Landlords in the real world are not thought of positively, especially when it comes to agencies like Zillo. However, with the rise of virtual worlds like Sandbox and Decentraland, metaverse landlords have already appeared to sink their teeth into the next big market.
In an opinion piece on Business Insider, former day trader turned crypto investor Angelica Saldaña explained the appeal of virtual land owning. Essentially, the appeal is the same as owning any asset: you can make money from it.
The rise of the Metaverse Landlord
Saldaña explained that her journey in cryptocurrency began in 2017 when she delved into Ethereum. At one point, the investor had investments in over 70 different tokens. However, in 2020, her eyes formed away from virtual currency and into virtual land.
At the time of writing, Saldaña owns “more than 20 properties in different metaverses”. Across the entirety of 2021, the metaverse landlord spent $11,325.13 for new properties; less than half a way into 2022, they spent $16,597.65.
To start with, Saldaña was buying and selling properties on virtual platforms like Sandbox. However, as the market has expanded, the investor became a Metaverse Landlord. Now, instead of selling LANDS, the investor wants to make passive income through renting.
“I'll be making passive income from them,” she said. “I'll soon be able to rent my properties out in NFT Worlds to people who need the space to make a game or something like that. This feature isn't ready yet and there's no clear release date, but it's on the way and I'm super excited.”
Some of Saldaña’s virtual assets have increased in value over time; one asset increased in value by 15 times. For example, the investor spent around $1,290 for World #8376 in NFT Worlds. The investor claims someone offered to purchase the faux land for around $17,000.
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It’s not a fad, she swears!
The Metaverse Landlord claimed that her adventures in metaverse investment made her “feel like an explorer on a new frontier”. To bolster that thought, Saldaña attempted to explain why metaverse land isn't a fad.
“I believe that we'll all have to enter the metaverse at some point to conduct our everyday lives — either to do something social like attending a party or run errands like going to the bank,” she said. “I've heard people say that they don't understand why land in the metaverse would be valuable since it can always expand. However, some metaverses have a fixed amount of land and lots will be rare and limited.
Of course, that's not exactly true. If a digital metaverse wants to add more land, it absolutely can. After all, it's just a video game, land can be patched in at any time. However, that will only suit to devalue already established lands.