11 Ways to Generate Passive Income for Landowners

Posted on: July 27, 2021 | Land Owners

Land is a limited resource. Though there’s a lot of it—about 15.77 billion usable acres, when excluding deserts and mountains—there’s a limited supply. There are many different types of land—rural, urban, suburban, with different land features and climates—but almost all land can be used in some way. There are many ways landowners can generate passive income from their land.

11 Ways to Generate Passive Income for Landowners

1. Ice and Water Vending Lease

A vending machine business is a low-maintenance business that is comparatively easy to operate. However, working with another business owner through a lease agreement can make this even easier. If you have land near a relatively busy area, your location is desirable for business owners starting an ice and water vending business.

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2. Parking

Recently, the world’s most expensive parking spot sold for a rumored $1.3 million in Hong Kong. Though most parking spots aren’t quite this valuable, parking is becoming more and more scarce in bigger cities. If you have a lot near a city, train station, bus station, or another transit hub or busy area, you can make passive income on your land by simply maintaining the lot and leasing spaces for parking.

3. Lease to a Business

You may not have time to run a business yourself, but landowners can earn passive income by leasing land to other business owners. Consider what type of business works well for the type of land you have and where you’re located, such as a food truck for an urban lot or a farmer’s market for a suburban or rural lot.

4. Billboard

More products and services than ever are competing for customers’ attention. This makes advertising space, like billboards, more valuable than ever. Billboards are particularly valuable for local brick-and-mortar businesses. If your land is near a busy area, you can construct a billboard—or work with another company to construct one—and lease the advertising space to generate passive income.

5. Cell Towers

It’s no mystery that smartphone service has become a must-have for billions of people around the world. If you have a rural lot, leasing your land to a telecommunications company to construct a cell phone tower can be an easy way to make passive income.

6. Solar Panels

Clean energy is becoming more and more important throughout the world. In this case, the nature of solar energy as a renewable, non-limited resource is part of what makes it so valuable. Almost any type of land can be equipped with solar panels to generate solar energy. Solar panels require 4-5 hours of direct sunlight, and less direct sunlight will still provide many benefits. This is a reliable source of passive income that will continue to become more valuable as time goes on.

7. Rustic Camping

If your land is not equipped with electricity or water hookups, or if it’s far away from some of the busiest areas, it may seem harder to generate passive income from. However, many people will pay to get away from the hustle and bustle and the demands of their technology and jobs. Turning your land into a rustic campsite is easy and it’s an easy way to generate passive income.

8. Farming

You don’t have to farm your land yourself to generate passive income. Work with another farmer to start a field, garden, or orchard on your land through a lease agreement. You’ll earn a percentage of the proceeds from the farm and you’ll be putting your land to good use.

9. Recreational Land

As more and more land is developed for homes, cities, and the highways between them, it’s harder and harder to find land for recreational use. If you’re a landowner with a far-flung parcel, you might rent your land for hunting, fishing, hiking, ATVs and more.

10. Sanctuary or Park

If you’d like to see your land used for a bit quieter purposes, consider creating a park or sanctuary with a fee for visitors. With minimal maintenance and improvements, you can turn your rural land into a pleasant area for both wildlife and people.

11. Wedding Venue

The wedding industry is worth $51 billion. Most couples look for a beautiful, memorable wedding venue as one of the first items on their wedding planning list. If your land is home to beautiful trees, creeks, open fields, or other photogenic features, it can be a valuable wedding venue. This can be as hands-on or hands-off as you choose; you might offer tables, chairs and other amenities for your guests, leave them to make their own rental arrangements, or work with another professional or business to manage it. Whatever you choose, this can be a valuable source of passive income for landowners.

Get the most out of your land and consider how you can generate passive income. Take stock of the land that you have, the features and amenities it offers, and what another business owner or a customer might get out of it. With the right strategy, you can make substantial passive income from your land, regardless of location.