House Hunting Part III - Renting Land

When the concept of rezzing my own house on land came to my attention, I immediately thought I had to upgrade to a premium account and purchase the land. However, when I began to search the land sales listings, only a small percentage were actually for sale. The rest of the "land sale" listings were actually rentals offered in the guise of land purchase. If you truly purchase land, you do need a premium account and have to pay monthly tier fees to Linden if you purchase anything over the allotted 512 square feet size - which is, in reality, a tiny parcel. Then, if you get tired of your parcel, you have to continue to pay the tier fees until you sell the land to someone else. Based on the sheer volume of small land parcels available in SL, selling a parcel could take months, unless you spend more fees for classified ads to attract buyers.

Then there is the problem of neighbors. You may find the most beautiful parcel of land imaginable, but a few months or weeks after rezzing your new house, you suddenly have new neighbors who build something ghastly or distracting to your guests. Then what happens? If you've purchased the land, you have to sell it to move - and good luck selling with weird builds next door. Or, as in my case, you like to change your home with your mood. I had a beach house during the summer, and a Tuscan home in the fall. This type of change is only practical if you rent the land.

If you do want to take the plunge into actual land purchase, examine the land covenant in the "about land" section when right clicking directly on the land. The land covenant will let you know what type of building is allowed. This is VERY important! Some land covenants are very open and allow almost any type of build, which is tricky as explained above. Other covenants are very restricted which detail the size of your build based on parcel size, and how close to the property line you can rez, or what style of house allowed. In my experience, for sustained re-sale value, the more restricted in the area of style, the better the overall atmosphere remains. Just because you purchase the land, does not mean you own the entire sim, so you will want to see how many prims are allowed on your particular parcel - not all land prims are the same - some sims are more generous than others when it comes to prim allowance - and don't forget to look at the prim level of the house you are going to rez!

If you decide the rent the land, you usually have the same privileges as a true purchaser, but retain the freedom to vacate as the mood hits you. Of course, renting the land might be a little bit more expensive, but not very much, so it's definitely an option worth considering.

So, if you are happy with your previously rented little space, why would you want to build your own house? For me, visiting a prefab home showroom once had me quickly hooked. Once I was made aware of the existence of these large stores, my lovely little rented house suddenly seemed inadequate. The wonderful thing about these supercenters of architecture is the ability to tour each home at leisure.

The sheer variety of homes available is staggering, although the majority of homes available in SL are contemporary in design....not only because this design is popular, but also because it is an easier design to build. Some of the contemporary designs are simply stunning due to high levels of textural quality. My preference lies in homes that closely resemble RL architecture, but the sky is literally the limit in SL when it comes to designing homes. Besides elaborate skybox houses that float high above the land, any other kind of imagined architecture can be found. Fantasy houses, such as treehouses or castles, are also very popular depending on the land you choose to build on.

Matching your house to the land is probably the first major element you should consider when toying with the idea of building or rezzing your own home. If you want a ski lodge, don't rez one on beach front property....and besides, the land covenant probably would not let this happen anyway. But, once you are ready, simply visit the potential parcel just as you did when shopping for a home rental, and pay the weekly rental box in the same manner. Once your resident group is activated, you are ready to get rezzing!

Here are a few of my favorite prefab stores:

Barnesworth Anubis Pre-Fabulous Homes and Furniture: Barnesworth is probably my favorite place for nice solid homes with great detail. However, much of the details used in Barnesworth's designs are not photographic details, but beautiful subtle shading in each prim. Designs also include very nice moulding touches with walls that are not paper thin. Stairs are also real stairs and not one prim ramps with stair textures.

Satir DeCuir's Houses Homes Prefabs: A nice favorite for historical and ancient designs. Satir specializes in cabins, farmhouses, ancient roman villas and moroccan designs. Again, great detail with walls that are think enough to keep your outside plants outside.

Fire and Water: Absolutely gorgeous prefabs in the fantasy style. The details are stunning with thick walls and the floor plans are open with courtyards and fountains. Well worth the visit to see what SL talent just waits to be experienced. The furniture store is also a great find!

Villas on Villa Prefab Houses: A fairly new designer that only offers about eight villas in two design styles. The walls here are very thin, but the wide open spaces inside with beautiful photographic textures make this a must-see for those thinking about a Parisian or Tuscan villa. Each villa also comes with a wine cellar. Prims are low, but the villas are a bit pricey. There is a treasure hunt always going on to allow winners the choice of their favorite villa as a prize....but this means a lot of visitors and quite a bit of lag.

Enjoy,

Sif