There are so many different ways to make money if you own land. If you own even a small piece of land, you may be surprised at how creative you can be if your goal is to generate income using an existing asset.
grazing animals
If your land includes fields and/or some wooded areas, you may want to take a look at the online and paper classifieds in your area. You will most likely be able to identify horse or cow owners looking for space to graze their animals. What a fantastic way to earn money and if your land includes large areas of grass, the animals will keep the grass down so you can even save money!
hunting rights
If you own land suitable for hunting, you can rent your land to hunters. This is one of the best ways to earn extra money. If you have large deer in your area, there’s a good chance you can charge a premium for the rights to your land during hunting season. Best of all, you can charge per person or charge a flat rate. You are in control with this one, making it one of the best ways to earn extra money, while maintaining full use of your land during the off-season. If you have wildlife on your land, I highly recommend you explore this income-generating possibility.
Storage
Have you noticed how many mini-storage rentals there are? If you have a building on the site, this is also a potentially lucrative way to earn extra money. These days, no one seems to have enough space to store their stuff, so storage space is a realistic way to earn extra income. It can even be a good investment to build a building if it doesn’t exist. Those with an old barn could store four-wheelers or boats during the off-season, making it one of the easiest ways to earn extra money using your land (or trailers, RVs, snowmobiles, classic cars, etc.). pretty much anything you can think of).
Camping
If you have open, level ground that would be suitable for pitching tents, you need to consider the logistics of starting a basic camp. Depending on the current condition of your property, it is possible to start a camp with little money to start. Usually, to get started, you just need stakes to make sites, some fire rings, and a portable potty. There are so many free and cheap ways to advertise these days, like Craig’s List and backpage.com, that you can at least place an ad and see what kind of interest it generates. If there is interest in your area, you have a fairly simple way to generate passive income without having to make a large initial investment or do expensive maintenance.
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If your property includes wooded areas, it would be smart to get some quotes from different lumber companies to see how much you could earn from the lumber. To preserve the value of the land, as well as for environmental reasons, I do not recommend that you clear land. However, you may be able to cut down some of it and preserve some of the forested areas. You may want to look for logging companies that cut sustainably by selectively harvesting only certain types of trees. This protects the value of the land and reduces the negative impact on the environment. Just do a Google search for “sustainable logging companies” in your state.
flea markets
If your land is in a high traffic area, I suggest you consider renting it out as a flea market. Do you know how many small tables you can fit on an acre of land? Even if you charge only $15 per day for each vendor and you have 20 vendors for the first year, you’re already making an extra $300 per day, which works out to more than $2,000 per week. This is a very inexpensive way to make use of your land while helping local vendors and consumers alike. As usual, do a little research on the logistics before you dive in.
farmland
Depending on the types of agriculture that exist in your area, there may be individuals or larger companies looking to lease land on a short-term or long-term basis for agricultural purposes. If you have arable land, it might be worth placing an ad in your local papers as well as places like Craig’s List and backpage.com to see if you get results.
energy leases
In this day of alternative energy, it is possible to make money by leasing rural land to wind generation companies or others within the alternative energy industry. However, the details about this are too complex to cover in this article. I explore these topics on my blog which you can access through my company website or check out other articles I’ve published here on Ezine.com
paintball fields
Providing space for paintball “wars” is still a huge industry. If in doubt, check out all of the paintball fields linked through this website: http://www.pbreview.com/fields/ As you can imagine, it doesn’t take much to make your rough rural terrain ” paintball”. “Done. Essentially, you simply section off all or part of your land and rent it out to groups. Here’s an example of a privately owned paintball field: http://www.actionpaintballsac.com/
conclusion
Land is an asset, especially for those who are creative enough and determined enough to generate passive income by investing the time and energy to start something. Just be sure to do the proper research before you begin, like finding out if you need a license or permit, and dot all your “i’s” and cross out all your “t’s.” Good luck!