Buying Real Estate in Home
by keara22hi, HSM team writer
The posts in the Home Forum have shown that people are becoming leery of buying every new space that opens up. They want to see it in person, try out the built-in mini games (if there are any), and mentally measure the place for furnishings. Plus, to some it has seemed that the spaces with the hosted tours had an advantage over the ones that open with little if any fanfare. Some kind-hearted volunteers offer tours of their own spaces to all their friends and some even post notices in the Home Forum that such invitations are available.
Let’s start with the latest trend: hosted tours of new personal spaces. It certainly turned the Mansion into a huge success – even with the eye-blinding gold bling everywhere. However, there are problems with that method of selling a personal space:
- Sending an Add request to HCVs hoping one of them will be available to give you a tour;
- Having room on your own Friend list to add someone, even if only temporarily;
- Finding a time when you are free to take the tour and trying to match that with a time when a HCV is able to take you;
- Being too shy to ask a lot of questions when touring in a group;
- Seeing it partially furnished with the HCV’s own stuff;
- Not being able to see how your own furniture would fit;
- Trolls in the group who give the HCV a hard time for getting that space for free;
The next time-honored method of seeing a space before purchasing are those tireless unpaid volunteers in Home who make video walk-throughs of new spaces.
One of the best known for their video tours is cbeyond. The videos are clear, short, and thorough. You get a good overview of the new space without any furniture in it.
I usually watch the video several times and make notes of what furnishings would work best for that space. If you don’t have anything that will really work (as happened to me with the Anime space), you need to add in the cost of new furnishings in your personal space budget. Even a free space (in my case the Dragon’s Lair) can run into double-digit spending when nothing you have in stock will fit.
This is also determined by your intended use of the space: is this a place where you want to just rest, relax, watch whatever is on the big screen, and enjoy some ‘cave time’ by yourself?
For me, that’s the Amaterasu yacht. After the initial rush of inviting friends to see it, this yacht became my ‘peace and tranquility’ spot. Sitting on the deck, watching the scenery pass by, enjoying the whales leaping out of the water, and pretending I will never have to return to port: that is a serenity that is hard to find in real life.
If, on the other hand, you want a party pad where you have room for a large outdoor disco, a pool for people to fall into, an open bar, a place for a food buffet, a life-size chess board and pieces, and a good excuse for wearing the latest bikinis, you can’t beat the Mansion poolside area or the Hollywood Hills house. Both of those places just scream “Rock out!”
Then, along came Joanna_Dark’s brilliant idea: “On the other hand it also seems to me that it should be possible to simply put a new personal space that will be coming out for sale on the Navigator before release, insuring that anyone who wants to visit can do so. This could be done as a preview opportunity for a week prior to the space going on sale and could be done on a regular basis as new personal spaces are released. This way anyone visiting home would know about it and can take the opportunity to visit it.”
Many of us who read that post, jumped on it like a plate of fried chicken at a picnic! Wow! Great idea! Why not? And, bless his heart, Locust Star read the idea and liked it. In the same thread he posted this response:
“Hey everyone,
I wanted to chime in regarding a couple of the discussions going on in this thread:
1.) We are working on creating a new method of previewing personal spaces – namely, creating public space versions and releasing them on the Navigator, such as many of you have requested. It requires additional development, but it’s also a pretty popular idea amongst you all, so we figure it’s worth a try to see how it goes.
2.) We will also continue to do the HCV previews, as many members of the community love the personal touch that comes with having a guided tour. All in all, it seems as if these tours are fun for both the Volunteers and the players that decide to sign up for the preview. It’s not about compensation – as many of you have pointed out, a $5 personal space is hardly a fair exchange for all the hours our HCVs spend working with the larger community. As some of you have pointed out, this behavior was occuring prior to any official involvement from HCM. What we are doing with the HCV tours is simply facilitating the building of relationships and sharing of experiences between players.
3.) The HCV program has open enrollment. While the criteria is strict, technically anybody can become an HCV if they display the right character and a commitment to helping the wider community grow, bond, and thrive.
Best,
L_S”
I read this and almost fell off my chair! At long last – an incredible suggestion, an immediate response, and a wonderful treat to look forward to.
So – any of you who think you are wasting your time posting your suggestions in the Home Forum and in this magazine, think again. Those suggestions are taken seriously, evaluated, and, whenever feasible, implemented in Home.
In closing, buying Home real estate is not completely unlike buying real estate in the real world – albeit with a lot fewer zeroes before the decimal point. There are a lot of factors to consider besides just the initial purchase price, and no matter what method you choose to go with in previewing a space before making that final decision, it will never look exactly like what it will look with your furnishings, your sense of style. On the other hand, feeling buyer’s remorse for a virtual five-dollar real estate purchase is easier to reconcile than, say, a real life $500,000 real estate purchase.
August 8th, 2011 by keara22hi | 3 comments
Keara is also known in Home as DarthGranny. She is a wicked little old lady with a wild sense of humor.
Putting new spaces in home for preview is something they have been wanting to do for some time but have not perfected it for a few reasons. Ideas and thoughts in the forums are read daily. Cbeyond has been doing video’s of estates for a very long time and does a very good job. Very nice article granny.
This idea is a wonderful way to not only show people the new spaces but also to eliminate a bit of the burden the HCV’s have and allow them to do other useful things in Home, and also have a little downtime for themselves as well. I love this idea, though I myself have no problem getting tours from my friends, several of whom own every space in Home, there are many who don’t have that opportunity. Great read Granny!
I wish the yacht comes to Asia….