The World According to Marx Dudek

I will explain later.

*cartwheels*

Recently, Linden Lab made a large number of landowners unhappy by glutting the market with new land (causing land prices to plummet) and lowering the cost of new private sims (causing many rental sims to lose large numbers of renters). It hasn’t been surprising to see land selling for 50% of its previous value.

So I knew I was faced with a challenge when deciding to sell off 4608sqm of my land. Most of the land in the sim had been bought up by a Gorean (sound familiar?) to build dozens and dozens of tiny rental skyboxes. This meant the already rocky terrain below was left barren, largely devoid of even a single tree.

I approached the skybox owner about selling my land. As predicted, I was treated as clueless and potentially gullible. I was told that most mainland was being sold now for two to three lindens per square meter, and that I should drop my asking price.

(Oh, did I neglect to mention that the skybox owner was griefing a nearby club owner because she dared putting ban lines around her own workshop - which apparently interfered with Mr. Skybox’s ability to fly around “his” region?)

So I lowered my asking price. Slightly.

Then I erected a 4608sqm cement skybox.

Honestly? I was sick of the desolation. If I was stuck with the land, at least I was going to have surroundings that were amenable to me. I built it first, planning to come back to retexture the interior later. By the time I finished assembling it, I was actually pleased with it! Since I figured it wasn’t going to sell, I was going to cancel the sale and muck about in the air, visually shielded from the clutter of rentals in my midst.

Ironically, I forgot to cancel.

I’m guessing that my cement behemoth was the incentive the skybox builder needed to buy me out - for L$6.07 per sqm. I was in world, talking with a friend when suddenly I get my skybox handed to me, piece by piece - and a muncha bunny dropped into my account.

The funny thing? The 4608sqm started out as one 512sqm plot that I bought for Three for her plot of tier-free land under her premium membership. When she changed her mind, I noticed the 512 next to it - and the one next to that one. And so on.

Land ownership is insidiously addictive.

I’ve got two parcels in Birmingham City that I’m about to surrender back to the owner. I’ve had them both up for L$1000 for a bit now. One is 1008sqm and the other is 1024sqm. It’s a residential sim, but boutique-type shops are permitted. If you want to visit the sim (both parcels have the traditional For Sale signs), and look over the parcels, I will take best offer. Tier is in the 550-575 per week range. The 1008 is near a club so it’s best suited for skybox use. Comment here if you’re interested and I’ll make arrangements. All offers will be considered.

I need to figure out a way to clone myself. My ambitions are in danger of exceeding my ability to act on them.

I’ve been on a land-buying spree in Birmingham City. I suppose it’s an indicator of my love for the sim and my desire to make an investment there. I now own a number of parcels there, and I need to decide what to do with what I have. In addition, a search for small swatch of mainland for Three resulted in an impulse purchase of over 2200sqm for myself in the new Ryalo region.

In just the past few days, I’ve been pondering the idea of participating in one of the new full-region auctions and taking the real-estate-agent role to a new level. Buying, partitioning, reselling. Making some money in the process.

Land is a seductive mistress. On the other hand, perhaps I’ve discovered my career track.