Virtual Real Estate: The Next Big Thing

The requirement for real estate will never suffice because of a growing population. Real estate markets in the US and globally have been through turmoil, depression and skyrocketing prices but the need for a home will always be the primary concern. In the face of rising interest rates, rising foreclosures and hot price tags in real estate, buyers and investors are left without much of a choice. Just when everything seemed to be reaching a boiling point: a new concept has arrived and it is being known as virtual real estate.

In a seemingly volatile real estate market where prices have been skyrocketing, virtual home ownership is being looked upon as a welcome break. More than buyers, virtual real estate has a new group of fans and they are online gamers, who have been throwing real money to own their slice of digital paradise.

There is a huge repository of undeveloped online real estate property waiting for buyers or investors and some of the properties have an uncanny resemblance to the white sandy beaches overshadowed by the cliffs of the French Riviera. Digital real estate properties like this is selling for anywhere between $400 and $500 an acre.

An example of the boom witnessed by virtual real estate relates to the story of Deathifier, a gaming expert who bought a treasure island by paying £13,700 in a role playing online game called Project Entropia made more money by selling it and taxing other players who wanted their piece of the paradise. Similarly, a virtual space station was sold for £57,000. This is just the beginning of a new era of real estate that can only be sold and bought online and that doesn’t exist in any physical form.

One of the salient features is that you can build your own virtual real estate property and make it look like the prettiest property in the most idyllic location and sell it at a good price. All this started with a role-playing online game called Second Life. Second life is an online game where you get an accelerated ecosystem, and you can create everything from condos to villas and from supermarkets to social clubs.

This marks a new beginning in real estate and who knows in a few years from now there will be investors buying or selling virtual property in real time to real people.