We all know that real estate can be profitable.
But did you know that it’s not only residential and commercial buildings that are valuable?
While it may not be what you imagine when you think of real estate, vacant land can also be a useful tool to build wealth.
Not only can you invest in it as a long-term hold strategy, but you can also use it to grow your wealth through many other creative strategies.
The best part of vacant land is its flexibility.
You just need a dream and a plan for what you want to do.
As a starting point, below are a few ideas on how you can make your land work for you.
- Sell Land
One of the best ways to make money in real estate is to be an investor.
Like house flippers, land flippers build a business by buying and selling vacant land.
They do this by buying land at below market prices and reselling within a few months.
The key is knowing how to find great deals – if you can do this,the business model is very profitable!
- Invest in Timber Land
Timber did not used to be a popular investment vehicle.
However, in the past 30 years, paper companies have started to sell off their traditional timber holdings opening the door for investors.
It’s a good thing they did because timber land has the advantage of being counter-cyclical and a hedge against inflation.
Plus, if the market for the timber on your land ever drops, you can let the trees keep growing until it rebounds.
After all, there is always going to be a need for wood.
- Rent Our Your Land for Storage
People need storage space and there are many ways you can take advantage of this.
If your land is zoned for it and close to a town, you can build a storage facility.
This facility can be either conditioned or non-conditioned, but just be sure there is sufficient demand in your area for the type of storage you are providing.
If you are a bit farther out from a population center or don’t want to invest in a storage facility, you can also open your land up for boat or RV parking.
Again, make sure you are following all local regulations.
- Offer Adventure Touring
Many people love adventure sports and city-dwellers don’t often have the opportunity to partake in these hobbies.
With a large parcel, you can create an adventure touring company targeted at out-of-towners.
You will need to build out trails, invest in vehicles and make sure you have sufficient guides, insurance, etc – but people will certainly pay for an adventure!
- Invest in Alternative Energy
As more and more states adopt guidelines around alternative energy use, there is an increasing need for land for solar and wind farms.
If you are in an area that is ideal for solar and wind development, you can lease your land to an alternative energy company.
- Sell Your Development or Mineral Rights
Did you know that real estate can be broken down into different rights?
If you bought your land with its full suite of rights, you may be able to sell certain rights while still retaining ownership of the land’s surface for other purposes.
For example, if you are in an area that has a history of mineral extraction, you can sell or lease your mineral rights to a company that specializes in extraction.
Just make sure that the company’s development activities aren’t going to interfere with any other plans you may have for the property.
- Create an AirbnbBusiness
This is a very popular option!
Many people are now buying homes in order to rent them on Airbnb and you can do the same with vacant land.
You will need to develop the property in order to do this, but you can create a profitable Airbnb business by clearing a campground or building a few small cabins and renting them out on a nightly basis.
For the very ambitious, you can even build your own Airbnb house with several rooms for guests.
- Build Horse Stables
Just as with cats and dogs, horse owners need a place to board their animals.
Boarding is often the priciest part of being a horse-owner, so there is certainly money in providing this service.
However, you will need to build the necessary facilities and hire knowledgeable staff who are able to properly care for the animals.
- Farm the Land
Of course, one of the most common ways to make money from vacant land is to grow crops.
You can do this yourself or you can hire people to grow and harvest the crops for you.
Either way, you can then sell your produce to local farmer’s markets, restaurants or food distributors.
- Breed Animals to Sell
An alternative to growing crops is raising animals to sell their products.
This can include raising dairy cows, goats or sheep for their milk or chickens for their eggs.
It can also include raising goats or sheep for their meat.
As with growing crops, you can either raise the animals yourself or hire people to do it for you.
- Sell with Owner Financing
To return to the beginning, a variation on land investing is to sell vacant land with owner financing.
When you sell with owner financing, you allow your buyer to pay you a small monthly sum over a number of years rather than with a single upfront payment.
The nice thing about this option is that you get a steady medium-term income stream and can also charge more for the land than if you were selling on cash.
Again, you will just want to make sure you are finding cheap land in order to increase your profit.
This Is Just the Start
These are only a few of the ways that you can make money from vacant land.
There are lots of other business and investment ideas out there.
Just make sure you check all local regulations before moving forward with any modifications to your property.
