Posted By Gamberro at

If I want to start a business, what is more beneficial, using the storefront kit on leased land or buying the land kit and building ontop of that? What are the pros and cons

I don't think anyone other than maybe a Dev can answer that question 100%. But looking at it from my own personal view, I'd think buying a store kit on leased land would be more beneficial.

Then you wouldn't have to gather materials for it yourself, then have to build it, or pay someone else with the appropriate skill set to do it for you.

But then again, I'm not sure if you need the skill sets to even use a store front kit, or what is involved with the kits either.

I'm not sure what's more beneficial but the costs will certainly vary. There's not much to go on at this point, but if it's a shop you want to run but you don't have the EP for both kits, spending it on the storefront kit probably makes most sense as that's pulling together a bunch of things you'll need, including a blueprint to build your store/building.

We'll undoubtedly get more details as we get closer to Expo.

Honestly. you might try to see if you can find someone who will allow you to lease to own the land and drop the kit to make the storefront?

Leasing vs owning the land means you MIGHT get booted at some point depending on how the contract works. I do not believe you would get the kit you spent on the land for the building back if you are kicked off the land. You will want to OWN the land or lease from someone you TRUST if you're going to drop a kit.

Posted By UnshackledJester at 3:45 PM - Wed Mar 14 2018

Honestly. you might try to see if you can find someone who will allow you to lease to own the land and drop the kit to make the storefront?

Leasing vs owning the land means you MIGHT get booted at some point depending on how the contract works. I do not believe you would get the kit you spent on the land for the building back if you are kicked off the land. You will want to OWN the land or lease from someone you TRUST if you're going to drop a kit.

I do believe there would be plenty of folks willing to lease some land, with the potential to buy it in the future. Also, this is correct. If you lease land, anything built on that land belongs to the landowner, not the person who built it.

I'm not sure if the contract system will allow for lease-to-own, but hopefully the Dev's will add that in given how useful it would be for just such situations. If they DO have a lease to own, be careful with the stipulations given that walking in it is likely neither you nor the land owner will have an accurate sense of either A-How much said land is actually worth, B-How much can reasonably be paid incrementally, and C-How much can reasonably be paid in a fair manner. It MIGHT seem reasonable to set a price you know you can pay, only to find out that with your available time you end up basically just barely making the payments; leaving you nothing at the end of the month. Depending on the length of the terms you run into the issue of how long you end up working with nothing to see(aside from the land) and/or a diminished returns when/if you have to buy materials to USE said workshop. Try to find someone nice enough to be gentle with the terms with the option to renegotiate if both parties agree(also don't know if this is a thing, but it would be nice).

I'm a mayor(edit:will soon be a mayor as it's on the list for next paycheck) and I've been talking with my Count to basically use-to-own land held on reserve for my group for expansion. I.e. we need more land, she gives it to us for free and we work the difference into taxes once we figure out what would be reasonable on both ends; however I doubt this will be the norm given they are a friend of my group from another game ;3 Sometimes trust goes a long way with working out good deals xD

Posted By UnshackledJester at 06:45 AM - Thu Mar 15 2018

Honestly. you might try to see if you can find someone who will allow you to lease to own the land and drop the kit to make the storefront?

Leasing vs owning the land means you MIGHT get booted at some point depending on how the contract works. I do not believe you would get the kit you spent on the land for the building back if you are kicked off the land. You will want to OWN the land or lease from someone you TRUST if you're going to drop a kit.

Of course, in real life business, you want to own the freehold and not be paying a lease ontop of taxes. However most business want to open shop in cities and capitals as that is where the money is. That is where I am confused. How do you go about owning the parcel of land within a major city/capital to build your business, as I imagine all those parcels would be already bought up before gentry have a crack at land selection.

As I would imagine, the gentry will need to purchase land off the mayor in order to own the land in the city they would prefer to be or be born into a family of their desired trade. However, if I buy the kits with EP, I want to use the kits.

I'm under the impression that while some of the land will be up for grabs/already owned by npcs, a large majority will be available to people as decided by the laws of the city; meaning a mayor could plausible lock people out of just coming in and purchasing land within the city(not sure of this). More importantly, land just outside the city is owned, most likely, by the count. This means the count determines how that land is meted out. The mayor may have an agreement with the count to reserve the land for future expansion, or they may just sell to whoever is buying first.

However, the OP was asking about buying land and trying to BUILD his setup vs leasing land and plopping the PREBUILT package on top of it.

I would recommend leasing for a few reasons.

First is location. The idea that you can buy land in the central part of town may be impossible or very expensive. If your shop is outside main street and another shop is on main street people may not even look for yours.

Second is the idea that if you are leasing and maybe the particular town is not working out you can always pack up an move were if you own the land and build a building you might have a harder time.

Last is the effort it take you to get to the point of making money, Leasing you might be able to get set up and selling items fairly quickly but buying and building could take weeks of playing.

Posted By UnshackledJester at 11:09 AM - Thu Mar 15 2018

I'm not sure if the contract system will allow for lease-to-own, but hopefully the Dev's will add that in given how useful it would be for just such situations.

Lease to own agreements should definitely be in the game, but like you said, trust is key.

Posted By Xonth at 4:25 PM - Thu Mar 15 2018

I would recommend leasing for a few reasons.

First is location. The idea that you can buy land in the central part of town may be impossible or very expensive. If your shop is outside main street and another shop is on main street people may not even look for yours.

Second is the idea that if you are leasing and maybe the particular town is not working out you can always pack up an move were if you own the land and build a building you might have a harder time.

Last is the effort it take you to get to the point of making money, Leasing you might be able to get set up and selling items fairly quickly but buying and building could take weeks of playing.

Lease to own agreements would be perfect for the two reasons you just listed. You lease the building with the option to either extend the lease or purchase the property outright. That said, it all depends on the landlord, and if your business is a success, why would the landlord want to sell it to you, when they can just keep you as the golden goose and maybe even increase the rates you pay.

I just hope that expo will be kind on the gentry.

Well the 2nd option would take more time as you'd have to build the shop. Ensure its in a good spot as well as ensuring you can afford it.

Why not buy land and a storefront kit? Single parcels are not that expensive, even assuming they are at a premium inside or near towns.

Traditionally, land has always been a good investment in most games, as well as the real world, so I would think that would translate here too. Especially in a closed finite economic system.

So a lot of this falls back on that old rule of real estate:

Location, Location, Location.

And the questions I would ask are:

Where are you? What are your needs? What are your finances? What is your end game?

Those type of questions might be what points you in the directions you are seeking.

I do think that careers in Land Brokering, Land Management, and Land Speculation will be very important, They will go through booms and busts, but I feel that if that is something you want to get into, the sooner you start, the better off you will be. Some wealthy/noble individuals may also want to get in on the ground flood of exploration to open up new territories for these markets.