It has been a long time since LAND parcels could be bought in the $400 range, so for investors toying with the idea of owning their first piece of digital LAND, particularly if you have a small budget, now is as good a time as any to get involved and consider the various investment strategies available.

As the price of Decentraland MANA token dipped briefly to $0.05 this week, the opportunity for investors to capitalise on bargain LAND prices (vs the $) is perfect.

Invest to Build

If you are a programmer or developer looking to capitalise on your skills, then buy some LAND and build. Create that game idea you have had for years and continues to keep you awake at night, dreaming about all the possibilities. Build a virtual villa to hang out with other like-minded people and host hackathons. Design a Dapp to add value to the Decentraland eco-system. The opportunities are endless, and most ideas will also lead to financial gain by adding value to your Decentraland LAND investment.

Not a programmer or developer? No Problem. Now is a great time to learn and use Decentraland as a sandbox to develop your own skills. The Decentraland programmer community in Discord is a friendly place hosting a great network of bright minds, all collaborating, sharing ideas and supporting one another. You can find them in #developers and #building channels.

Investing for Adjacency

When the Decentraland platform launches in Q4 2018, it is widely expected that the Decentraland landscape will change overnight. For an idea of scale, think ‘Dubai Building Boom’, then double it. Many LAND owners are currently building in the Decentraland SDK, but choosing not to unveil their projects until launch. If you own a parcel of LAND which is right next door to a major attraction that somebody else has built, then you can expect a high footfall, and in turn the value of your LAND, to increase drastically.

Taking a more long term approach, if you can only afford a LAND parcel which is on the outskirts of Genesis City, then this might not be such a bad thing. Should Decentraland ever expand and create additional cities, then you may well find that your parcel sits adjacent to some very valuable new LANDS.

Investing to Flip LAND

Comparing to recent months, the $ value of LAND is currently very cheap whilst the MANA price is so low. If you were to buy a LAND parcel costing 10,000 MANA, and the value of MANA was a conservative $0.14 as it has been in recent months (it has been MUCH higher), then that LAND parcel would have cost you $1400. Today, paying 10,000 MANA for that same LAND parcel would only cost you $600 less than half price (1 MANA = $0.06) currently). Once the markets settle and MANA value gets back on track, there is no reason you can’t sell this LAND on, and cash out of buy more LAND with the profits.

For more in depth information and examples about this, you should read this blog post.

Investing to Lease

Once the Metaverse launches to the public, leasing out your LAND and earning a passive income will become a very real possibility. A LAND leasing platform has already been developed by VRLaw and will likely become very active in Q4 as LAND investors look to capitalise and produce a regular income from their Decentraland LAND investment.