Hiya
A lot of you have met Lyubov in Neufriestat -she's developing and running a little yoga studio in Neufreistadt, on Ulrikastrasse. (if you haven't been, you should see it -she's friendly and what she's done with the space is awesome)
She has bought one large parcel in NFS and last night her and I discussed her buying another one. The one she's discussing buying is P200, which is larger.
She's willing to pay for a year in advance (which would be an investment of roughly , however she wants 4 months free in exchange.
Each month is approximately $20, 4 months would be $80; for $80 we'd be getting $240 and the assurance that someone has that plot for a year and four months.
I've been buying land in SL since 2010, I know that it's not uncommon for people to offer discounts. Usually that discount will be a lower amount of rent (say, L$200/week).
I'd like us (YOU) to write up either some sort of policy or law that addresses bulk discounts of this nature. That way when this situation comes up again (and hopefully it does) the Estate Managers (and Chancellor) will have something to point at that says "this is the parameters I'm working with".
Elements that must be addressed by this law or proposal would be:
Amount of time bought in advance required for a discount. In most places which offer discounts it's typically that if you pay for 4 weeks in advance they'll either kick you one week free or reduce your rent. At least that's been my experience as a renter.
Amount and type of discount: Do we want to offer a reduced tier in exchange for paying for a year in advance? Or do we want to offer a "by X months get Y months free" deal?
Rental account type: Institutional memory is a thing, but not a reliable one in a place where the government you rent from in one January is composed of different people than the one you originally paid rent under. What I mean is how would we want to mark these accounts? This might be something to do in Caspervend, but what if (like Hippovend) it goes down?
Refund Policy: this will need to be addressed in a fair manner. If someone pays for a large chunk of time they need to be assured that it isn't simply going down a well, at the same time we don't want to refund "free months" and lose money that way.
I'm willing to chip in and advise on this, if necessary; but I don't feel I have a heck of a lot of expertise. I feel that this is a policy that if set up could help us draw in and keep people for a longer amount of time, so I would really like to see the RA and the SC get together and draft something so that EMs can add it to their toolbox ...and so that we may possibly use it in our promotions.