Introduction
The exodus to the digital world is stealing the show today. From buying land on choice locations on the earth’s crust, we can now buy and sell virtual lands on the Metaverse. Through the Metaverse, a combination of tokenization, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and video, investors and other users can own virtual assets to interact using their digital avatar in a virtual world. Although Metaverse seems to get a lift from the previous Facebook Meta rebranding announcement, Decentraland, Sandbox, Enjin, and other top Metaverse projects are already making it possible for users to own virtual assets.
The journey to the Metaverse
Similar to our previous article on NFT in education, buying virtual lands on the Metaverse is one of the applications of NFT in real estate. The technology combines emerging technologies like Blockchain’s smart contract, NFT standardization, AR, VR, and videos to make buying lands on the virtual world possible. Without saying if it is a good investment or not yet, the fact that top commercial brands like Nike, Gucci, Republic Realm, Boson Protocol, and so on are diving into it makes it something to think over. According to DappRadar data, leading virtual worlds recorded more than $100 million in NFT land sales in the past week.
Having seen the crazy or the buzz around Metaverse, researching how to buy virtual lands on Decentraland, Sandbox, Realm, and other top Metaverse marketplaces is not out of context. Before guiding you on how to buy virtual land on decentral and other metaverse marketplaces, let’s know why virtual lands may be a good investment.
Why own a virtual land on the Metaverse
There are many reasons to consider buying virtual land on Decentraland or any other Metaverse marketplaces. Why you should buy virtual lands includes the following;
Speculative purposes;
Similar to other digital assets, virtual land is speculative. The speculative nature is because the lands are not infinite like the internet. For instance, Decentraland has only 90,000 parcels of land. If the lands are all sold off, the cost will always go higher if demand is.
To explain further, the Metaverse Group plans to build a portfolio of properties across various metaverse marketplaces. Also, another big player in the industry, Tokens.com, bought a larger land in Decentraland’s fashion district for roughly $2.5 million. Like Metaverse Group, Tokens.com says it plans to develop the area into a virtual commerce hub for luxury fashion brands, à la Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue. Imagine if more firms do that and lands become scarce, land worth will increase.
Events
In a pandemic where people are limited to a party or attend events for health reasons, metaverse event centers come to resume. One notable example is Justin Bieber, who took his live concert to the Metaverse. Through Metaverse, fans worldwide watched Mr. Bieber’s hit album “Justice” sing through his online avatar. More investors and users can follow the steps of Justin to port events on the virtual lands, thereby making virtual lands a good investment.
Virtual headquarters;
Like owning a shop or a headquarter, Metaverse virtual landowners can build virtual headquarters. In a bid to replicate silicon valley on the Metaverse, Tokens.com, a blockchain technology company focused on NFTs and metaverse real estate, acquired 50 percent of Metaverse Group, one of the world’s first virtual real estate companies, for about $1.7 million.
In response to the acquisition, Andrew Kiguel, a co-founder and the chief executive of Tokens.com, said; “Rather than try to create a universe like Facebook, I said, ‘Why don’t we go in and buy the parcels of land in these metaverses, and then we can become the landlords?'”
It is also reported that Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry, and other luxury brands have already entered the Metaverse via NFTs. Therefore, if the demand for such use cases keeps increasing, there will be a need to buy more virtual land.
Passive income
Having built such virtual centers and headquarters, owners can rent them out for events and other commercial purposes such as hosting festivals in a pandemic era. An example of such parties is the recent American rapper Snoop Dogg’s exclusive party on The Sandbox’s non-fungible token (NFT) platform to reconstruct his real-life mansion.
Steps to buying Virtual land on Metaverse
After doing your research about the metaverse marketplace to own or buy virtual land, the next is researching how to buy virtual lands on metaverse marketplaces. Although buying land on Sandbox is almost similar to buying lands on Decentraland, the design, considerations, and approaches differ. To help make your search easy, we have compiled a step-by-step guide to buying virtual land on decentraland. They are as follows;
- Visit the virtual land marketplace you prefer.
In this case, visit the Decentraland marketplace to start buying virtual lands.
2. Browse through the virtual lands available on the marketplace and choose a LAND.
Depending on price, location, size, and other parameters, you can filter to choose your preferred lands. During your search, you can select a land by tapping “buy.”
3. Connect your wallet.
This stage allows you to connect your cryptocurrency wallet to the marketplace to buy your virtual land. When the connect wallet button pops up, you can choose from the various wallets available, but Metamask and Trustwallet are easier to use. Meanwhile, make sure you have some MANA, the Decentraland’s native token, to enable purchase.
4. Click the buy button to continue.
Here, you need to confirm transactions asking to deduct the equivalent amount of MANA and ETH accordingly. 
5. Confirm your virtual LAND.
Now you have your virtual land on ]your wallet. If you’re using Metamask, confirm the LAND under the “NFT” tab. If you’re using Truistwallet, check under “Collectibles.”
Congratulations! You’re a virtual landowner and can resell, develop or build other assets as you choose to do.
