LUXURY IN YOUR SECONDLIFE – SPOTLIGHT ON LUXORY AND WILLOWDALE ESTATES- JOSH BELLIC REPORTING

“If you’re gonna live twice, why not live your Second Life in Luxury?”

And what better place to live that luxury than Luxory Estates and Willowdale Estates

The dictionary defines Luxury as: the state of great comfort and extravagant living.  This aptly captures the look and feel of life at “Luxory and Willowdale Estates” properties.

Two of SecondLife’s best and brightest minds, Imagin Illyar of Willowdale Estates, and Vanity Bonetto of Luxory Estates have teamed up to provide the quintessential land purchasing experience, unmatched anywhere on the entire grid.  

Immediately after landing at the sales pavilion, I was greeted by Andrea DeLauren, one of their courteous and highly professional staff.  This was no “sales bot”, but was an honest to goodness sales associate who knows the business and the details about their properties inside and out.  In fact, I was to learn that Luxory and Willowdale have a crew of eight such sales associates, providing an available agent 24/7.

I learned that Willowdale offers high-end professionally landscaped homesteads as well as full prim parcel land, and their newest product – the full homesteads.  Being a novice to the world of land purchasing, I asked Andrea, just what IS a “homestead”, and how does it differ from other properties? She told me that In SL there are two different types of sims.... "Homesteads" and "Full Prim".  Homesteads are sims with 5k prims capacity and Full Prim sims have 20k or 30K prims in total. In homestead sims you find bigger plots, usually more private... but with less prims... In Full Prim sims you get more neighbors, smaller parcels but much more prims for the price.  

Despite being one of the busiest women in SecondLife, I was able to catch up with Imagin Illyar and ask her a few questions about the Luxory and Willowdale Estates partnership.

Josh Bellic: So tell me, Imagin, what was it that turned you onto the idea of managing properties in SecondLife?

Imagin Illyar:  I bought my first sim 3 months after first joining Second Life back in 2008.  I knew as soon as I realized there was such a thing as an estate that I wanted to run one.  I enjoyed virtual landscaping from the very beginning. Making beautiful spaces is my passion and after 11 years of it I still feel as though I can't get enough.

JB: Do you, personally, own a home in Luxory Estates or Willowdale Estates and what is the difference between the two groups?  

II:  Luxory and Willowdale started out as separate estates but we merged them in December 2017.  I had known Vanity Bonetto, the owner, for many years and by joining our estates Willowdale has been able to grow and expand far beyond what I was able to do on my own.  56 sims have been added to Willowdale since merging with Luxory. It was a smart move, and yes, I make my home at Willowdale :)

JB:  What is it that makes Luxory Estates - Willowdale Estates. different from all the rest?

II:  The first thing people will notice is the landscaping.  Our tenants can also switch landscaping styles upon request. I have developed a system that allows me to do a switch in 10 minutes so you don't have to actually move to get a fresh new look for your homestead. Our sims are far above and beyond what is typical in SL, but it's the dedicated 24/7 customer service that really makes us stand out.  I know anyone can say that but our occupancy rate is usually around 95% and it's because we treat our tenants very well.

JB:  Tell me about the partnership between Luxory Estates and Willowdale  Estates? Has there been a real synergy when you decided to come together?  

II:  I ran Willowdale myself for 11 years and partnered with Vanity Bonetto of Luxory Estate in December of 2017. Since then 56 new sims have been added for a current total of 86 - and we are planning even more significant growth for the next year.  Vanity and I are a great team - I do the creative work and she runs the business end. Her highly-trained sales staff are the best in the business. We have both benefited greatly from the partnership. Vanity Bonetto and I are a perfect team.  I'm a creative type and she's the most talented business person I've ever met.  As I mentioned, we knew each other for many years before actually joining the estates.  In retrospect we should have done it from the beginning.  We've both benefited greatly from the merger.

JB:  Do you have plans for expansion?  Maybe create common use areas, like a community pool or clubhouses for use by fellow property owners?

II:  Absolutely!  Full homesteads are a new product for Willowdale and the reception has been overwhelming.  It has become difficult to keep them in stock! I very much enjoy creating new layouts for them and I hope that this growth momentum will continue for many years.  We have 4 different styles available so far and I hope to add the 5th any day now. The homestead styles I create are very unique from anything you will find elsewhere on the grid.

I've created many different common areas for tenants in the past they didn't work out.  I find that people in SL think they want common areas on estates but once provided they just don't get used.  There are a great many places that offer entertaining things for people to do in Second Life, what I provide is a peaceful and private place to come home to when you're done with that.  I've decided to just focus on doing what I do best and it's been working very well.

So, there you have it Folks.  Something for everyone. Land ownership just doesn't get any better than this!

SLURL:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LUXORY/131/131/25

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Living in the lap of Luxory - Lacy Muircastle reporting ...

Luxory Estate is where the SLE have hung our hat for the past six months or so, but I've known Vanity in my personal capacity for at least six years.

I thought I'd share some insight with you about the beating heart of the community - Vanity Bonetto.

When she is not running the estate, this German lady is a Forex Trader in RL.  This means she trades currencies.   She said “I enjoy working from home and it perfectly matches my needs. This way I can watch things happening in Second Life while I get my RL work done on a second computer. Why leave home if you can manage things from your bedside?”

Suffering from a serious bout of flu, Vanity wandered in to Second Life way back in 2007.  She had to stay in bed for two weeks and was really bored. Someone told her about Second Life and she decided to check it out.   She recalled “On my very first day inworld I tried teleporting ... I double-clicked at a random spot on the map and crashed right into a new club owned by this crazy American guy. His name was Gaven Miles. He can still be found in search but he left Second Life years ago because his RL job left no room for other activities. Anyway, Gaven hired me on my first day inworld to manage his club.”

He was the reason she stayed in Second Life and after few weeks she purchased her first piece of land.  A cute open water island is how she described it.  She learned a lot about land from her first landlord and her own interest was piqued.  She decided that she should run her own little business in SL to pay her bills.

She started with four small rental homes on a tiny 4096 sqm parcel.   From those humble beginnings it has grown into a 16,000,000 sqm estate with hundreds of regions.  She said “I still remember purchasing my first sim, Vanity Beach in 2007, and from that moment on things went nuts. I doubled the size of the community every few weeks, people loved the way we decorated and managed our estate.  Demand was greater than supply at the time and it was a challenge to host all who were interested in joining us.”

Vanity was jobless in RL in 2007, and soon noticed that it could very well be possible to make a living from running the estate.   She said “While at first I only spent like 2 - 3 hours a day here, it soon consumed most of my free time.”  

Today Luxory spans over 200 regions, with close on 1500 residents who call Luxory their home, and the estate is still growing.  Recently they added 43 regions which they bought from another estate because they were sitting with a sold-out store.   Business continues to boom and they are considering acquiring further regions in March. 

I asked Vanity what made Luxory different from the other estates out there.  She said “I believe what our residents like the most about Luxory is our carefully decorated land and the fact that we have a support team on call 24/7.   We still check all our regions on a weekly basis and we uphold the rules in our covenant to guarantee beautiful and protected land for all our customers at all times. Our team is ready to assist you at all times - all my girls (yes, we are a girls-only-crew :) are well trained and we enjoy helping our residents to make their Second Life dreams come true.”

Luxory offers residential and commercial regions as well as separate areas for animal breeders. The commercial districts have hosted many of the top brands in Second Life for a number of years. If you run a business in Second Life and you’re looking for a safe location for your store, somewhere you can be assured that it will still be there when you wake up in the morning, Luxory is it.

What Vanity enjoys most about owning and running a residential estate in Second Life is being able to meet and help so many different people from all over the world.   She said “I love it when they are happy with their land and it also makes me a little proud. Especially when I read all the nice comments they leave in my mail. It means a lot to me. I also really enjoy working with my team - here at Luxory, we are one big family. There is no competition between our sales agents, they get paid an hourly wage and don't have to fight to make a sale to get paid a commission. Instead, they can concentrate on every single customer and really help them finding the perfect land matching their needs.”

At Luxory you are offered a variety of regions to choose from.  Luxory land has a unique look.  It comes fully decorated and terraformed, key-ready so-to-speak.  Many other estates sell flat, empty, square pieces of land and you have to do all the work, which if you’re not that good at terraforming and decorating can be pretty difficult and time consuming.  However, if you prefer to use your own landscaping and decorating skills on your land here you are free to return all their items and give it a go for yourself.  The team are ready to assist you for free if help is needed.

In the near future they plan on expanding as and when they see a good opportunity.  They at are constantly watching out for interesting regions to buy.   Vanity said “Like I just mentioned, a few weeks ago we were able to add 43 former "Fruit Island" regions to our estate and we are in negotiations with another estate at the moment.  Luxory is and will always be a safe haven for all who want to enjoy a well-managed estate without any worries about the future. We are here to stay! We are in very good standing with Linden Lab and our economic situation is more than stable thanks to many long-term-residents who have been with us for many years.”

In our ever evolving and constantly changing virtual world, there is a tranquil estate waiting for you to call home, whether it's residential or commercial - Luxory Estate.

http://www.luxoryestates.com

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LUXORY%20NORTH/37/221/23/

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