How to Buy Real Estate in the Metaverse
The most popular Metaverse platforms for buying virtual real estate are Sandbox and Decentraland. For both apps, you'll need to download a Chrome extension called Metamask, an online wallet designed to keep digital assets. Next, you have to use SAND (for sandbox graphs) or MANA (for Decentraland properties), two Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies to fund it.
Once your Metamask wallet is fully funded, you can buy virtual real estate. First, let's dive into how to buy lots on Sandbox.
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Sandbox
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Did you know Snoop Dogg and Steve Aoki own land in Sandbox? A piece of land between the two celebrities is currently up for sale for $2.5 million.
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Snoop Dogg in the Sandbox
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Snoop Dogg in the sandbox (Image credit: Sandbox)
It's pretty steep -- you won't even snoop on Snoop while he's grabbing his emails, or watch your mansion shake violently while Aoki practices DJing.
Fortunately, there are cheaper plots. Sure, they're probably in the toughest part of the sandbox, where you won't find Whole Foods, but their value will likely increase over time. At the time of writing, the virtual territory at the lowest price is less than $10,000. Follow the instructions below to grab it before anyone bids.
1. Visit TheSandBox.com/game.
2. Click Market.
3. On the left panel, scroll down to NFT Types and click Lands.
4. Select the filter that best suits your needs (eg Newest, Oldest, Lowest Price, Highest Price). For this tutorial, I will choose the lowest price.
5. Choose the plot that catches your eye and click Buy.
6. After clicking Buy, OpenSea (NFT Marketplace) will launch and take you to the property listing. Link your funded Metamask wallet to the website by clicking on the wallet icon.
7. Take note of the highest bid, as you need to bid above it to get the seller's attention. Click on Quote.
8. Next, enter the amount you want to offer in SAND (make sure you have enough SAND in your Metamask wallet, otherwise you will get a "Not enough SAND to offer offer" message). Note: You can buy SAND on Binance or KuCoin and transfer it to your Metamask wallet.
9. Select how long you want the quote to last: 3 days, 7 days, or a month. You can set a custom date if you wish. Click on Quote.
10. Your Metamask wallet will pop up and you will be prompted to click "Sign" (to verify that you intend to bid on the OpenSea listing).
11. Finally, you should see your quote appear under Quotes. You will be notified by email if your offer is accepted.
While Sandbox has been attracting rappers and DJs, another blockchain-based metaverse game, Decentraland, has caught the eye of tech brands like Samsung. The South Korea-based tech company announced its purchase of the Decentraland property in early January. It's a mock store that can be explored virtually, and it's modeled after stores in New York City.
As mentioned before, before you can buy anything on Decentraland, your Metamask must be funded by a cryptocurrency called MANA. You can buy MANA from Coinbase, KuCoin or Binance and transfer it to your wallet. Once set up, here are the steps to buy virtual real estate on Decentraland.
1. Visit Decentraland.org
2. Scroll down to Transactions and click Start browsing.
3. Click Login, and then click Connect.
4. Click Metamask. This will allow the website to see the funds in your wallet. Note: If you get "Unable to connect to wallet error", click the Metamask icon on Google Chrome, then click Next, then click Connect.
5. Click Land (in the upper left corner).
6. You will be taken to a page showing a map of Decentraland (all parcels for sale are highlighted in light blue).
7. Click on the parcel with the price and location you prefer.
8. Click Buy and follow the prompts to the lot.
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