Ever wondered what it feels like to own virtual real estate or a digital piece of land? well, with the recent trends in technology and gradual migration to the Metaverse you can achieve this.
It’s becoming clear that you must meet customers where they are, whether that’s online or in person. You must be there in both areas equally, and the metaverse might be the third leg on the stool. This article gives a clearer view of what virtual real estate in the metaverse entails.
What is virtual real estate?
The term “virtual real estate” refers to an online representation of a physical property. It consists of intangible land that exists in the virtual world and can be sold as plots or purchased using the money of the specific land.
In general, digital/virtual real estate can be thought of as the undefined region within a video game. That is, you are not there to kill aliens or take someone else’s battleship; rather, you are there to construct/build something.
You have complete freedom to build whatever you want; you can build your own universe or your own house, and owning real estate within the game grants you carte blanche to build whatever that comes to mind that you can now place in this game for other people to see.
Why are virtual real estate valuable?
In its most basic form, virtual real estate is a real estate within a computer game. So, if you’ve ever played a video game, maybe it was Super Mario, there are regions inside such games where your avatar wanders around and sees different things when you’re playing them. There are sometimes buildings, highways, planets, and spacecraft; it all depends on the game’s theme.
Because the digital real estate inside some games today is built on the blockchain, interest in investing in that real estate has reached new highs, and people are now much more interested in it than they were when it was just traditional space inside a video game.
It’s valuable, and a lot of people understand and believe in that value. It does, however, have value in the sense that it provides you with a space where people from all over the world can see you; they don’t have to fly or walk; they can view your space from their computer, which makes it a very effective sales tool.
Where are the best places to acquire virtual real estate?
A digital real estate component can be found in hundreds of different games. So people oftentimes buy the real estate in the game before the game launches. much the same way that people buy homes in a neighbourhood before the neighbourhood is developed. As a result, there are groups, individuals, and businesses buying digital real estate ahead of the game’s release.
The following are some of the leading participants in the market and the virtual/digital real estate sales business:
The Sandbox
The Sandbox is a virtual Metaverse in which players can create, own, and commercialize virtual worlds.
Decentraland
Decentraland is a 3D virtual world platform where users can purchase virtual plots of land in the platform as NFTs using the Ethereum blockchain’s MANA coin. The Decentraland Foundation manages the project, and it opened to the public in February 2020.
Cryptovoxels
The Ethereum blockchain powers Cryptovoxels, a virtual environment and metaverse. Land can be purchased, and stores and art galleries can be built. Avatars, editing tools, and text chat are all included.
Somnium Space
On the Ethereum blockchain, the Somnium Space is a Virtual Reality realm where people can buy land, create or import NFTs, explore, and trade.
These platforms were worth $501 million in 2021, according to MetaMetrics Solutions, and might be worth nearly $1 billion in 2022.
How to Purchase Virtual Real Estate
1. First, get yourself a digital wallet.
You won’t be able to purchase digital real estate with actual money. You’ll need cryptocurrencies to get started. The first step is to create a digital wallet, which will allow you to acquire virtual land using the appropriate currency.
The money of Decentraland is called MANA. The currency on Sandbox is called SAND. The two currencies are not convertible.
When you open your wallet, whichever currency you choose, make a note of the seed phrase you’re given. Consider this information to be your “virtual bank account.” You should keep it near at hand and memorize it if at all feasible. Once a seed phrase has been lost, it is extremely difficult to restore it.
2. Select a Purchasing Platform
When it comes to purchasing land, you have a few alternatives once you’ve set up your digital wallet. You have the option of buying the property directly on a metaverse platform like Decentraland or the Sandbox, or through a third-party platform like OpenSea.
It may be beneficial for first-time investors to browse around on a third-party site. Buyers can choose from a variety of price ranges and digital land amenities on different platforms.
Buyers can analyze asking prices in their local real-world currency equivalent on a third-party site, making it easy to comprehend how much is actually being spent on a given investment.
The benefit of buying land directly on metaverse platforms like Decentraland or Sandbox is that you can get a good feel of what amenities are nearby and who your neighbours are. Once you’ve gained some experience as a digital real estate investor, this is generally the better option.
3. Make an Offer and Complete Your Virtual Real Estate Transaction
Once you’ve discovered a parcel you want to buy, all you have to do is click on it and complete the transaction.
It’s possible that you’ll be able to haggle on price. Decentraland, for example, allows you to submit an offer, which the owner can accept or reject.
You’re ready to buy as soon as your wallet is topped up, a parcel is chosen, and a price is set. The transaction is saved in your wallet and creates a unique NFT title to the property for you.
Uses of Virtual Real Estate
There are a variety of things you can do with digital real estate that is similar to what you can do with real estate in the real world, including
•For having business meetings
•for advertising (if you’re a firm, you can turn it into a billboard)
•as an event venue for hosting concerts
•for selling (if you’re an artist or a creator, you can sell your art or creation through a gallery)
Some well-established Virtual Real Estate initiatives.
Metajuku Shopping District
In the Decentraland metaverse, there is a shopping mall called Metajuku, which is modelled on a Tokyo district where Japanese youths go to buy street clothes.
The Metajuku has a Japanese Tokyo vibe and is home to digital wearables companies that sell apparel for people’s avatars in the metaverse.
A virtual shopping mall is a place where you can go to buy items. In this case, you can buy wearables for your avatar in the metaverse, but you can also buy stuff that will arrive in a package at your house, so it’s not always that you can just buy digital products. You can buy real-world items as well, but you’re only learning about them while you’re in these artificial surroundings.
It appears to be a typical retail mall, with storefronts and a promenade where people can walk about, making it much easier to comprehend.
The tenants and landlord-tenant arrangements in these virtual malls are arranged similarly to traditional landlord-tenant agreements. There is a lease, which has two parts: a base rent and a percentage rent dependent on sales volume.
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is a collection of a hundred private islands created in the sandbox metaverse. They’re all architecturally distinct, created by real-world architects, and intended to be ultra-luxurious, so they’re unquestionably high-end.
There are three various types of villas, each with its own set of characteristics. They all include a big dock ideal for mooring a private Yacht as well as other maritime vessels and cars, and they’re all quite pricey, usually costing around a hundred thousand dollars per piece.
These are private islands that can only be found in a video game called the sandbox, where you can go with your avatar, invite your friend’s avatars, have parties, and generally show everyone that you’re successful and smart enough to have gotten in early and purchased one of these private islands.
How to Profit from Virtual Real Estate
It’s just trading, which entails purchasing and selling a piece of land, and it can help you generate money as a return on investment(ROI), much like real estate in the actual world.
Because virtual lands are purchased and sold in cryptocurrency, those with experience in crypto trading have an advantage. Investors can buy a parcel of metaverse land and develop whatever they want.
Snoop Dogg, for example, is now working on “Snoopverse” on the Sandbox. Snoopverse is a virtual realm created by Snoop Dogg within the metaverse. P-Ape, a Snoopverse enthusiast, paid $450,000 for a digital plot of land within the Snoopverse earlier this month.
