Players are now called architects in the the Forever Real-World City-Builder Game. With troves and Uppies, Upland is leaping into the future. The foundation of the game hasn’t changed, but these new features definitely will keep you thinking about how your strategy and gameplay is about to change - whether you like it or not.

Troves - Alpha Launch

Upland launched the Alpha version of Troves. Players were able to compete to collect troves that can be exchanged for animal genomes, Uppies, and Sparklet. Players were able to learn first hand how to interact with troves - both collecting them, and crafting them. We saw how service structures and plants function within the context of troves. Players were given insight into how different types of structures produce different types of troves and how people can start to strategize around how to build up their properties.

As a trove beginner, learn the essentials that are required to get started with troves.

Animal Genomes

The grand prize for Genesis Week 2026 was The rarest Genome Trove - the White Friesian Horse. Player rdpfeiffer was one of 139 players who collected all 186 troves during Genesis Week and won the grand prize draw.

Players were also able to collect other genomes - chickens, pigs, sheep, and cows. Both male and female versions of the animal are required to create the animal. Players will have to wait patiently for the animals feature to launch before trading in their genomes for animals.

City Releases

Upland released cities number 52, 53 and 54 in the first triple city release. The cities released all have farming neighborhoods.

• Florence, Italy

• Omaha, Nebraska USA

• Takasaki, Japan

To see a list of all cities released in Upland, check out the Upland Guide.

Movement on Map

Whether it be animals or Uppies - your properties will come to life on the map in 3D! Players will be able to assign Uppies to properties that will tend to all the petting required to maintain a high wellbeing score for the plants. The Uppies will walk around the property, and water the plants. If you want your unique Uppie displayed instead of a generic one, you will have the option to enhance it.

These moments may seem small on their own, but together they represent something much bigger: developed properties becoming more active, expressive, and alive.

Map Asset Collisions

With the initial introduction of plants, it was announced that items could not be placed on top of grass. Upland has now included for the ability for map assets to now be placed on grass, as well as placing plants right up to the side of structures.

In the future, we can expect this feature to expand to placing things like vehicles on things like driveways.

Upland has created a series of standard map assets that players can now buy directly from the Upland store. This can help you get started with decorating your properties. This is especially advantageous for new players just getting started with decor.

New Website and Branding

Upland revamped their website - leading with the slogan “Your forever real-world city-builder game”. Players are now architects of the world, and the Uppies are the residents.

Check out the new site here.

As part of the rebranding, Upland describes the 6 different ways architects (you) can play.

• Plan and build - Acquire properties at real-world addresses. Place homes, shops, schools, hospitals.

• Trade and earn - Live player-driven marketplace. Run a shop. Earn 100% royalties on your creations.

• Farm and tend - Plant crops, raise animals. Every harvest matters. Uppies notice when a neighborhood turns green.

• Race and move - Cars, karts, boats, planes. Race for UPX. Run Trade Routes between cities.

• Explore and discover - Hunt treasures. Find rare Uppies. When a new city opens, the best-prepared Architects claim prime spots.

• Create and show - Design structures, karts, decor. Manufacture goods. Sell through your own shop.

Focus solely on one, or combine any and all of them. Every architect sees the world their own way, and can contribute however works for you.

As a part of the rebrand, Upland has also opened a store selling cool Uppie merch. Check it out.

Player Awards

Congratulations to the following players for being recognized for their efforts and accomplishments throughout the past year in Upland:

• Designer of the Year: Swarley129

• Broadcaster of the Year: Mint to Be Podcast hosted by CityPigeon, with Vapehiguy and Landgrab23 Puppet

• Player of the Year: Laban

Discord Integration

Specific chat channels from Upland’s Discord server will be integrated in game where players will be able to see discussions even if you don’t have Discord. The second phase will allow players to also chat in these channels within Upland, also without a Discord account.

Banking Troves

Announced on the 2StupidForWeb3 Podcast, Upland’s founders announced the concept of banking troves that is in development. This will provide players a path to progress and reach achievements within the game. By obtaining a certain amount of troves of a certain category, you could unlock an achievement that indicates you as a “farming player” that would unlock specific troves or activities for the players who have reached that achievement.

There are many ways to play Upland, but this concept of banking troves will help new players to see clearer paths to progression within the game.

Upland’s Genesis Week 2026 made one thing crystal clear: the game is no longer just about collecting properties — it’s evolving into a vibrant, living, player-driven world where you are the architect. With Troves, animal genomes, dynamic Uppies, enhanced building tools, and clearer progression paths on the horizon, the opportunities for creative, strategic, and social gameplay have never been greater.Whether you love farming, racing, trading, designing, or exploring, there’s a path for every type of player. The foundation is set. The vision is accelerating. Now it’s your move.What are you most excited to build or try first in the new Upland? Drop your thoughts in the comments — and get ready, architects… it’s full speed ahead.

For more Upland content make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Here’s what you need to know.

How Gamified Earnings Actually Work

Your property earnings aren’t static. Through Upland’s gamified earnings system, the tasks you complete during a season determine your earnings multiplier for the following season. The base annual yield starts at 4.9%, but players who complete missions can push that up to 15.19%.

That multiplier is applied to everything sitting in your uncollected earnings, and is updated at the moment a new season begins.

The Risk at Season’s End

Here’s the catch: when a new season starts, Upland recalculates your earnings rate. If you didn’t grind missions hard enough this past season, your new multiplier may be lower than your current one.

Any UPX that’s been accumulating in your account — but hasn’t been collected yet — gets recalculated at the new, lower rate the moment the season flips.

So if you’ve been sitting on, say, two weeks of uncollected earnings at a 12% multiplier, and the new season drops you to 4.9%, those earnings don’t get paid out at the old rate. They get adjusted down. You effectively lose UPX you had already “earned”.

The fix is simple: collect your earnings before the season ends.

On the other hand, if you are anticipating an increase in your UPX earnings for the following season, waiting to collect your earnings will result in them getting adjusted up, and you can leverage this to earn more UPX.

Utilize the Upland Guide Earnings Calculator to leverage this loophole to your own advantage.

What About the Earnings Cap?

There’s another reason to collect regularly — the earnings cap. Depending on your player status level, your uncollected UPX has a ceiling. Once you hit that cap, earnings stop accumulating entirely until you collect and reset the counter. Letting earnings pile up near season-end is risky on two fronts: you might hit the cap and stop earning, and you’re exposed to the multiplier reset.

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1. Plan Your Garden

The first step to having a great garden is to have a great plan. Like most things in the metaverse, having a good plan and a vision can take you far. From choosing the right property in the right neighborhood, to selecting the types and quantities of plants for your design, creating a good plan can prevent you from making mistakes further down the road.

Make sure to use the Upland playground to visualize how your garden will look once completed. Learn more about the playground here. You can find a complete database of plants in the Upland Guide Plant Database.

When planning, avoid the biggest mistake of planting them too close together. This video explains why this is important.

A second, and maybe more important part of your plan should be budgeting - whether it be budgeting for Sparklet, UPX, STEM, USD, and time!

Sparklet is required to be spent in order to:

• Generating your own seeds

• Merge Uppies to reach minimum level 3

UPX is required for:

• Accelerating the growth of your plants with miracle growth

• Travelling between cities to pet your plants, or purchase/generate seeds

USD is required for:

• Purchasing STEM (there will be ways in the future to earn stem in Upland without the need to purchase it)

In addition, both UPX or USD can be used to purchase the following items on the secondary market:

• Purchasing land you wish to develop for a garden

• Purchasing seeds from nursery metaventures

• Purchasing Uppies

• Purchasing totems to enable seed generation in your own nursery

STEM is required for:

• Feeding your plants to maintain their health

Time is required for:

• Petting your plants to maintain their wellbeing

• Planning and designing your garden

• Patience to wait for your plants to grow to their full size. Depending on the type of plant, this can take several seasons.

2. Obtain Seeds

Once you have your plan, its time to obtain the seeds you require. Seeds can either be generated on your own, where you won’t know what seed you will receive or you can purchase the exact seed you need.

Generating Seeds

Seeds are generated by traveling to at active nursery metaventure that has a totem on the property. In exchange for the seed, you will have to spend Sparklet.

Purchasing Seeds

If you want to know exactly what you are purchasing, you can buy seeds in metaventures for UPX or USD. Travel directly to the metaventure to purchase, or if you own a property in the same city, you can purchase from anywhere in Upland.

3. Plant Your Seeds

The act of planting your seeds is burning (deleting) the seed NFT. Once on your property, the plant cannot be moved or sold individually.

4. Keep Your Plants Healthy

Feed your plants STEM. Feed them individually or all at once through the assets tab. Any player can feed any plant in Upland. Be careful, because if your plant’s health reaches zero it will die, and you will have to remove it from your property and start again.

5. Care For Your Plant’s Wellbeing

Maintaining a high wellbeing score is important because this influences the rate at which your plant’s health deteriorates. As your wellbeing decreases you will have to spend more STEM at faster intervals to maintain the same level of health.

Having a well decorated property and maintaining a high wellbeing score on the plants will also increase the probability of of finding rarer troves on that property.

To increase a plant’s wellbeing score:

1. Be within range of the property, and click (long press) on the plant to pet it. This may also generate a trove (future feature).

2. Place a level 3 Uppie or higher on the property (future feature). This act will automatically pet all plants on that property.

Every type of plant requires a different level of care, meaning some need to pet more frequently than others, and the feeding costs and frequencies also differ.

Creating and maintaining a garden in Upland is more than just placing pretty plants — it’s a long-term project that combines creativity, resource management, and ongoing attention. By planning thoughtfully, obtaining the right seeds, planting with purpose, keeping your plants healthy with STEM, and actively maintaining their wellbeing, you’ll set yourself up for success. Remember that gardening rewards patience and consistency.

Start small, learn as you grow, and watch your Upland property transform into a vibrant digital oasis. Happy gardening!

For more Upland content make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Upland is recommending a permanent burn of this SPARKLET, removing it from circulation entirely. As the Upland Guide, I strongly encourage voting YES.

What Is SPARKLET?

SPARKLET is the core utility token powering creation and activity inside the Upland metaverse. It serves as the “fuel” for building and enhancing the virtual world. Players use it in two main ways:

• Staking: Allocate SPARKLET temporarily to power construction, manufacturing, or charging vehicles. It returns once the task completes.

• Spending: Permanently consume SPARKLET for immediate outcomes, such as generating seeds in nurseries or performing Uppie merges.

Unlike UPX (the primary in-game currency for buying and selling properties), SPARKLET is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum (and bridged into Upland). It can be earned through gameplay, purchased on exchanges, or bridged in from external wallets. Its total supply is capped at 1 billion, with clear tokenomics designed for long-term sustainability.

In short, SPARKLET drives value creation — developing properties with ornamental plants, evolving your Uppies, and supporting the broader “LIFE” systems coming to Upland. When you spend it on seed generation or Uppie merges, you’re not just getting an asset; you’re actively contributing to world-building and new gameplay loops.The Q1 2026 Spend and the ProposalIn Q1 2026, players spent roughly 1.9 million SPARKLET on two key new mechanics:

• Seed Generation: Players spend SPARKLET at nurseries (metaventures with active totems) to create Seed Legits. These seeds enable planting flowers, shrubs, and trees on properties as part of the expanding LIFE feature.

• Uppie Merges: Combining Uppies to level them up, which ties into evolution mechanics, property development, and future gameplay depth. Merge costs adjust dynamically based on supply and demand.

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This spend represents real player engagement with fresh content. Based on community feedback, Upland now proposes burning this 1.9M SPARKLET permanently.

Vote YES: Burn the ~1.9M SPARKLET → permanently remove it from circulation.
Vote NO: Keep it in circulation → Upland will return with alternative suggestions.

Voting opens Friday, May 1 at 9:00 AM PT and closes Monday, May 4 at 9:00 AM PT.

Learn more about how to vote

Why Burning Makes Sense (and Why You Should Vote YES)

1. Deflationary Pressure Benefits Holders
   Burning reduces circulating supply. With a fixed total supply of 1 billion, removing tokens that were already “spent” as fuel tightens the available pool. This supports long-term value, especially as demand for SPARKLET grows with new features like expanded LIFE systems, more merges, vehicle powering, and developer-driven content.

2. Aligns with True Utility
   SPARKLET was designed as a resource for creation, not an endlessly inflating reward. When players spend it on seeds or merges, that SPARKLET has already done its job — it powered meaningful activity. Burning it formalizes this “sink” mechanic, preventing the token from lingering as excess supply. It rewards active participants by making future SPARKLET more scarce.

3. Existing Pools Are Well-Funded
   Upland has confirmed that current rewards and incentive pools remain healthy. This burn isn’t starving the ecosystem; it’s pruning excess from specific Q1 activities. Similar votes will handle future spends, giving the community ongoing governance input.

4. Strengthens Long-Term Sustainability
   A healthier token economy attracts more external buyers, developers, and builders who bridge SPARKLET in to participate. Lower circulating supply + growing utility = stronger fundamentals. This vote signals that Upland listens to feedback and prioritizes a balanced, player-driven economy.

5. Precedent and Simplicity
   Burning spent SPARKLET is clean and transparent. A NO vote keeps the tokens around, requiring more complex alternatives later. Voting YES ratifies the recommendation efficiently and shows support for deflationary mechanics that many successful utility tokens use.

Your Voice MattersThis vote is narrowly focused: only the ~1.9M SPARKLET from Q1 seed generation and Uppie merges. It doesn’t affect your personally held SPARKLET or staking rewards.As Uplanders, we benefit when the token we use to build and play has strong economics. Burning this spent supply is a logical, community-supported step toward a more sustainable metaverse economy.Vote YES — help lock in scarcity, reinforce utility, and support the long-term health of SPARKLET.

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1. Don't be late. The city release is Thursday April 30th at 9AM PT. Make sure to travel well ahead of time to be safe, and not sorry. Keep an eye out for Upland's announcements on twitter and discord.

2. If you can't make the city release, there is a presale of properties for UPX for you to participate in - check the Upland store for all the details, or our post below.

3. If you are just joining Upland and choosing your starting city, Cape Town will have about 28% FSA properties that you will be able to mint. These are more affordable properties for newer players. Visitors and Uplanders can mint a maximum of 3 FSA properties per day, so choose wisely. If timed correctly, you might be able to mint highly desired properties in both cities.

   ---

   Have a question?

4. Be decisive and quick when deciding which property to mint. You will have to wait another 10 seconds to mint your next one due to the 10 second cool down period.

5. Beware of these FSA restrictions. These properties can be a double edged sword. New players are not restricted to only minting FSA properties. They are typically the cheapest, but not necessarily the best. Learn more here.

6. Your minting range isn't just around your block explorer, but the entire black tail it creates. It's about 18 minutes long and learn how to make use of it before deciding to send yourself to another area on the map.

7. Minted-out collections will be revealed every Thursday until the end of the Frost season, starting with the first reveal on Thursday, May 7th. The final collection reveal will be on May 28th

   Stay up to date with all the important Upland news, tips, and tricks.

8. Increase your UPX property earnings for next season by completing one of the tasks of minting 5 properties in Cape Town. Not only will that help you to complete a mission, but you will also be able to complete the standard Cape Town collection of minting 3 properties in the city. Learn more about gamified earnings.

9. Increase your earnings further by planting at least one seed on 5 different properties in Cape Town.

10. If you didn't mint what you hoped to, not to worry. There will be future expansions of the city. Keep that in mind when you decide which, and how many properties you want to mint. Only about 10% of the city will be released in this city opening. Anything can happen during city releases, so make sure you have several backup plans.

Pro tip - when buying anything for USD in Upland, make sure to use a browser to save on unnecessary app fees! Learn more in this video.

Cape Town Release Details

• % of City Opened: ~10%

• Official Send Fees: (Lo/Hi/Default): 10/50/20

• Collections: 12

• Neighborhoods: 21

• Total Properties: ~20,500

• % of FSA Properties: 28%

• Future Expansions: Yes

• Official Treasure Hunt Tier: Tier 4

• Current Treasure Hunt Tier: Tier 4

• Average Property Price: 18,448 UPX

• Minimum Price: 1,072 UPX

• Maximum Price: 1,754,389 UPX

  

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Pass Sales

Register for passes:

Registration Start: Monday, April 27th, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Tuesday, April 27th, at 9 AM PT
Price: $5 Each
Quantity: 500 Passes per city (1,000 total)
Snapshot Date: Friday, May 1st, at 9 AM PT

Holding a pass at the snapshot date, Friday May 1st at 9 AM PT, will permanently unlock the ability to construct a Unique Townhouse Structure on your properties within that city. These structures can only be built within their respective cities. Learn more about passes on the Upland Guide.

Block Explorer Sale

Add these sasquatch block explorers to your collection and add to your collectors score this season. Learn more about block explorers.

Registration Start: Monday, April 27th, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Tuesday, April 28th, at 9 AM PT
Price: $20. Each purchase comes with 20,000 UPX with one random block explorer
Qty: 300

Property Presale

Register for a limited-time Pre-Sale, giving your chance to secure properties in key areas ahead of the city release.

Registration Start: Tuesday April 28th, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Wednesday, April 29th, at 9 AM PT
City Opening: Thursday, April 30th, at 9 AM PT

• Low price property: 15,000 UPX - one low priced property. Quantity - 1000 properties.

• Mid price property: 20,000 UPX - one medium price property. Quantity - 800 properties.

• High price property: 30,000 UPX - one high price property. Quantity - 500 properties.

• Curated bundle: 65,000 UPX - two properties. Quantity - 400 bundles.

• Deluxe bundle: $99 - two properties plus African crafts service structure, that can only be built in Cape Town. This bundle also grants entry into a drawing for one of two iconic landmarks - District Six Museum, Auwal Masjid.

  Quantity - 400 bundles.

Marina Bundle Sales

Dock your boats in the newest city. Learn more about marinas here. Note that this bundle only comes with a place to park your boat, and it does not come with a boat itself.

Registration Start: Tuesday, April 28th, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Wednesday, April 29th, at 9 AM PT

• $30 USD gets you 30,000 UPX + one marina property

  Quantity - 200 bundles.

Terminal Sale

Owners of airport terminals will share in the UPX revenue made from travel through the terminals. Learn more about profit sharing when purchasing a public transportation terminal.

International Airport Terminal Price: $1,536 (Web only)
Registration Start: Tuesday, April 28th, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Wednesday, April 29th, at 9 AM PT
QTY: 10

Collections Reveal

Collections will remain a mystery until they are fully minted out. Each Thursday, we will announce the newly completed collections from the previous week, with the first reveal on Thursday, March 5th.

This rolling reveal will continue until Thursday March 26th. Then, any collections that are still incomplete will be announced, locked, repriced, and reopened for public minting.

Mint Master Badges

Players have the opportunity to earn mint master badges in each of the city releases.

And if you’re not thinking about your neighborhood right now, you’re already behind.

“Development is no longer just visual. It determines output, activity, and opportunity.” — Upland Developer Update, April 2026

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From Ownership to Output

For a long time, buying property in Upland was primarily about two things: completing collections to earn UPX yield, and holding assets that might appreciate in value. Your property sat there. It earned passively. That model still has merit — but the ground is shifting.

The new Trove system changes the equation entirely. Properties in Upland will soon produce troves — collectible resources tied to what you’ve built on your land. Plants produce them. Structures produce them. Vehicles, fishing routes, trade routes — all of it feeds into the same interconnected resource layer. But here’s the critical detail:

the level of development of your property directly affects the type, rarity, and quantity of troves it generates.

A thoughtfully developed property, sitting inside a thriving neighborhood, produces meaningfully better outcomes. Activity builds on itself. And that’s where community comes in.

Why Neighborhoods Now

Upland has always been a social game underneath its real-estate skin. The players who’ve done best long-term aren’t lone wolves — they’re the ones who plugged into communities, shared knowledge, and coordinated strategy with other Uplanders.

🌱 The Neighborhood Effect

As more players develop their properties in the same area, the neighborhood itself becomes more productive. More residents (Uppies) are attracted. More troves are generated. More recipes can be fulfilled. The whole block rises together — or stagnates together.

This creates a powerful incentive to not just develop your own plot, but to care about who your neighbors are and how active they are. A high-development neighborhood with engaged players around you will out-produce a collection of isolated, undeveloped lots — even if those isolated properties have better individual stats on paper.

Think about what this means strategically.

Coordinating with other players in your city to develop contiguous properties, attract Uppies, and build out service structures like supermarkets and bakeries isn’t just fun — it’s economically rational.

A structure like a supermarket in your neighborhood is where things like apple troves get exchanged for STEM or used as part of recipes. A bakery is where wheat and milk troves get combined into bread that Uppies request before they can be minted. The whole recipe chain depends on having the right infrastructure nearby.

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The STEM Economy Is a Community Game

STEM is designed to flow through the entire ecosystem, not pool in the hands of a few whales. Upland has been explicit about this: STEM is account-bound and intentionally inflationary, so that as many players as possible can participate in the systems built around it.

That philosophy matters. It means the players who earn the most STEM won’t necessarily be the richest — they’ll be the most engaged, the most strategically developed, and the most plugged into their local Upland community.

This is Upland’s long game becoming visible. The metaverse has always positioned itself as a player-driven economy. With Troves and recipes tying every gameplay loop together — development, exploration, farming, Uppies, fishing — it’s finally building the connective tissue to back that claim up.

What You Should Do Right Now

You don’t need to wait for the full Life rollout to start positioning yourself. Here’s how I’m thinking about it:

Develop with intention. Even decorative plants matter — every plant in Upland will produce troves. If you’ve been putting off landscaping your properties because it felt cosmetic, that calculus has changed. Get plants in the ground.

Know your neighbors. Find out who owns properties around your most developed plots. Connect with them in Discord or in-game. A neighborhood that develops together will outperform one where half the lots are held by inactive accounts.

Think about service structures. The recipe economy needs infrastructure — supermarkets, bakeries, arcades. If your neighborhood doesn’t have them, that’s either a problem to solve collectively or an opportunity for someone to fill. If you don’t own the service structure, you can utilize the construction hub to start building.

Don’t sleep on Uppies. Residents are attracted to developed neighborhoods and will generate their own trove requests and create new minting opportunities. A neighborhood that supports a healthy Uppie population is a neighborhood with ongoing economic activity, not a static grid of empty lots.

The arrival of Life, Troves, and the recipe economy isn’t just an update — it’s Upland growing up. Property ownership remains the foundation. But what you do with that ownership, and who you build alongside, is about to define your standing in this metaverse far more than any single purchase ever could.

Build well. Build together.

When most people think about owning property in Upland, they picture a plot of virtual land — a colored rectangle on a map, maybe a building sitting on top of it. It earns some UPX. You check in, move on. It’s valuable, but it’s static. It’s a number that goes up or down.

That’s about to feel like a long time ago.

With the arrival of Life in Upland, your properties are no longer just assets on a ledger. They’re environments, they can grow. And the difference between the two is everything.

Here’s what that means in practice. Through the Life system, players can now plant real living elements on their properties — ornamental trees, flowers, shrubs. These aren’t decorations you slap on and forget. They grow over time. They evolve visually as weeks pass. And they require something from you: attention. Care. If you neglect a plant, it withers and dies. If you nurture it, it thrives and that means it can produce valuable troves.

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STEM is what feeds your plants, and all future living assets.

But here’s the part I want you to sit with for a moment: this is the first time in Upland’s history that what happens on your property depends on how present you are. Not just whether you bought a property in the right neighborhood or completed the right collection — but whether you showed up and tended to something.

“For the first time, Upland rewards presence — not just strategy. Your land reflects the care you put into it.”

That’s a meaningful shift. It changes the relationship between a player and their portfolio. A property with a thriving, well-tended garden looks and feels different from one that’s been abandoned. As Residents — Upland’s digital citizens — become more central to the game, the character of your property is going to matter more than ever for attracting them.

None of this requires you to be a crypto expert, a seasoned trader, or someone with hundreds of properties. A new player with a single property in the right city, a handful of STEM, and a seed Legit can participate in Life right now. The barrier isn’t status — it’s curiosity.

Upland started as a property trading game. A map full of blue rectangles. But the vision was always something richer: a living, breathing metaverse that mirrors the real world. With Life, that vision just took its most tangible step forward yet.

Your plot of virtual land? It’s not just a square anymore. Tend to it like it matters — because now, it really does.

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STEM is not another tradable asset for flipping or hoarding. It is fuel— pure, purposeful, and deliberately abundant. Its entire reason for existing is to power the growth of life in the Upland metaverse: plants, trees, animals, ornamental flora, and eventually far more complex digital organisms.

From Protem to STEM: The Transition Is Here

Upland first tested the Life system with a temporary token called Protem. Players earned it through Totems, spent it to nurture them, and watched it circulate in a controlled mini-economy. Now the switch is happening.

Every single Protem you hold will automatically convert at 1 Protem = 1,000 STEM. Once the full Life system launches, STEM becomes permanently available in the Upland Store at a base rate of $1 = 1,000 STEM, similar to UPX. But that’s where the similarities end.

This single design choice changes everything. Because STEM cannot be bought or sold between players on any marketplace, it resists speculation. Its value isn’t driven by trader sentiment—it is driven by utility and the developers’ ongoing balancing decisions.

Ever-Inflationary by Design

Unlike scarce digital assets, STEM has no hard cap. The Upland team can (and may) adjust how much STEM it costs to ensure gameplay is healthy as the metaverse expands.

“It’s ever-inflationary by design because the goal is simple: more Life, everywhere, all the time.”

This is inflation with intention. In traditional fiat currencies, endless money printing often erodes trust. In Upland, controlled expansion of STEM ensures that new players can participate in the Life ecosystem without extreme barriers. As more plants, animals, and living assets enter the world, the “fuel” supply grows to match demand. Costs can be tweaked so that caring for Life remains accessible rather than prohibitively expensive.

The philosophy flips the usual crypto script: instead of maximizing individual holder value through scarcity, Upland is maximizing ecosystem vitality through abundance.

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How STEM Actually Works in Practice

• Feeding Life: Plants and animals require regular STEM to thrive, grow, evolve with seasons, and produce rewards. Neglect them and they may wither; feed them well and they can become productive assets.

• STEM Producing items: Totems and specific types of ornamental plants are able to generate Stem.

• Troves: Upland is building out a Trove system that will help players earn STEM through gameplay

• Non-Tradeable Nature: You buy STEM from the store or earn it in-game. You cannot list it on a player marketplace. This keeps the focus on creation and care, not flipping.

Comparing STEM to Upland’s other resources:

• UPX powers property trading and general economy.

• Sparklet fuels construction of buildings, vehicles, and inanimate objects.

• STEM is reserved exclusively for the biological layer— Life.

Together they form a layered economy: trade and build with one set of tools, then breathe vitality into the world with another.

Why This Design Matters

Most metaverse projects copy the “scarce token” playbook and hope speculation drives adoption. Upland is experimenting with the opposite for its Life layer: make the fuel abundant enough that the living ecosystem can truly scale.

This approach echoes real-world biology more than traditional finance. Forests don’t grow faster when sunlight is artificially rationed; they flourish when resources flow freely. STEM aims to be that unrestricted sunlight for digital Life.

Of course, success depends on careful tuning. The team has stated they will monitor community usage closely and adjust as needed to maintain balance. If inflation runs too hot, Life becomes too easy. If too tight, it frustrates players. The non-tradeable rule helps anchor the system against pure financial gaming.

A New Chapter for Metaverse Economies

STEM represents a refreshing departure from the dominant narrative that every token must moon or die. Here, the token’s success is measured not by its price chart, but by how vibrantly Life spreads across Upland’s virtual map.

Whether you’re a property baron, a casual gardener, or someone drawn to the creative side of metaverses, STEM invites a different kind of engagement: stewardship over speculation, growth over extraction.

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Learn more about STEM and Protem on the Upland Guide

It sounds like a solo mission. Buy offices, grow score, win commerce. Most players are treating it exactly that way.

They are about to be surprised.

Buried in the mechanics of Upland’s bond system is a design decision that fundamentally changes what it means to “invest” in commerce. It is not complicated once you see it. But almost no one is talking about it — because it requires you to stop thinking about Upland as a game you play, and start thinking about it as a game you play with others.

What is a bond?

Bonds are created when a player builds an office structure in a neighborhood other than his home neighborhood. A second player must have performed the opposite – have an office structure in your home neighborhood and have set his home neighborhood where you have built your office structure.

This is a reciprocal act. It means the connection runs both ways. It means two parties have to act - coordinating with other players can go a long way. No amount of solo spending and development can independently create bonds to increase your commerce score.

This is not a technicality. It is the entire point. The developers have deliberately built a mechanic that cannot be automated, cannot be solo-executed, and cannot be bought unilaterally. The only path to a bond runs through another person.

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Why this changes everything

Consider what most players are doing right now. They are logging in, building offices, and placing them on their own properties, watching their office units climb, and feeling productive. They are not wrong that office units matter.

Office units without bonds are like having a phone with no contacts — technically functional, practically inert.

A neighborhood full of solo spenders, each with ten offices on their own blocks and zero coordinated placements, will have a Commerce score of zero bonds — regardless of how much money they collectively poured in. Meanwhile, two players with a single small office each, placed in each other's neighborhoods through a five-minute Discord conversation, will have created a bond. One bond is infinitely more than zero.

The coordination problem - and why it’s an opportunity

Here is the uncomfortable truth: most Upland players are not naturally inclined to coordinate.

The bond system asks players to to treat each other not as a competitor for properties, but as a co-author of commercial infrastructure.

That friction is real. But it is also where the opportunity hides.

Because coordination is hard, most players won’t do it — or won’t do it well, or won’t do it early enough. The neighborhoods that figure out how to organize reciprocal office exchanges before commerce scores go live will hold a structural advantage that latecomers cannot simply buy their way out of. The commerce score scoring system rewards unique mutual bonds — meaning more unique player pairs participating strengthens the score more than one pair doing many exchanges. This creates an incentive not just to find one partner, but to build a whole network of them. The players who can organize that network, right now, before trade routes launch, are building a moat that money alone cannot replicate.

The real secret was never about money

Upland has always marketed itself around three pillars: Play, Earn, Connect. For most of its history, “Connect” felt like the nice-to-have — the social layer that enriched the game without being strictly necessary for economic success. The bond system ends that era permanently.

You cannot earn commerce without connecting first. You cannot build a trade network without a partner. You cannot place an office that matters in isolation. The game has encoded cooperation into the rules of the economy itself — and in doing so, it has made the most valuable resource in Upland something that cannot be purchased at any price: a relationship with another player who trusts you enough to coordinate.

That is the hidden secret. Not a trick. Not an exploit. Just the plain truth of how the system works — and why the players who understand it are already messaging their future bond partners right now, while everyone else is still browsing the store.

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With the introduction of office structures, we learn how they create bonds, bonds generate commerce, commerce attracts activity, and activity powers trade routes. It's an ecosystem where every piece of infrastructure a player places actively shapes the economic gravity of their neighborhood.

In order to fully immerse yourself in the commerce aspect of Upland, the following are the initial pre-requisites required. Think of it as your commercial starter kit. None of it is optional if you want full participation — and all of it carries a cost.

Virtual Property Ownership

Everything begins here as property ownership is the foundation of the metaverse. You must own at least two properties in different neighborhoods in order to create a bond (explained below). You will need to have at minimum Uplander status, and you will need to have completed the KYC process.

Costs: Depending on where you want to set your home address, and create future commerce bonds, purchasing not just properties, but ones large enough to hold the office structures can be pricey. Depending on the existing strength of the community in some of these neighborhoods, this could cost you upwards of even 100,000 UPX.

Build Structures to Create Neighborhood Bonds

Creating neighborhood bonds are the foundation of commerce, and creating these meaningful connections between different cities and neighborhoods in Upland. You will need to construct 2 different types of structures on your properties to create a bond.

1. Residential Structure - On this structure, you will have to define your home address.

2. Office Structure - create this structure on a property NOT in the same neighborhood as your home address.

To construct these buildings, you will need to have purchased the blueprint from the Upland store, or contracted the construction to another player via the construction hub.

In addition to completing these tasks and to finalize the bond, a different player will have to have created an office structure in your home neighborhood, and have his home address set where you have created your office structures.

Costs: Purchasing the cheapest office structure will cost 30,000 UPX - this might be the best route if you intend on building several of them. If not, you can utilize the construction hub, and you can set the price you are willing to pay.

Build With Sparklet

Sparklet fuels the Upland metaverse. It powers building, development, manufacturing, vehicles, and more. You will need to to own a minimum of 420 Sparklet to get your buildings started. This is just the bare minimum, but you are going to need a lot more if you want to complete your buildings faster. If you are going to take part in commerce, chances are you won’t be stopping at only one office structure.

Costs: The cost of Sparklet can fluctuate. It can be purchased in game for USd, but if you are looking to purchase large amounts, buying with cryptocurrency is recommended. You can sell Sparklet once you are done with it, so the costs could potentially be minimal if you are only building for a short period of time.

Here are all the ways you can obtain Sparklet.

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Strengthen Neighborhood Bonds

Creating the neighborhood bond is just the start, but its also important to have strong bonds. The stronger the bonds, the higher your commerce score will be. The following items factor into the strength of your commerce score:

Unique Mutual Bonds

Each unique pair of players creating reciprocal office placements strengthens the connection between neighborhoods. The more unique participants involved, the stronger the bond network becomes.

Balanced Bonds

Bonds are strongest when both neighborhoods contribute evenly. For example, a 5 → 5 relationship between two neighborhoods is stronger than an uneven connection like 5 → 1.

Network Diversity

Neighborhoods that build connections with many different neighborhoods will develop stronger trade potential than those relying on only a small number of partners.

Distance

Distance between connected neighborhoods will play an increasing role as trade routes are introduced. Longer connections between cities will offer greater opportunities, rewarding players who establish networks that span across the map.

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The Future of Commerce

Players who understand the concept of commerce and how it fits in with the metaverse are already making moves. Neighborhoods that accumulate strong commerce scores before trade routes launch will be positioned as the natural hubs of the new road-based economy. The cost of doing business in the Upland metaverse is real. But the cost of sitting on the sidelines while that infrastructure takes shape might be higher.

Where are you planning on building your first office structure?

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What Is the Construction Hub?

Simply put, the Construction Hub lets players pay others to construct specific structures for them. That might sound straightforward, but the ripple effects across the Upland economy are huge. There are two types of players who stand to gain from this — and honestly, you probably fall into at least one of them.

Reason #1: Own a Custom Build? Start Getting Paid.

If you already own a custom blueprint in Upland, the Construction Hub just turned that asset into a potential income stream.

Here’s how it works: other players who want that specific structure but don’t own it can place a request in the construction hub to have someone pay you to construct it for them. Your blueprint becomes a service. Be the first to travel to the specified property to get paid to start construction.

This is a big deal for players who have invested in unique or hard-to-find structures, like service structures. That investment now pays dividends in a way it simply didn’t before.

Reason #2: Don’t Own One? You Can Still Build.

Here’s where the Construction Hub levels the playing field.

Not everyone in Upland has access to every structure. In the past, if you didn’t own a certain build, you were just out of luck. That’s no longer the case. Now, even if you don’t personally own the structure you need, you can still get it built — by paying another player who does.

This means the barrier to expanding your Upland portfolio just got a lot lower. You no longer need to own every piece of the puzzle. If you are just looking to construct a building once, there is not longer a need for you to purchase the blueprint. When it comes to diversifying the building of your properties to add to your influence score or residents score, utilizing the construction hub is a gamechanger.

The Bottom Line

The Construction Hub creates a two-sided economy: builders earn by monetizing blueprints they already own, and everyone else gains access to builds they couldn’t get before. It’s a win on both sides of the transaction.

How do you intent to utilize the construction hub?

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1. Don't be late. The dual city release is Thursday February 26th at 9AM PT. Make sure to travel well ahead of time to be safe, and not sorry. Keep an eye out for Upland's announcements on twitter and discord.

2. If you can't make the city release, there is a presale of properties for UPX for you to participate in - check the Upland store for all the details, or our post below.

3. If you are just joining Upland and choosing your starting city, both Vancouver and Seattle will have FSA properties you will be able to mint.

4. 15% of the release of Seattle, and 10% of Vancouver are FSA - these are more affordable properties for newer players. Visitors and Uplanders can mint a maximum of 3 FSA properties per day, so choose wisely. If timed correctly, you might be able to mint highly desired properties in both cities.

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   Have a question?

5. Both Seattle and Vancouver will be expanded in the future so keep that in mind when you decide which, and how many properties you want to mint. Only about 18% of Vancouver, and 10% of Seattle will be released in this city opening.

6. Be decisive and quick when deciding which property to mint. You will have to wait another 10 seconds to mint your next one due to the 10 second cool down period.

7. Beware of these FSA restrictions. These properties can be a double edged sword. New players are not restricted to only minting FSA properties. They are typically the cheapest, but not necessarily the best. Learn more here.

8. Your minting range isn't just around your block explorer, but the entire black tail it creates. It's about 18 minutes long and learn how to make use of it before deciding to send yourself to another area on the map.

9. Minted-out collections will be revealed every Thursday until the end of the Frost season, starting with the first reveal on Thursday, March 5th. The final collection reveal will be on March 26

   Stay up to date with all the important Upland news, tips, and tricks.

10. If you didn't mint what you hoped to, not to worry. There will be future expansions of these cities. Anything can happen during city releases, so make sure you have several backup plans.

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Pro tip - when buying anything for USD in Upland, make sure to use a browser to save on unnecessary app fees! Learn more in this video.

Seattle City Release Details

• % of City Opened: ~10%

• Official Send Fees: (Lo/Hi/Default): 15/75/30

• Collections: 9

• Neighborhoods: 12

• Total Properties: ~15,000

• % of FSA Properties: 15%

• Future Expansions: Yes

• Official Treasure Hunt Tier: Tier 2

• Current Treasure Hunt Tier: Tier 3

• Average Property Price: 62,640UPX

• Minimum Price: 5,488UPX

• Maximum Price: 3,079,746UPX

Vancouver City Release Details

• % of City Opened: ~18%

• Official Send Fees: (Lo/Hi/Default): 15/75/30

• Collections: 12

• Neighborhoods: 8

• Total Properties: ~17,500

• % of FSA Properties: 10%

• Future Expansions: Yes

• Official Treasure Hunt Tier: Tier 2

• Current Treasure Hunt Tier: Tier 3

• Average Property Price: 80,296 UPX

• Minimum Price: 2,576 UPX

• Maximum Price: 6,479,832 UPX

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Pass Sales

Register for passes for both Seattle and Vancouver:

Registration Start: Monday, February 23rd, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Tuesday, February 24th, at 9 AM PT
Price: $5 Each
Quantity: 500 Passes per city (1,000 total)
Snapshot Date: Friday, February 27th, at 9 AM PT

Holding a pass at the snapshot date, Friday February 27th at 9 AM PT, will permanently unlock the ability to construct a Unique Townhouse Structure on your properties within that city. These structures can only be built within their respective cities. Learn more about passes on the Upland Guide.

Block Explorer Sale

Add these sasquatch block explorers to your collection and add to your collectors score this season. Learn more about block explorers.

Registration Start: Monday, February 23rd, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Tuesday, February 24th, at 9 AM PT
Price: $20. Each purchase comes with 20,000 UPX with one random block explorer
Qty: 300

Property Presale

Register for a limited-time Pre-Sale, giving your chance to secure properties in key areas ahead of the city release.

Registration Start: Tuesday February 24th, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Wednesday, February 25th, at 9 AM PT
City Opening: Thursday, February 26th, at 9 AM PT

Seattle Presale

• Low price property: 15,000 UPX - one low priced property. Quantity - 1000 properties.

• Mid price property: 25,000 UPX - one medium price property. Quantity - 800 properties.

• High price property: 45,000 UPX - one high price property. Quantity - 500 properties.

• Curated bundle: 85,000 UPX - two properties. Quantity - 300 bundles.

• Deluxe bundle: $100 - two properties plus Seattle music venue service structure. This bundle also boosts your chances of landing a coveted Collection property and grants entry into a drawing for one of two iconic Seattle landmarks - the Space needle, and Smith tower. Quantity - 300 bundles.

Vancouver Presale

• Low price property: 15,000 UPX - one low priced property. Quantity - 1000 properties.

• Mid price property: 25,000 UPX - one medium price property. Quantity - 800 properties.

• High price property: 40,000 UPX - one high price property. Quantity - 500 properties.

• Curated bundle: 85,000 UPX - two properties. Quantity - 300 bundles.

• Deluxe bundle: $100 - two properties plus Hockey store service structure. This bundle also boosts your chances of landing a coveted Collection property and grants entry into a drawing for one of two iconic Vancouver landmarks - the Harbour Center, Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden. Quantity - 300 bundles.

Marina Bundle Sales

Dock your boats in the newest city. Learn more about marinas here. Note that this bundle only comes with a place to park your boat, and it does not come with a boat itself.

Registration Start: Tuesday, February 24th, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Wednesday, February 25th, at 9 AM PT

• Seattle Marina Bundle: $30 USD gets you 30,000 UPX + one marina property in Seattle. Quantity - 200 bundles.

• Vancouver Marina Bundle: $30 USD gets you 30,000 UPX + one marina property in Vancouver. Quantity - 200 bundles.

Terminal Sale

Owners of airport terminals will share in the UPX revenue made from travel through the terminals. Learn more about profit sharing when purchasing a public transportation terminal.

International Airport Terminal Price: $1,536 (Web only)
Registration Start: Tuesday, February 24th, at 9 AM PT
Sale Start: Wednesday, February 25th, at 9 AM PT
QTY: 20 (10 in each city)

Collections Reveal

Collections will remain a mystery until they are fully minted out. Each Thursday, we will announce the newly completed collections from the previous week, with the first reveal on Thursday, March 5th.

This rolling reveal will continue until Thursday March 26th. Then, any collections that are still incomplete will be announced, locked, repriced, and reopened for public minting.

Mint Master Badges

Players have the opportunity to earn mint master badges in each of the city releases.

Looking at the property card and the property itself, you can find out a number of things:

• You can see what type of assets are listed on it, whether it be structure ornaments, carts, or map assets.

• You can determine what the original mint price of the property was.

• You can see how many residents live there.

There are a number of things that you can’t see. All of the things I just mentioned are part of the Layer 1 Upland metaverse. The hidden value is often found in the Layer 2 Metaverse. This additional layer is games or applications that players can create on top of the Upland Metaverse using Upland’s assets.

Let’s take, for example, racing in Upland. (This racing game is theoretically a Layer 2, which is built on top of Upland, but it is built by Upland and fully integrated into the game. Therefore it might be more difficult to see how this is actually a Layer 2 platform.)

In racing, players use Upland vehicles to race around tracks that were designed by players. Whether it be racing around real-world landmarks or just around the neighborhood where you and your friends live, this is an exciting way for players to race and compete and even earn UPX.

Using Upland Racing as an example I can create whatever rules I want. These rules don’t have to be built in within the Upland Metaverse. I can say that whoever owns a property in this neighborhood and races on a certain track once a week for the entire month is entered into a draw to win a one-million UPX giveaway by me. That will automatically increase the value of properties in that neighborhood for players who want to race.

Now if you’re not part of my community and you haven’t seen that update then you wouldn’t know about it. Just by looking at the Upland map you don’t see these additional benefits. Alternatively I can create my own game on top of Upland using all sorts of different assets. I can give different assets different types of value, thus increasing their value to players who are part of that community or playing that game.

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It’s entirely possible that you have some asset that is being used in a different community that has additional value to it. This is a great opportunity for you to either sell that asset to people who are in that community, or it’s a great way for you to start getting engaged because now you realize you have something of value. There are infinite ways where players are able to create layer 2 games and applications.

In this post, I’ll break down the top 5 essentials you need to know right about virtual properties in the Upland metaverse.

1. What is Virtual Land?

Virtual land, virtual property, digital real estate, or metaverse land - it’s the foundation of what the metaverse is.

Ownership Is Blockchain-Verified
In most modern platforms (including Upland), your ownership is secured as a digital token (NFT-like or on-chain asset). This means:

• You have true control—no central company can take it away.

• You can sell, gift, or transfer it peer-to-peer.

• Transactions are recorded forever on the blockchain (like a tamper-proof title deed).

2. How can you buy virtual land in Upland?

You can buy land in Upland using two different currencies:

1. UPX, which is the in-game currency

2. U.S. dollars

If you’re brand new to Upland and you’re just looking to get started, you start out with a minimum amount of UPX. This can help you to get started in minting your first property. Minting a property is the process of purchasing it directly from Upland and being the first player to discover it. Minting properties can only be done using UPX.

Players who own properties can decide to either sell them for UPX or directly for U.S. dollars. Purchasing a property for U.S. dollars can be done using your in-game U.S. dollar account balance or directly by using your credit card. If there’s a property you want to purchase for UPX but you don’t have enough UPX in your account, you can also purchase UPX directly from the Upland store.

3. Why do I need virtual land in Upland and what can I do with it?

Owning a virtual property is the foundation of the Upland metaverse. Upland is a world-building game map to the real-world properties. Just like in the real world, people need a place to live. They’re looking for a community, things to purchase, entertainment, and a lot more. The same is true also in the Upland Metaverse. The top neighborhoods in Upland are able to attract virtual residents. Having a strong community will make it a more desirable place for these virtual residents to live, thus increasing the value of your properties.

This has parallels to the real world. If you live in some of the hotspots or downtown cores in the real world, chances are the price of the property is going to be a lot more expensive than if you were to live out in the suburbs. The same is true in Upland as well.

Additionally in Upland you receive yield for owning properties. It can range from 4.9% all the way to 15.19% based on the number of gamified tasks you perform during the season. Beyond that, you can get additional boosts to your yield by placing your property in collections, similar to the real-world game of Monopoly.

Next you can express your creativity by building on top of your property. You can add different types of assets such as place map assets, structures (residential or service structures). Add structure ornaments to it to decorate it or even create a business - whether it’s running a shop or manufacturing your own things like carts, map assets, or structure ornaments.

4. How can I make money from owning virtual land in the metaverse?

There are many ways that you can earn from land from the metaverse, a few of them I mentioned above. If you are holding the land for the long-term value of it, then earning yield is excellent option for you. If the land is located in a community that is vibrant and growing, then you are going to benefit from increased value of having land in that neighborhood. If you’re an entrepreneur, you can also get started by setting up your very first business, or metaventure within the Metaverse. You can create and manufacture your own items, and/or you can sell them virtually.

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5. Is virtual land in Upland a good investment?

Think about cities like New York City in the 70s. The city was not at its peak and it’s not what it is today. If you had purchased land in Manhattan 50 years ago, today you would be able to see a very large return on your investment. Owning valuable land will always remain in style. The question is, where is the valuable land located? Just like in Manhattan, the same is true in Upland.

There are millions of properties that you can own in the metaverse, but not all of them are going to be valuable. Places, cities, and neighborhoods that develop their land and create a vibrant community will see an increase in the value of that land. Properties that aren’t being tended to or are in neighborhoods where people are not coordinating and are not attracting the virtual residents may not see the same returns.

Beyond just the gray squares, properties can also have real-world meanings because they are tied to the real-world addresses. Whether it be a famous landmark, a restaurant, or even your personal home, there are other reasons why properties in Upland can have additional value and meaning to them.

So are properties in Upland a good investment? It totally depends on what your strategy is moving forward. If you’re looking to make a quick flip on some of your properties, you may find it harder than playing the long game. If you want to learn more about how to get started in Upland, make sure to check out our full YouTube channel.