The metaverse era, in which we shall coexist with actual lives in networked, persistent virtual realities, is rapidly approaching. Every activity we can perform in the actual world will have a “digital twin” in the metaverse that we can interact with without leaving our homes. We will use these spaces more and more for work, leisure, socializing, and education. This includes making investments and earning money, and just like in the real world, purchasing real estate will be one of the most well-liked methods of doing so.
Real estate in the metaverse, or should we say virtual estate, is already a lucrative industry. Superstars like Snoop Dog and major corporations like PwC, JP Morgan, HSBC, and Samsung have already purchased virtual parcels of property that they plan to use for a variety of projects. Early investors have already reaped significant rewards—at least on paper. On Decentraland or the Sandbox, two of the largest metaverse platforms, the average cost of the smallest parcel of land up for sale was less than $1,000 less than a year ago. It currently stands at about $13,000.
Prices for the cheapest available pieces of property on two well-known platforms are retailing for more than $13,000, pricing out many would-be landowners as the metaverse land rush continues.
The term “metaverse” describes several online platforms that are building an interactive environment with virtual entertainment and enterprises. According to Meta Metric Solutions, a business that measures the cost of digital real estate, the lowest price for a piece of land on the Sandbox platform as of Wednesday was 3.7 Ether, which is equal to $14,099, and on Decentraland it was 3.46 Ether, which is equal to $13,211. The smallest plot of land is 1×1, which corresponds to 96 by 96 “meters” in the Sandbox and 16 by 16 “meters” in Decentraland for the user’s avatar.
Is there a chance to purchase the newest and greatest digital assets now before they become popular? similar to purchasing NFTs two years ago or Bitcoin ten years ago? How can you participate if you want to be part of the action? Or would it be wiser to avoid what might turn out to be an overinflated bubble that is about to burst? Find out by reading on!
Why purchase metaverse land?
There are two major reasons you might desire to own land in the metaverse, much like in the real world. The first option is generally the safest; you want to use it for anything, like constructing a home or place of business. In the metaverse, “dwelling” refers to having a location to call home where you can display your belongings and perhaps even invite people over to hang out. In the early days of the internet, before everyone switched to social media, it was similar to owning a personal website.
Individuals will utilize their metaverse “homes” as a platform to showcase their personalities online or to store their collections of one-of-a-kind digital collectibles. Since it’s likely that you’ll get what you desire from your purchase, this is perhaps the less dangerous reason for wanting to buy metaverse land.
The second reason is as an investment, and this is where things could become a little dicey as there is obviously no guarantee that its value would increase like with any investment. The average price of metaverse real estate has increased by a factor of 10 over the previous year, so we certainly appear to be in the midst of a gold rush. Due to the simple belief that it will become increasingly valuable as more people become interested, many people are purchasing digital land now. Even more, people are buying to rent now that a strong rental market is developing.
How to buy land in the metaverse?
To buy a property in the virtual world, you must register with a metaverse platform, such as Decentraland, The Sandbox, or Axie Infinity, among others. A fully-funded digital wallet is all you need to conduct transactions in the metaverse. You can use your digital wallet to convert your dollars into cryptocurrencies like ether or the local money of the metaverse you are trading in, like MANA or Sandbox.
You can buy, rent, flip, or even sell properties in the virtual world with the support of the nearly complete ecosystem provided by the metaverse, and ownership is through non-fungible tokens (NFTs) title.
Here’s a step-by-step instruction on how to purchase land in the metaverse.
- Step 1: Decide on a metaverse platform.
You must choose a metaverse platform before purchasing metaverse property. Your choice of project, which we shall discuss later in our tips section, will depend on your motivations for purchasing the land. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll utilize The Sandbox on Ethereum as an example; Decentraland is another much-liked choice.
- Step 2: Get your wallet ready.
In order to access the cryptocurrencies you possess, you must build a wallet. Depending on your preference, you can use a browser-based wallet or a mobile wallet. On the other hand, there will normally be fewer issues when using a browser-based wallet.
Although various blockchains are supported by MetaMask and Binance Chain Wallet, you should always confirm that the wallet you select supports the NFT land blockchain.
You’ll get a phrase known as your seed phrase when you set up your wallet. As this is how you’ll be able to get your wallet back if you lose access, keep it in a secure location. The location where you store it should always be offline.
- Step 3: Connect your wallet to the Sandbox marketplace.
Land parcels up for bid can be seen on The Sandbox’s map. While some of the transactions are housed on other exchanges like OpenSea, some can be done directly through The Sandbox marketplace. To keep it basic, let’s look at one we can bid on through The SandBox.
You need to connect your wallet before you can place a bid on anything. Click [Sign In] in the top right corner of the Sandbox map. Make sure the project, in this case, Ethereum, is set up correctly in your wallet as well.
- Click [MetaMask] after that.
- You will see a pop-up from MetaMask inviting you to connect. Press [Next].
- Click the [Connect] button to proceed to link your wallet.
- You will now be prompted by the Sandbox to enter your email address and choose a pseudonym. For the final step in creating your account, click [Continue]. If you want to utilize the SandBox editor, you can optionally specify a password.
- To finish your account, click [Sign] next to the MetaMask signature request.
- Once you’ve joined successfully, your account balance and profile photo will appear in the top right corner of the website.
- Step 4: Purchase ETH or SAND on Binance, then transfer it to your wallet.
You’ll need either SAND or Ether (ETH) in your wallet to buy or bid on the land. Purchasing ETH is probably more beneficial as most Only ETH is accepted at the Sandbox land sales. You can purchase SAND or ETH using a credit or debit card through your Binance account.
You must transfer your cryptocurrency to your crypto wallet after buying it. Use the public address you copied from your cryptocurrency wallet as the address for your withdrawals.
- Step 5: Choose a LAND parcel.
With the filters below, you can quickly browse the land that is up for bid or purchase in The Sandbox. You will typically only find land available on OpenSea because much of the property in The Sandbox has already been purchased. Through The Sandbox map, you can still place a bid on these sales, though. Due to the fact that OpenSea linkages are integrated into the user interface, the SandBox map is also the best way to confirm that you buy a genuine NFT plot.
When you locate a plot of land you want to buy, you may either click the [Bid] button to make an offer or the ETH amount to buy it at a set price. Let’s review making an offer by clicking [Bid].
An offer-making pop-up will now appear for your consideration. Don’t confirm the transaction with your wallet before entering the bid amount and clicking [Place Bid]. The cryptocurrency will be returned to your wallet if the seller rejects your bid or the auction is canceled.
You will be directed to OpenSea to complete the transaction if you click on the fixed pricing. Before you can buy the land, you must connect your wallet to the market. If you don’t want to use The Sandbox, you can also make an offer using OpenSea.
What to keep in mind before buying land in the metaverse?
The digital land in the metaverse will cease to exist if the platform you purchased it from fails and goes offline, unlike investing in the real estate market where the physical land you have acquired actually exists. The significant volatility of the cryptocurrency used to transact in the metaverse’s real estate market is another thing to keep in mind. The value of the assets you hold in the metaverse changes in proportion to how unstable the value of the digital currency is.
Additionally, since investing in digital real estate is a relatively new asset class, there are many aspects of it that have not yet been fully investigated. Before making any investments, it is advisable to thoroughly investigate the advantages and disadvantages of the digital real estate market in the metaverse.
The ecosystem for digital real estate has grown significantly within the bitcoin community. As you can see, buying and selling land is rather straightforward. However, sometimes, it could cost more than making a tangible real estate investment. If you decide to buy NFT metaverse land, be cautious to weigh the hazards and follow safe crypto practices.