Congratulations on becoming an Upland Pro! You can’t mint FSA properties anymore but it doesn’t mean you can’t grow your net worth. Looking ahead to director status might seem like a steep hill to climb, but it most certainly is possible. Don’t forget that each level in Upland is 10x farther than the previous.

Reaching Director comes with 2 nice perks. Firstly, you receive 0.5 spark. If you don’t have any yet, then this is enough to get you started on building your first home. Secondly, you are able to get your custom block explorer from city hall.

If you don’t have a clear cut strategy in the metaverse, now would definitely be a good time to create one. Maybe you are happy at your net worth, and you don’t have any aspirations to become a Director. That’s fine as well. There is no right or wrong way to play the game. There are so many options, cities, opportunities, etc. that it can be overwhelming. To do everything in the metaverse requires UPX – if you don’t have lots of it (yet) you may want to be more frugal and considerate of what you are doing with it.

Before detailing some of the ways of reaching director status, there are some points that hold true regardless of the method you choose:

  1. Engage in the community. Money and UPX can only get you so far in this game. Just like in real life, its not always what you know, but who you know. Do not underestimate the social aspect of the game, and Metaverse. If you haven’t already done so, become active in one or more of the many communities in Upland. Check out the Upland Guide Directory to find communities, and consider joining the Upland Guide Discord server.
  2. Create a budget – It is easy to look at a property and say, “this is a great deal” especially during new city releases. Whether you are investing outside money, or UPX on hand, it is always sound financial advice to create a budget, and stick to it!
  3. Always have some UPX on hand – If you see a deal on a property that you can’t pass up, or if Upland creates a challenge, Legit sale or releases a new city unexpectedly, you always want to have some amount of UPX available.
  4. Before buying properties, or making a relatively large purchase, ask yourself “how is this going to help me reach my goal?” If it doesn’t fit in with your plan, think twice. There will be other opportunities going forward, and you don’t have to jump at the first opportunity you come across. Making this transaction today, might prevent you from making a potentially better one tomorrow.
  5. As the Metaverse evolves you will evolve with it, and your strategy might as well. Be flexible, and open to opportunities. Going back to the previous point, if the purchase doesn’t help you to reach the goal you defined for yourself, don’t be afraid to pivot and change your goal!

Below are some of the strategies to help grow your net worth to reach director. Chances are you will need to utilize a combination of these strategies.

Invest outside fiat/crypto

Assuming that your goal is to become a Director, the easiest way is obviously to invest USD or crypto into the game. This can be done either by purchasing properties on the secondary market for USD, or by buying UPX from the in game store. If you registered for Upland with our referral code and reached pro without having invested any outside funds previously, you are still eligible for all the bonuses outlined here.

If you see Upland as an opportunity for a sound long term investment (your base earnings are 4.9% yield annually on the mint price with your ability to increase those earnings by 3.1x for a total of 15.19%), you might be looking to hold on to many of your valuable properties. This means you won’t be generating much UPX from property sales, and you will likely have to be buying assets or UPX with fiat.

Participate in new city releases

New cities are the best way to grow your net worth, and it is highly recommended to participate in as many as possible. This is your opportunity to be the first to mint those rare collection properties, or other prime real estate locations. Whether its for a quick resale or a long term hold this is your chance to mint those valuable properties. Read more about opportunities during new city releases here. If you are more of a holder, you will likely want to buy UPX prior to the release so that you can mint properties in the new city.

Treasure Hunting

If you are able to master the skill of treasure hunting, it can be found to be very valuable as you can win both UPX and Spark. Treasure hunting requires you to send yourself to different properties around the city looking for a hidden treasure. You don’t waste a send nor pay a visitors fee by sending yourself to your own property. For this reason, treasure hunting favors players with a large network (over 20 properties minimum) of properties scattered across one city. If you plan on adopting this strategy you will likely want to plan ahead of a new city release to ensure the properties you mint are strategically spread out. As you begin hunting, you might find yourself reinvesting your winnings into minting or buying other properties on the secondary market in order to improve your network. If you haven’t treasure hunted before, read up here on some important things to know before treasure hunting and/or adopting this strategy.

Build with Spark

Spark is a valuable resource that enables you to build homes, and other inanimate objects in the future like cars. If you were lucky to level up to Uplander or Pro during a spark bonus period, you might have some. Maybe you found some in a treasure hunt, or had a chance to purchase spark from the limited store sales. Building your own home is a good way to increase its value. Owning a property with a structure doesn’t increase your net worth, however its market value increases if you are looking to sell it. There is a case to be made for keeping your homes, as they will have future utility within the game. However, if you currently value the UPX more, selling homes is a good way to get more liquidity and grow your net worth. You can even rent spark from other players, or a find a business that can help you build faster.

Mint a terminal or Ultra Rare

This strategy is equivalent of saying that your getting rich quick strategy is to win the lottery. Train and airport terminals are sold in the store, but its not first come first serve. Of the hundreds if not thousands of people who register to have the opportunity to mint one of these properties, only a handful are able to. In addition to that, you must purchase the UPX required to mint it with USD. Having said that, these are typically properties that many players will be willing to pay a lot of UPX for. There is a good chance you can make a quick sale for a nice markup after minting the property.

The same can be said for ultra rare properties. Some are sold similar to terminals described above. Others can be won during regular contests and competitions within Upland. The third way is to be lucky (or smart) during new city release in vanilla mode. Only in these cities can ultra rare properties be minted like any other. Read more about vanilla releases here.

Flipping one of these properties can give you the liquidity needed to accelerate your growth. You can use this new found UPX to more heavily invest in the next city to be released.

Buy low sell high

Buy low and sell high – it seems trivial, but easier said than done. Here are a couple of different ways to do this:

  • Mint properties in a new city release. When doing this, you do not pay the 5% buyers tax like you must on all secondary property sales. If you minted properties in neighborhoods or regions that sell out and have demand, the prices go up. Sell for a quick profit, or consider holding out if you think the prices will continue to rise.
  • Buy properties of USD and sell for UPX. Typically you can find that properties that sell for USD sell for less than similar properties that are priced for UPX. You might be able to sell the property quickly for UPX and make a quick profit.
  • search the map for deals. Many people list properties for sale without looking to see where they are located. Take for example a property that is properly priced based on the neighborhood and up2 size, but is bordering a body of water. It’s possible that waterfront facing properties may be priced higher than those that aren’t. This might be a good opportunity to pick up that under priced property. Many people don’t manually look around the map for properties, but use property listing bots or look at buying a property based on neighborhood, collection, price and markup alone. Finding a future buyer for this property might take additional time, but if you are patient and proactive you can probably make a profit.