Weird Income streams - care to add to the list?

Question

Hey BP! We all want to increase our ROI - and sometimes that means thinking outside the box! A few interesting revenue sources I've found:

-Selling tideland rights - locally we have great shellfish, and you can sell *just* the tideland right to large seafood companies, while keeping the use of the property

-Selling timber - I found out a local investor just buys vacant lots, logs them, then resells, with all the money in the timber

-Selling energy - in some cities, if you have solar panels, you can sell excess energy created back to the city

What other creative alternates have you found for getting more money from a property? Let's make a list!

Parker Eberhard · Answer

@Rachel Luoto renting your property out for television / movie / photo shoots. I had a client in LA who installed special tracks on his ceiling for cameras so he could rent it out for porno shoots

Lien Vuong · Answer

I don't know if this is considered weird but renting parking spaces if you're near a popular train or public transit will be helpful for an income stream. It's mostly a cash business. Also any sort of storage facility in the basement or landscaping company if you have a large yard would be helpful.

Parker Eberhard · Answer

@Rachel Luoto a friend of mine has a pretty lucrative grow operation set up in his basement

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@Rachel Luoto I had a commercial spot that was vacant so I held a craft show. I put down masking tape on the floor to divide out the space. I charged a flat fee for booth space and advertised with fliers and online for free. I collected two months worth of rent in one weekend, so it covered the bills while I looked for a long term tenant. I had never even been to a craft show when I did this!

I know people do similar with seasonal businesses. There is a Halloween store in town that opens up for just one month. Every year they move to a new location. They just find a vacant retail space and negotiate for one months use.

You can rent part of your parking lot to someone selling from a pop up store. I have seen corn, melons, bonsai trees, paintings, wreaths, fireworks and many other things sold this way. Of course this works best on a busy street corner in a nice size parking lot.

People invest in music royalties.

You can buy and place vending machines or video game, pinball or pool machines. You just figure out revenue split with the property owner and have to keep the devices filled and serviced. Some people even do the same thing with washer/driers for apartments. Often an apartment owner doesn't want to deal with machine maintenance so they just contract it out and take a cut. I loved coin op machines when I owned multifamily!

I think others mentioned it but selling parking can be a great revenue stream. This works great during special events if you have a close location. People will pay $20 or more just to park for a day. If you have a business or church that is not otherwise using the lot, just place a person at the entrance for the day and you are in business.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

private timberland sales and harvesting is a lot more competitive then when I did it 20 years ago.. still money in it if done right.

you can do that in the Carolinas as well as GA  MS  AL  FLA   ID  MT  and even CA

Parker Eberhard · Answer

@Rachel Luoto cell towers potentially have issues with radiation that may scare some people away

Parker Eberhard · Answer

@Rachel Luoto parking / camping for concerts or festivals in one’s yard

Parker Eberhard · Answer

@Rachel Luoto depending on location, selling advertising space on the side of your building, or even on top If close to an airport

Tyler Bobo · Answer

I haven't done this personally but have seen other people do a long term lease (like 99 years) for communications companies to put a cell tower on the lot, thought that was awesome!

Adding a storage unit(s) to your rental properties to rent. (Keeps the property clean and tidier and adds some income)

Caleb Heimsoth · Answer

@Rachel Luoto. I’ll tag @Jay Hinrichs.  He used to do timber harvesting back In the day.  I’m sure he could talk more about that.

Weird Income streams - care to add to the list?

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