Photo: Yevhen Roshchyn (Shutterstock)
Necessity being the mother of invention and all, it’s not surprising that when the economy turns the screws on people, they tend to get creative about their income sources. When you’re struggling to pay your bills, everything starts to look like an opportunity: You start to price out all that stuff in your garage for sale, you lay awake at night coming up with brilliant ideas for new products or services, and you start looking for opportunities to monetize the things you already own, like your car or your house.
When seeking to make money with your home, the obvious first thought is a platform like Airbnb. But that has a lot of downsides, especially if you don’t have a defined apartment or separate living space and you’d actually have strangers in your house. If your home has a backyard of some sort, however, you have more options than you might think when it comes to creating some fresh revenue streams. Here’s how you can monetize your backyard so you can leverage your property without dealing with strangers inside the house.
Build an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)
If you have a large enough backyard and local laws allow it, you might consider building an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) or converting an existing structure, like a detached garage or shed, into a living space. Tiny homes or RVs don’t require foundations or plumbing hookups, and you can purchase one pre-built and just have it transported to your backyard so you can begin collecting that sweet rent money. However, you will need to check the local zoning ordinances in your area pretty carefully. While some municipalities have made it easier to have ADUs or tiny homes in backyards to ease housing crunches, not every local area is a fan. Even if it’s legal, you’ll have to ensure you meet minimum square footage and septic requirements—sometimes it’s a lot easier to convert an existing structure. But if you can pull it off, it can be a steady, reliable income stream—and there are even companies, like Rent the Backyard, that will actually build the rental home in your backyard and manage every aspect of it, simply paying you a portion of the rent.
Make it a campground
If your backyard is large enough (and a little picturesque), you might be able to rent it out as a campground. Hipcamp and Tentrr are sort of like AirBnB for your backyard, offering different programs for turning your outdoor space into a campground. Services range from having an entire campground delivered to your house and set up to simply listing your property as available for DIY campers. Your property may not be accepted for listing depending on its size, location, and other factors, but if it is, this can be a great way to earn some extra money just by letting people sleep in your backyard.
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Start a farming operation
Farms don’t need to be large to be profitable. If you have just a few acres of backyard (an acre is roughly 43,500 square feet) you can still manage to set up a small farming or gardening operation that can turn a profit. The key is to choose crops that will sell, which will require some research into your climate and what grows well in it and the needs of your local community. If you’re considering growing stuff for profit, a great idea is to talk to local restaurants about fresh, local ingredients they need for their menu items—the farm-to-table movement could be a goldmine for you.
If you have a brown thumb or the idea of spending your time doing hard labor on a tiny farm isn’t appealing, another option is to rent out your backyard to gardeners. Sites like YardYum make it pretty easy to list your property, and folks who can’t find community garden space will pay you rent to grow their goods on your property.
Bees
Keeping bees in your backyard can generate income in a lot of ways—producing your own raw honey to sell or renting your bees to local farms for pollination purposes. You can rent beehives from local businesses, often with all support services included, that will let you harvest honey for your own use. If you’re not in the mood to learn the intricacies of keeping bees, you can do the easy thing and simply rent your backyard to beekeepers, who are always looking for spaces to host their hives. Platforms like LeaseHoney make this relatively simple—just fill out a form with the specifics of your backyard and interested beekeepers will contact you.
Raise chickens
Chickens do very well in backyard scenarios, and chickens can be profitable in a lot of ways, especially selling the eggs they lay. Hens will lay about four or five eggs each week, so depending on how many chickens you raise you could be swimming in more eggs than you could possibly eat in no time. There’s a lot of work involved, from initial research into the type of chickens you want to raise to building shelters and acquiring the right feed, but chickens are relatively easy and make great pets for the kids. You could also aim to build a “rent a chicken” business, which is a real thing that’s gaining traction around the country.
Host events
If you have a pretty backyard with a separate road access, you might consider renting it out for weddings, events, or to photographers looking for a scenic backdrop. What’s great about this option is that you’re not actually doing the work, you’re just renting the space, and if you rent it out for less than 15 days at a time it’s often tax-free income (but check with a tax professional before assuming that to be the case in your situation). This requires making some local connections in order to capture business, but once you hook up with some events planners and photographers, it can turn into some serious steady income.
Sell compost
Composting isn’t just environmentally friendly, it can also be pretty profitable. While many people use their compost for their own gardening, you can sell the compost you produce to other gardeners and local farms (and if you add worms to your composting, you can get even more money for the compost because it will be super enriched). Keep in mind that every state has its own laws and regulations surrounding composting, including how it can be sold and transported, so you’ll want to be familiar with your local rules before diving in.
Turn it into parking
This one is a bit permanent, so think long and hard about it before committing. If you have a backyard that you don’t use much, you might be able to convert it into a parking lot to rent the spaces. Parking is always in high demand, and people are often very happy to pay a reasonable rental to park their cars in a relatively safe spot. However, in most areas you can’t just park cars in a yard—aside from HOA rules, there are usually local laws against it, as well. So to get this income stream going, you’ll have to contact your local building office, get a permit (if you can) and convert at least a portion of the backyard into a legal, permitted parking area. Once that investment is completed, however, you can look forward to years of passive income.
Be a dog playground
Have you ever considered combining the income potential of your backyard with the pure joy of dogs? Now you can, by renting your yard as a private dog park. Platforms like Sniffspot allow you to rent out your yard by the hour to local dog owners who want to give their pups space to run around and play in a safe environment. You might have to invest in some quick upgrades like fencing or water sources for the doggos, but once you pass muster, you can have a steady stream of extremely excited dogs racing around your yard, and you’ll be getting cash to boot.
