The recent name change of Facebook to Meta has caused a virtual land-rush, sending thousands of investors, opportunists and companies into the metaverse to purchase a piece of digital land. Land prices on Decentraland and Sandbox, the most well-known metaverse brands have exploded. Are you looking into buying land? Don’t worry we got you covered. Here is our step-by-step guide on how to buy land on Decentraland.
Buying virtual land on Decentraland
Decentraland was founded all the way back in 2015 and is one of the OG’s (Original Gangster) in the metaverse space. Having been in the game for several years now, the platform is one of the most established virtual worlds in the crypto space. Therefore, it is the optimal place to buy you first parcel of digital land.
But how do you start?
There are two ways you can buy land on Decentraland: You can either use the NFT trading platform OpenSea or buy land directly through the Decentraland Marketplace. We recommend that you use both platforms to find the best deals and compare prices and locations. As the interface of the Decentraland Marketplace can be quite confusing for first time users, you should take your time to become familiar with it before you make any purchases.
1. Sign up to Decentraland Marketplace
First you need to sign up to the Decentraland Marketplace. Signing up is made easy for those of you who already have a digital wallet. If you do not have a digital wallet yet, we recommend that you download the Chrome Browser extension for the Metamask wallet.
Other wallets such as Coinbase and ledger are supported as well.
Once signed in, select the “Land” tab to be directed to the land parcels that are for sale (see image below).
Make sure that you select the “on sale” tab in the top right corner. The land that is for sale will appear in light blue color.
2. Choose your land
The marketplace allows you to view the individual parcels for sale, or the entire map of Decentraland. Use both tools to find the land you want to purchase.
Hint: You can also find land for sale on OpenSea and enter the coordinates in the search box of the marketplace.
By hovering over the parcels with your mouse you can check the details on the land.
If you click on the parcel you will see the price and details to the location. This is also where you can bid on or buy the land.
3. Purchase your Land
Once you have selected the piece of land that you want to buy, it is now time to make an offer or buy it at the price that it is currently listed on. You can do so by selecting the “buy” or “bid’ button.
The currency used on Decentraland is either the native Token MANA or Ethereum. You can buy MANA or Ethereum on Binance. Make sure you have enough MANA or Ethereum in your wallet to complete the purchase.
Hint: Make sure to think about gas and transaction fees when funding your wallet.
4. Confirm your purchase
Once you clicked the “buy” button you will be asked to confirm your purchase. It will now take a few seconds to a few minutes until the transaction is complete.
5. Transfer to Secure Wallet
After you confirmed your purchase, your Land NFT should appear in your wallet within the next few minutes. If you are using a Metamask wallet, you can connect it to the OpenSea platform to view your land.
We recommend that you transfer and store your NFT in a secure place, if possible a hardware wallet.
How to choose your virtual land?
Buying digital land is no different than buying land in the real world. Minus the paperwork of course. The general formula that you will want to follow is: location, location, location.
The best locations on Decentraland are usually around the Plaza’s, and most importantly the Genesis Plaza. Plots around the Plaza’s can be quite pricey, but this is not the only factor that is important. Other factors, such as how close you are to a road or district are also important to consider when buying your land.
You can find the key attributes of a land parcel under “Highlights” when you click on it on the map (see below).
A parcel on Decentraland is 16x 16 meters. If you are planing on developing your land you will want to consider buying a plot of land, consisting of several parcels. This could limit your search as most of the bigger plots are taken.
Advice: Just like in the real world, you can also check out the land on Decentraland by creating an avatar and scoping out the area of your desired plot of land. Maybe this will help you make your buying decision.
How much does land cost on Decentraland?
Decentraland land prices have skyrocketed in 2021. The smallest and cheapest plots are currently trading for 4.7 Ethereum or 4,864 MANA at the time of this article. This is roughly equivalent to a price of $13,630 for a 16×16 square meter plot.
The price of digital land has risen sharply over the past year for popular metaverse platforms such as Sandbox and Decentraland. In 2019 a digital plot of land on Decentraland cost less than $500. Decentraland land prices are expected to rise even further in the coming years.
Final thoughts
Digital real estate is still in its infancy. You can be sure that there will be more and more tools coming to market, that will make buying digital land easier in the future.
It is important to know that you are still early. So even when prices seem high, know that the majority of the world does not know what digital real estate is. Large companies and investment firms have not yet entered the market (with some exceptions).
We hope this guide has helped you. This article was solely written for informational purposes and should not to be considered to be investment advice. As always, stick to your own research when making any crypto or NFT related purchases.
If you enjoyed this article, you should also check out: Buying Digital Property on Decentraland: Is Now The Right Time?
