I was told i needed to own land so i could have it protected and my buddy could still use everything on it and build with me. what do I need to do to make this possible?

To claim land, you need to build on it or start clearing land

Change it in some way then ask for a protection in a pe

E.g.

/pe new I need a protection called marked with sand pillars ty

Mark the area of land needed for protection with four and pillars

Reasonably high

You don't buy it. Get a String and use to find an area that has no protection. Then mark out the borders and make a PE requesting protection for it and include your friends name so he can get permission. It is preferable to have at least some sort of development on it before requesting protection though.

This link will help: http://mc.minetown.net/wiki/index.php/Region_Protection