Lab® Land.
One is Linden Lab® land. To buy this land you need a Premium account for Second Life®. A Premium account will allow you to own up to 512 Square meters of land without paying a land tier. If you buy more than 512 Sq meters of land you will then start paying a monthly land tier to Linden Labs® through you account page on the Second Life® website.
Private Estate Land
The other kind of land you can buy in Second Life® is private estate land. To buy land from a private estate you do not need a premium account. Any land tier you pay for this land will be paid to the estate owner and not to Linden Labs®. Many Private estates sell or rent land. It is debated by some they even if you buy land from a private estate you just renting, as the esate owners can reclaim the land from you at anytime. You can also look at it as the private esate owner as providing an alternative to buying land from Linden Labs®, such as different ISPs on the Internet. It will be up to you to decide what view you take.
How do I know if it is Linden Lab® land or a Private Estate?
Once you find land you like you will want to know if it is Linden Lab® land or a private estate. To find out open the land settings as I explained above and go to the Covenant tab. Here you can find out if it is Linden Lab® land or not. Look at the name next to Estate Owner. If there is a name there and it is a non Linden name and there are many rules listed it is a private estate. On Linden Labs® land there will be no name under estate owner or it will say Governor Linden. Look at the pictures below to see.
This is an example of a private estate land. You can see next to Estate Owner is has my name Elvis Orbit as this is from my estate and below the name is the covenant with the rules of the estate.
This is an example of Linden Lab® land. As you can see that there is no name next to Estate Owner and no rules listed. This is a good sign that this is Linden lab® land. As well when you go to actually buy the land and the land is Linden Lab® land it will confirm with you that the land is Linden Lab's® and what tier you will be paying.
When buying land from a private estate you must read the rules of the covenant. It will tell you the tier prices and how they can be paid. Many allow the tier to be paid through Linden dollars inworld or by Paypal.
Pros and Cons of Linden Lab® Land and Private Estate Land.
Linden Labs® Land
Pros to buying Linden Lab® are that you are buying land directly from Linden Labs® and will not have to worry about many rules and restrictions on what you can or can not build on your land as long as it complies with the TOS. All you have to know if it is a Mature or PG area depending on what you will place on your land.
Cons to buying Linden Lab® land that there are no controls or rules about cutting up and selling land and what people can build. So a problem is you get many Linden Lab® regions that are filled with ads and garbage. You can build a nice house and then person next to you can set up ads and other things that may annoy you. There is really no control in these areas. You will need to buy a premium account from the Second Life website. As well you will have to pay VAT taxes if you live in Europe.
Private Estates
Pros to buying from a private estate are that the rules are mostly stricter which means more control of what can be built and can be put on the land. They are usually zoned into residential areas or commercial areas. And many estates have rules about buildings and keeping with the theme of the region. This way the regions in general look great and people don't have to worry about ad farms popping up next door. No premium account is needed. As well if you pay the tier in Linden dollars you can avoid any VAT taxes if you live in Europe.
Cons are thet you are buying land and paying tier to a person who bought a sim and you have no way of knowing unless they run a real life company the real life details of the estate owner. 99% of estate owners are probably safe but there is that 1% who are there just to make money and who are not very good. They can reclaim the land at any time and do what they want. As well if the estate owner does not pay Linden Labs® the region maintenance fee the region could be shut down without notice. Or they could sell the region to a new owner. So if you look for land at a private region it is best to ask people who already have land there how reliable the estate owner is. But like I said 99% are probably safe.
So it is best to look around at both kinds of land so see what fits your needs.
Where to find Land for sale.
The best place to find land for sale is in the Second Life® search. Open up the search and use the Land sales tab. There you can find all the land currently for sale in Second Life. There are also many other Second Life related websites that list different lands for sale. A good one to check is SL Exchange . Once you are there click the Real Estate tab and you can find many lands for sale in Second Life®.
Buying the Land
Once you have found the land you wish to buy, right click the ground again and click buy land or the about land again. If you go the about land way click the buy land button in the general tab. If the land is Linden Lab® land it will confirm with you your new tier price if there is any then you click ok and it will be complete. If the land is Private Estate land you will have to confirm you read the covenant. There will be a box to check before the land can be bought. As well for Private Estate land check on when the tier is due and how much it is. This will be written on the covenant. Some Private estates take only Pay Pal. Some will have the option of either Linden™ dollars or Paypal. If the tier can be paid in Linden™ dollars check if it is a direct payment to the owner or through a tier box or kiosk system.
In a future article I will write about the different settings in the land settings and how to use them. These are important for security, music, objects and many other things. Remember if you have other concerns you can check them out at the Knowledge base on on Second Life® website under the Support tab.
Good luck and enjoy your land!
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