I love investing in raw land, here are the basics and 57 ways to make five grand a month with raw land.

Investing in Raw Land and Vacant Land…

This is about investing in raw land and what it really means for real estate investors. I love doing this and I’ve been working with raw land ever since I was a kid. I know you probably aren’t as nerdy about this as me so I wont’ get carried just yet, unless you ask me to lol.

This will be a general overview and an introduction to the basics of investing in raw land. Here’s what it really means for real estate investors and what you need to know before you begin.

Most investors HATE raw land

I’m probably the one who advertises how much I love this part of the business, but I’m biased and they may be because my family raised me on this stuff and my dad would take me out to look at and appraise lots as soon as I could walk.

That being said, there are real dangers in this world and you should NEVER get a loan or put money at risk on a raw land deal, especially if you don’w know what you’re doing. But guess what? That is NOT something you should do with ANY investment.

Stay away from ALL risk

 We are big on avoiding using your credit, money or finances to get into real estate or business. So later, in another post I’ll talk about that more, how to work these deals with NO risk and get into raw land deals with no money or credit, etc.

For now we need to know the basics.

Raw land investing is an interesting category and can mean a lot of different things. Basically you’re investing in some sort of land and it’s stage of development, and the potential uses, can be varied.

By breaking raw land down…

The definition of ‘raw land’ becomes easier to grasp when when you properly categorize the types. Let’s get started with the top categories and get a clearer picture of what everyone’s talking about.

Here we go;

1. Residential Development Land (land to be sold to developers for residential homes)
2. Commercial Development Land (land to be sold to developers for commercial purposes)
3. Crop Land (land that is already being used for crops or could be)
4. Livestock Land (land that is ideal for livestock and not other purposes for the most financial gain)
5. Timberland (land that will be used for timber and then perhaps replanted or repurposed)
6. Mineral Rich Land (for mining the land)
7. Recreation Land (this really varies, from airstrips to storage, ATV roaming grounds, shooting ranges, etc.)

 How they each work in a little bit more detail.

Residential or Commercial Development

 Buying land that can be developed for residential or commercial purposes is going to be land that is most likely zoned accordingly. You can petition to have land re-zoned, but it is a bit of a time consuming and therefore costly endeavor, and it may not lead to the re-zoning results you desire.

Crop land

Buying land for cropping takes a little bit of know how or the willingness to learn quickly. You need to know what crops can be grown on the land, who will actually farm it, crop rotation cycles to limit depletion of the land’s minerals, how much it will cost to farm the land, how much crops are going for after harvest, and much more. This is why a lot of people walk away from raw land.

Livestock land

Buying land for livestock is likened to cropping; what animals can survive on the land, is it best used for livestock in topography (example cows prefer some hills, some wooded/shaded areas, and fresh water sources), what are local methane ordinances (waste from livestock), how much each ‘head’ of whatever you’re raising is going for at market, who will farm the livestock, how much is the livestock going for, and more.

Timberland

Buying land for timber is a little trickier in that it depends on what kind of timber is growing. If it’s a fast growing type of timber, it’s easily replant- able and best spread out over time, harvesting only so much per year. If it’s a slower growing crop, can the land be repurposed after harvesting into something like land for livestock or cropping? You need to the value play.

Minerals

Buying land for minerals is a very interesting one. There is a little bit of a trick with this one, and it’s buyer beware. There are two components to mineral rich land in terms of who owns the land, and who owns the mineral rights.

You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you own the land as an investment but someone else own the rights to all of the minerals on it to be mined out. Buying land for minerals is further complicated as using it while it’s being mined for other purposes is tricky, as well as repurposing it after it’s mined. Consider this; a limestone rich area of land turns into a limestone quarry. After the depletion of the limestone, in theory it could be filled and repurposed as residential land.

However, this would be a multi-million dollar effort as limestone quarries can run extremely deep underground, and then the actual stability of the land after filling could be compromised and not found suitable for building on. So you would need to know what about the mineral rights and uses of the land after.

Recreation

Buying land for recreation, this will just depend on what kind of an investment you’re turning it into and what kind of deal/s you want to do. When you consider what type of insurance you would need to carry on something like a shooting range for example, and what your potential profits could be in return it’s going to be easy to determine if it’s worth it financially. You have to do the math.

How the average investor can buy raw land.

For those investors that are not independently wealthy, or looking to syndicate other people’s funds in such endeavors, and if you don’t know really know what you’re doing in terms of working with the land itself, then starting out with a real estate investment trust may be your best bet.

This way you can own a portion while collecting revenue on it, but it is managed by other people that know more about making the most of the land.

You can also check out our other classes on doing deals and how to build your business up because they pretty all apply the same here. The class Azam did on 30 ways to buy real estate zero down for example, all of those methods will work with raw land too.

Here are some helpful sites:

For those interested in learning more about farming/crops terms and learning what to research when thinking about farming investments, here are some terms that you should know:

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/thesaurus-category/american/crop-farming

All about mineral rights being separate from land:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_rights

https://www.agweb.com/livestock
(livestock news and trends)

Here’s our BigReia.com Comic

I love raw land deals, here’s more cool stuff…

Now that we’ve gone over the basics, here’s a special session that Azam and did I together, I think you guys are going to love it…

 Now that you know that basics you may be wondering what I mentioned earlier:

Here are 57 ways to make an extra $3,000 – $5,000 a month
with raw land… all zero down and without getting a loan.

To download the image above in a .pdf (for free) just say you love me and click here.

Maybe getting into raw land is for you or maybe it isn’t, but here are some fun ways that you can test your passion level about this and make money at the same time.

You can do these deals on any land you own, or you can JV with a landowner because all of these can be done for free or at very low cost so you can talk to a landowner and test the idea and calibrate it until it is a good money maker.

Some helpful other EPIC BigReia Posts:

Remember to check out our other post on how to find motivated sellers by working with inner city farms, lots of brilliance there.

Also check out our post on how to start and own indoor vertical farms.  This is a great way to help inner cities and build your business collection at the same time.  That was my first $5 million dollar indoor farm deal.

I LOVE this stuff y’all.

I do these deals ALL the time and as much as I used to hate talking to people and as terrible as I was at it, I’m now in love with putting these deals together and I drive around a few times a week to the boonies just to meet with and talk to land owners so we can strike up a deal.

I try to make at least $10,000 a month but sometimes that takes time, so to be conservative I can easily say that any of these should make you at least $3,000 – $5,000 a month from the start. So let’s go!

 1.)  Assign/Sell Your Option

Through all of these examples your goal is to increase the income, and thus the value, of the land.  This is why it is a good idea to get an option on these properties and then you can assign it, sell it, get dividends on it, leverage it for a purchase or trade it.  There are lots of options… get it… lots of… oh forget it…

2.) Ship Seeds and Plants

Whatever is growing on the land right now, or what has grown or what could be grown – those seeds carry value somewhere.  This is something every farmer and grower should be doing because offering seeds opens the door for classes, teaching, books, online articles and magazines, youtube videos, etc. that go into more detail on how to make the most of the seeds and each of those media can be monetized.

 3.) Outdoor advertising

You would do nothing but allow a company or group to put a giant advertisement, sign or something like that in the ground. The obvious way this works is if the land is by a busy road or something but what if the land is totally out of the way and isolated, can this still work?

Absolutely yes, I like to contact advertising and viral marketing companies and get their ideas on rural flash mobs or a logo made in “alien” crop circles or something like that and we can make it happen in the middle of nowhere and get some epic footage, pictures and drone video shots that they can use online. Again you do nothing but broker the deals. My biggest payday so far was $25,000 for a providing a venue for a zombie-attack style commercial. These deals are out there, you just have to be out there looking for them.

4.) Horseback riding and shows

Anybody who wasn’t raised on a farm but still manages to ride horses, is probably rich. That means you want to be targeting them.  Arranging for a show takes a bit more time but offering training (even if you bring the horses in from elsewhere) and horseback riding is much easier and faster. These also create repeat clients, which is the goal for any business you ever work with or have.

I worked with a horse farm and told them what I was doing and while I was talking to them I realized how bad their business was hurting because of bad customer/client retention policies. I helped them fix it and now own 15% of that business, I get a nice residual check every quarter – so doing these deals helps you put together even more deals, like a snowball picking up more and more momentum.

5.) Rent space for solar or wind turbines

This will depend on a few things, and our team is doing this a lot more outside America. I’ll take this moment to tell you something that Azam taught me: solar energy is the future, regardless of what you hear on the news, solar will win. This is the time of growth and if you work with a utility company they will come in and do all the work for you. 

6.) Rent to cell towers

I haven’t done this as much as I want to, I met a couple that was having a hard time and I helped them get in touch with a phone company to lease their land for a tower. This made the couple an extra $6k/month and it saved them from financial disaster. I didn’t make much on that deal but it’s my fav one so far.

7.) Bee keeping and hive rental.

There is a strange thing happening with the bee population that nobody seems to understand, they are mysteriously disappearing and un-colonizing in a way that has never been seen. This has made hives or colonizing more valuable and profitable than just about any other time in history. The cost is low and the impact to the land is minimal. These are good deals.

I’m a total nerd about this stuff so I don’t want to bore you with this, but it can be profitable and very fun, here are some more links on this process of beekeeping and how to get into it.

Here is a group of passionate bee people, they are called beekeepers or apiarist, and one of the first deals I did was with Doug and his wife from here:

https://AmericanBeeJournal.com/beekeeping-for-profit/

They also have a great hook as their tagline:

“I want the American Bee Journal to be the finest publication about bees and beekeeping in the world.”

 – C.P. Dadant, Editor of ABJ 1912-1938

 Simple, direct and brilliant.

Also the bizarre fall in bee populations, it’s called Colony Collapse Disorder, here’s more info on that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder

Speaking of wikipedia here’s a LONG rabbit hole on this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beekeeping

I’ve done a lot of these deals with bees and I plan on doing more, I love animals and being outdoors so the bees have been a lot more fun than profitable for me.  If you want I can do a whole lesson on just using bee colonies to grow your real estate business.  Just axe.

8.) Tiny House Rental

All you need to put a property on AirBnb is some sort of structure where somebody can sleep or be “indoors”, it can be on wheels or even hooked to a vehicle.  When I do these I start by talking to a maker or an owner and then I try to get them for no money up front just to see how well they will rent.  This way you can test the idea with no money and only pay for things out of your profits.  If you aren’t familiar with a tiny house, you can learn more here.

Here are some lists of tiny houses if you’ve never seen one before:

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/airbnbs-coolest-tiny-houses-in-america

https://www.dreambiglivetinyco.com/blogs/news/50-tiny-houses-you-can-rent-on-airbnb-now

https://www.countryliving.com/home-design/g1887/tiny-house/

I try to make at least $100-$200 a day, you can make it work with less than that but usually all you need is a slightly better ad or location to get there.  People do this the for the experience and once you’re done you can just drive the home off the lot or move and you’re done, easy.

9.) Obstacle Course and Endurance Games

In the last few years there has been a big increase in the popularity of obstacle courses and “warrior” type of challenge contests.  Shows like American Ninja Warrior (which was based on a popular Japanese show called Sasuke) or Wipeout are good examples.  Wipeout called itself “The world’s largest obstacle course” so when I do these I try to name them with a hook like that, “The most dangerous obstacle course in (STATE)” for example.  Sometimes we will do it in a style of American Gladiators, which was also remade in 2008.  These types of events are great for corporate gigs.

Those are pretty involved and the only way I do them the first time is to get the material and equipment installed at zero down and as a test, usually I will sign an agreement that if we continue to work there I will use that company for all our obstacle course equipment.  Another cheaper version is something like a Tough Mudder race, there are many smaller companies doing similar competitions and many more people who want to get in that business so I’m always able to find people that want in, you will too.  

10.) Survivor Skills Training

The market for this growing everyday, and the good thing is that you don’t need to do ANYTHING to the land, in fact the less helpful or “livable” the better usually.  People can come and learn to make spear, set up camp for an overnight stay, drink their urine, etc.  I do these as a group where there are at least 10-15 students who came at once, usually I do this once a week if I can but even once every two weeks or just once a month and you can quickly net $5,000 and a lot more.

To get an idea of the curriculum or talk with schools, here is a good list.  If you are unfamiliar try watching Les Stroud or Bear Grylls and you’ll get a good idea of how this works.

For a long time my record for the fastest money that I ever made was when I ran a Craiglist ad for survivor training classes and I accidentally include an order link, I ran the ad in the morning (it included the impressive military credentials of the instructor who I partnered with) and by that afternoon I had made over $7,000.  Guys, you can totally do this!  = )

11.) Host Concerts, Festivals and Outdoor Gatherings

This doesn’t have to be just for hippies, although they help.  Search for events like Burning Man and it can jog your mind for more ideas.  Every year around April 20th (420) there are a lot of big marijuana and hemp gatherings that are big and successful too.  When I want to sell an owner on the idea I send them links like this or this and see how excited they get about it.  If they get into it, I know it’ll be fun and we can always make the money work.

12.) Test or store farm equipment

I came across this by accident, there are a lot of individual farmers and companies that have very big equipment that is not used regularly and takes up a bunch of space.  You can rent them space to store their equipment or even work out a trade.  These are easy deals and I have yet to meet a single landowner who has asked around very much to get offers on who wants to use their land for equipment storage, this is low hanging fruit.

13.) Growing Worms.

I picked this up from a trader in North Carolina, he had giant tubs that he used.  I’ve done with with buckets, large storage bins, bath tubs, barrels,  cabinets and drawers, etc.  You can even do this indoors.  This is actually a serious movement, with a festival and everything.  There’s even people who are professional “Worm Hunters“, or worm “Grunter” I think he prefers.  Probably the best part about raising worms is that nothing goes to waste because I’ve made more money on the soil afterwards is some of the best and most desirable for gardens.  This compost is another revenue stream.

14.) Host a Cross Country Meet

I get in touch with all local school, colleges and running groups for this.  Using meetup.com can help because you can find local runners and when/where they meet.  Often the schools and track coaches are not getting rich or making any money, it is about love of the sport for them.  This is where you can help them a bit because making even just a little money can help motivate them to do more good and exercise is important. 

I’ve never made less than $1,000 hosting one of these and never less than $5,000 a month on them, most coaches and staff are shocked so I’ve also helped to train them to do this right.  You want to have sponsors, paid parking, drone footage, T-shirts, special pictures and local celebrities, quality food and drinks, etc. these are all profit centers.  I love athletics and people shouldn’t by shy of financing better meets, if we pay to watch strangers in arenas or on T.V. why not pay to watch our family and friends.

15.) Bed and Breakfast Offering

Usually there will be some structure or building, maybe the owner’s house, a farmhouse, a barn, etc. usually I try to find something that is anywhere near the land and include a night’s stay there.  This can be on Airbnb or Craigslist or some other site but when I do this I really try to sell the quaint atmosphere, I don’t want do much, or any, work or upkeep but the way I present that is as an “authentic” experience. 

There are a lot of small farm areas outside of Indy that are perfect for this because people from city love experiencing “farm life” and having something to instagram about.  My goal whenever I do a short term or daily rental like this is to net at least $50-$100 a day on average.

16.) Create a Shooting Range, Target Practice or a Competition

You need to be careful what you call this for insurance purposes, so I always have the owner or somebody check with an attorney first before doing this.  A full shooting range is one thing, all the parts are cheap and can be rented or secured with no money out of pocket, things like clay discs, targets, backdrops, etc. are all cheap and in rural areas gun use is normally high. 

Using the land as “target practice” can mean more favorable legal status.  Hosting competitions and creating a coveted award is our favorite way right now though because it is fast and easy and we have sponsors do all the setup and cleanup so any money that you make you can keep since there are almost no expenses.  I grew up around guns so I love being able to make money with them now.

17.) Offer Landscape Storage

We started doing this after discovering it by accident, one of our students was at a property and saw that there were piles of bricks, bushes, trees and giant stones.  They were helping a local landscape company by allowing them to story their inventory on their land, and there are a lot of companies like this that have contracts and work to be done but they need somewhere to store their stuff in the meantime and they don’t have enough storage space.  This may be mulch, grass, seeds, soil, etc. or maybe even equipment.  You can rent them storage space.

18.) Paintball and Laser Tag Tournaments

There is a huge demand in many areas for paintball and laser tag space.  These can be short term or regular, long term deals, it will all depend on a few factors including the companies you work with.  I try to find at least 5-10 decent sized companies in an area first so that I know there is an existing market.  One of the easiest plays here is to work with them all and host a giant tournament for everybody, their involvement will absorb the costs so nearly all money generated is pure profit.

19.)  Animal Sanctuary and Rehab

Azam is crazy about birds, I always liked cats.  We have set up a few animal shelters but overseas we have a lot more work to do to spread awareness for animal rights.  If you love animals then any time you talk to an owner find out if they love animals too because this is a good way to provide space to raise, nurture and rehabilitate harmed animals. 

20.) Host a Haunted House

There are some “Haunted Hayrides” we’ve done that were very successful, but these do only seem to work during Halloween so we haven’t figure out how to make them year round yet.  On the plus side you can easily clear five or six figures a month in the hot season so it is still worth it.  Most people are terrified of farms at night, we used to do host a few Haunted Corn Maze events and they always worked well because they is hardly any cost since a corn field at night is scary enough as it is.  Spook up some good money with this stuff.

21.)  Host a Hot Air Balloon Festival

We’ve only done this one a few times, but there are a few students who do these regularly and you can easily make a good side income on these.  You don’t have to do this as a festival because just offering individual rides can be even more profitable.  There are a lot of places for inspiration like this list of festivals and gatherings related to hot air balloons. 

22.) Drone Footage

There is a MASSIVE demand for drone video footage right now, and it will continue for years to come.  You don’t even need permission for this usually BUT it is still good to do this transparently and with the owner’s blessing.  Plus they may be able to help you get better footage.

You don’t need a unique setting either, just find out what the property has to offer and see what footage like that is going for.  Or you can be super smart and do inverse, find out what kind of footage is selling and in demand right and then go get it.

We do a lot of these deals, I don’t shoot much with drones but others on our team do.  Here are some places that will buy your drone footage or put it up so that you can make money from your drone videos.  This also isn’t just about drone videos but these sites are also good to sell images that you take yourself or get from others.

Also you want to check the legality issues, like getting licensed, registering the drone with FAA (yes I’m serious lol) and other legal issues that you can learn about here and here.  Also make sure check out the FAA’s info on this here:

https://www.faa.gov/uas/

Okay once you’ve done that you’re ready…

Where to sell drone footage and pictures:

Okay we added and added some resources here and now this has become a mini course on where to sell photography and video footage.  There are a LOT of ways to make money with pictures, some of them we will be going over on this post about raw land but check our other stuff out for more on this.  Here a great post we have on how real estate investors can easily start a drone photography business.

For now just know that the internet is FUNGRY (fu**ing + hungry) for good, high quality images and when they are raw and unique like yours will be then you can quickly develop a portfolio of digital assets that pay you every month like rentals.  If you do hire or work with a photographer remember that YOU get to keep all the images too.

So here are some places to help monetize pictures and video:

DroneStock

They will put your footage up and offer a 50/50 split anytime somebody buys it.

Pond5

They call themselves the world’s largest video library, they offer the same 50/50 split.

Dissolve

This is more for film makers, we use networking sites to connect with film makers from all over and it is a good way to get good ideas and share brilliance.  The criteria here for contributed works may be above your head but it is still good to talk with people in this world and see what is happening and in demand.

Getty Images and iStock

They are big and you can make money with them, but the splits are not 50/50 (at least at first) and they have a bunch of rules to follow.

HOsiHO

This site started in France and have a goal to gather high quality aerial shots and images from around the world.

FreeDigitalPhotos

This is a smaller site, but if anything does sell you can get up to 70%.

EyeEm

This is about high quality advertising images, they also employ AI in interesting ways.

OverflightStock

They are serious about providing high quality aerial shots and footage, this is for use by big network television stations and movie studios.  This is not for beginners but it still a good place to see and learn about how profitable drone footage can be.

Image Vortex

This is another exclusive site, but you can get paid more on images that they use.

Deposit Photos

Here you will make more money the more active you are with their site.

VideoBlocks

This is a website where members can make unlimited downloads for a flat monthly fee, so your footage will most likely not be “bought” individually in most cases but you can still make money on each upload.

Alamy

These are also high quality images, videos, graphics, etc. and the pay structure can be monthly and based on subscriptions.

Envato

They are like videoblocks but they do same thing with all kinds of media, pictures, music, websites, etc.  You will want to talk with the community here because there a lot of good people here that can help your assets get traction.

Shutterstock

They are a lot like Getty and they also have a sliding scale and what percentage of money you’ll get from them.

CreStock

This is a smaller site but they have a very direct payment scale.

DreamsTime

They use both images and videos and illustrations and just about anything else.  They have some unique requirements about the portfolio but as usual the more hoops you jump through the more money you make.

GL Stock Images

This is a smaller site in some ways, but you can set your own prices.

Adobe Stock

This is another not so generous split, you’ll be around 30-35% with them for photos and videos and they justify this by claiming to be the “world’s largest creative community”.  It is worth a shot if you are going to be doing this regularly.

Foap

They have a different type of plan where you get a flat rate for every sale and then a sliding scale for your other digital assets that are bought.

500px

This is also a social networking site and will allow you to connect with photographers, gauge demand, test markets, ask questions, volunteer, etc.

CanStockPhoto

Tens of thousands of photographers have contributed here and these images are expensive so you can make better money if your pictures sell.

PhotoDune

This is part of the Envato, but they have better SEO ranking lol.

Stocksy

This is one of those sites that only wants exclusive images, meaning ones that are not sold anywhere else, so that is something to consider too.  They pay well though 50% and in some cases more.

Twenty20

This started as an extension of instagram and now it has grown into a full business, you can upload pictures you take for instagram and set it so the images get automatically uploaded to Twenty20 and you get paid on anything that sells.  You can also use images from others and they are real people in real situations. 

Fotolia

They’ve been bought by Adobe Stock, it is basically the same thing now and works similarly.

123RF

This is another larger site with a broad range of media that you can use and upload, you get paid on what is downloaded and sold.

Story and Heart

This is another film maker centered site, it is all about telling stories with short images and videos.  They only want high quality images and footage and they can help get it distributed.  We have people on our team use these sites for inspiration and to gauge demand, even if you never license anything to them sites like these are great to learn from.  Their parent company is also a good learning resource for story telling.

Again the reason I listed these sites is NOT just for drone footage but also for any other pictures that you take, and these sites are also a good place to learn about how artists and creators are impacting emotions.  That is the key to gaining compliance.  Okay back to our list.

Oh, and one more thing…

… Another way of making money with these images is HOW you use them.  So here are some helpful places that will take your pictures and allow you to monetize them more with on-demand printing,  meaning you don’t have to buy 500 t-shirts and store them in your garage.

Once you have this set up you can have clients and customers go directly to these sites and place their orders, fun and easy residual money.

FotoMoto

You can take pictures and offer them as greeting cards, on t-shirts, calenders, iPad skins, etc.

CanvasPop

You can take images and pictures and turn them into museum quality canvas pictures, the kind that feel like cloth.

Fine Art America

They will take your pictures and offer them as framed paintings.

FractureMe

They will take images and print them on glass, so the picture you get back is a frame-less piece of glass.

CafePress

They will take your images and make custom mug, sweatshirts, pins, clocks, gifts, etc.

Another option we use a lot is to take a group of photos and send them as direct mail to land owners so that they can see what you’ve done with other deals, you can create a photo book.  These are almost always read by your target, these are great for testimonials, examples and demos and overall long term compliance and recognition because sending somebody a photo book is like sending them fridge magnets – they never get thrown away.

Photo Books

Shutterfly and TinyPrints

York Photo

MixBook

Collage

Blurb

… Here a great post we have on how real estate investors can easily start a drone photography business.

Okay now back to our list…

23.) Wildlife Photography

Often the raw land will be in areas out of the cities, and with less humans around you will usually find a lot of local animals roaming freely.  This provides an opportunity to get shots that are unique and hard to get elsewhere.  You can take these images yourself, have a photographer take them and split their profits or just rent the land out to a photographer and let them keep their pictures.  Remember you also get to keep any and all pictures because then YOU have assets that you can use with the above sites as well.

 24.) Educational Classes

Work with local schools, clubs and especially hobby groups like tree lovers, horticulturists, bird watchers, etc. and you can have them attend classes and learning workshops.  When we do field trips students can learn about leaf classification, poisonous berries, rural first aid, etc.  Sometimes we do a Self Serve where we ask these groups what kinds of classes we should do and then have somebody from one of the groups also teach the class.

25.) Host Motocross Races and Training

Don’t do this unless you have an MX (MotoCross) insider working with you, that’s what I did and the only way that these are successful.  The insurance costs are going to be big for a full race so you want to start small.  Creating a practice track is a lot easier to begin with.

26.) Civil War Re-enactments

There’s nothing better than celebrating that time that traitors rose up and attacked us lol, this is a good idea though because you can use pictures and videos from these battles and sell or license them.  We’ve had images licensed by the History Channel and a few museums.  Tickets can also be sold to a local history society, school, gun advocacy groups, etc.

27.)  Athletic Fields

We had a deal a few years ago where we worked with a landowner who had been trying to sell his land for several years with no success, we created a cricket field on his land and rented it to a group of doctors.  They took the game very seriously and fell in love with playing everyday, they got so invested in fact that they ended up buying the the land at full market value.  This worked out great for the seller, for the docs and for us.  It won’t work out like this every time, but you can create soccer fields, football fields, track and and field events, etc. at virtually no cost and and with regular renters.

28.) Host a Giant Community Playground

In nearly every case of having a playground you will need it to be really big and have some appeal for adults because in order to make good money on it you will need people to come in numbers and often.  The best way to do this is to partner with company and get the demographics and criteria they suggest and then find land that fits the criteria.  

29.)  Be a Wedding Host

If you have a wedding on a piece of rural land, there are countless pictures and video opportunities that will only get on raw land.  When I talk to wedding planners one of the first things they want to hear about a location is “seclusion“, partly so the wedding can go as loud and as late as anybody wants but also because of the photography opportunities.  In several cases that we’ve done this, the weddings became so profitable that we built wedding halls (financed from profits) and hosted weddings for years.

 30.)  Co-Op Farming

Everyday more and more people are learning about the benefits of having your own food grown on your own farm or at least a farm that you know of, the problem is that usually it is too costly for on family to buy a farm as a side expense.  One solution to this is for multiple people to partner and share the costs and/or work involved.

This topic is WAY too deep for me to get into very much right now but if you want to know more ask me because I think, and so does Azam, that nearly everybody should be involved in this in some way.  It is cheaper and much healthier to eat food that came from places you know about.  This is also a huge economic benefit, one of our biggest partners is Anand in India, who has become the largest milk producer in the world and one of the biggest  and most successful farm cooperatives ever.  This idea has been around for hundreds of years and continues to revolutionize food.

 31.)  Motorhome and RV Storage

A motorhome or RV (recreation vehicle) actually has an engine versus the travel trailer that has no engine and must be hooked to another vehicle to travel.  The motorhome will not lose value as fast as a standard car but as any vehicle it does depreciate fast while the travel trailer can hold more of the value for an extended time because it doesn’t have an engine.  This is important to you because owners of these vehicles need a good place to store these “assets“, you can rent that space to them.

If you do want to say mobile or upgrade your house make sure to check out my post on how trade a few signs for mansion.

32.)  Fallout Shelters and Bunker

There is an entire movement of people called “Preppers” or “Survivalists” and they are usually paranoid gun nuts who are preparing for the zombie apocalypse or something like that.  There have been many TV shows about them, and sometimes it is just a hobby that gets out of hand, but other times it something much deeper.  To the normal person it looks like mild mental illness.

I simply couldn’t believe that there was a market for this but THERE IS lol.  You want to get in touch with the crazies and like a farming co-op, a few families can pay a share of the costs to get underground fallout shelters built.  This way the bunker will protect them so when the aliens drop nukes on us they will be safe and sound with their guns.

33.)  Epic Egg Hunt

These can be great for charity fund raisers, school activities, NPO projects, etc.  If you take the fund raising approach you can still make this a big money maker by being a sponsor for the event.  Check our free guide on “100 Ways to Find Motivated Sellers for FREE” for more on doing this.

34.)  Open a Dog Park

It doesn’t have to be just for dogs obviously, but opening a community park for animals is usually a good, and cheap, idea.  I started by creating a dog training center, like a dog gym because the profits were faster and it was a good proof of concept, adding a full dog park, boarding, vet services, pet store, etc. will take some extra time but by going one step at a time you won’t grow it too fast and each addition will be profitable.

The good thing about something like a dog park is that there is plenty of help available from volunteer groups, rescue shelters, animal lovers, etc.  You yourself pretty much have to be an animal lover to do this by the way, the American Kennel Club has a helpful post on this here.  Also check out my EPIC post on how to buy apartment buildings ZERO down just by epic pet policies.

35.) Build Bike Trails

Biking enthusiasts are another passionate group that you can build a business around, and making land attractive for amateur or professional bikers is not that hard and with little to no residual impact on the resale of the land.  When we do these we try to get mountain bikers or some other group to help with the design and then the creation of the tracks. Hosting competitions takes a larger population but can also make sense.

There are some helpful articles on this here and here.

 36.)  Build a Golf Course

One of the best parts about golfers is that they love to spend money, so even though the demographics are shrinking – it is even more profitable catering to this group in many areas because the remaining golfers spend even more money.  You can check this article out for more on a traditional golf course.

I personally was never interested in the normal golf, my biggest money makers here were when we did almost nothing to the land and I titled it “The toughest golf course in the Midwest” or something like that and by doing little to the landscaping it made the course much harder… I mean more authentic.  Often we’ll give a portion of the money to charity and partner with them to promote.  We also use over sized holes to make it easier and more fun.  So you don’t have to “build” a golf course to make this work, just call it a golf course lol.

37.)  Outdoor Gym and Strength Competitions

If you’ve ever watched any of the strength athletics or competitions they are almost never in traditional gyms or with traditional weights, often they use stones, bricks, cement, etc.  This can be a perfect fit because having an outdoor gym and training with in the midst of nature and the elements provides it’s own attractive benefits.

You can check out Strongman Events here and get more info on this industry here.  Azam has done a lot more with this than I have but I have hosted a few competitions and those worked better for me than trying to run an actual outdoor “manly” gym.  I like yoga lol.

38.) Create a Landmark

If you pick any spot on earth, something has happened there, the more you can create a story around those events the more valuable the land becomes.  We’ve had a few deals that involved supposedly “haunted” places and in most cases the realtors and sellers involved avoided discussing the dark history, we always advertise it.  Having the most haunted house in the state carries a price tag after all.

Find something unique or historic and it can instantly become a tourist location.  To get officially registered as a historic landmark go to the National Historic Landmarks Program here.  You don’t need that though, research the property and find out the history, maybe a movie was shot there, or a celebrity visited or there have been unusually high UFO sightings, etc.  People are always looking for a good story to tell, if a visit to your property gives them that then you’re in business.  Check out my other class on how to write copy for real estate investors and tell great stories for more on this.

39.)  Offer Camping Experiences

This is an obvious one but it helps if you have a hook like the best view of the constellations or the highest point in the state.  If nothing else create a unique hook with something like “The scariest campfire stories ever told from 8PM – Midnight every weekend.”  The campfire stories is something I’ve done a few times and for me it worked better than offering just camping because a lot of people just came for the stories and left lol.  Who doesn’t love a good scary story.

I also talk about the importance of giving your people a powerful STORY in the class on copy writing for real estate investors and the story of the $25 million letter.  So you’ll want to check that out too.

40.) Create a Landfill

This is a lot easier to do abroad, which is mostly where we’ve done this in the past.  In America however once you get the right licenses and permits this can be a real money maker, and for the environmentalists this is not a losing idea because with new technologies and recycling capabilities growing exponentially you can create better landfills that let less go to waste.

41.)  Drive In Movie Theater

Just like with everything else don’t get into a business because it’s a fad or because it’s “hot” right now, in fact doing the opposite is usually best – get into a dying business and make a killing, that’s how you know you have real skill.  The drive-in movie theater business is a good example, most people will tell you that it’s dead, but really all you need is the right hook, the right reason that helps people want to come and watch a movie from their car.

Theaters don’t make their money on the movie tickets, they make their money on the food, your drive in won’t be an exception UNLESS you play old movies that cost little to nothing to play.  Luckily your target market in these cases are folks who grew up with drive-ins in the 50s and 60s.  That’s one play, to cater to that group, another is to partner with a cause or charity and split the money made.  Another approach is to have theme based parties or movies for specific interests like religious movies – there are countless other ways to do this and make good money.

I’ve heard for YEARS that it’s impossible to make good money with in this business and it blows me away how easy it is to sell out all season – even in the north during freezing weather – and yes the audience can keep their windows up because the sound plays through their radios.  If you want to get into this I can do a separate class on how to turn these into money makers.

Here’s a link to the United Drive-In Theater Association of America and their answers to common questions.  We’ve done a lot of these kinds of deals, not just drive-in but private screenings at theaters, offices, homes, etc. so if you do get into this (it can be very profitable) you’ll want to learn about projectors and Projector Central is a good place to start.

42.) Boat Storage

Like other groups listed here, boat owners are often passionate and dedicated to their activity.  This often means that they treat their boats as investments and they need a good safe place to store them when their driveway won’t work.  This is where you come in with as much space as they need.

43.)  Junkyard or Salvage Yard

When I first got my real estate license as a teenager I got into this business after a client told me that his boss was making a killing in this business, the cool thing is that if you have the space all you need to do is start telling locals that you are junkyard… and you are a junkyard.  You want to have as many people as possible bringing you cars, furniture, electronics, toys, appliances, construction equipment, motorcycles, engines, truck parts, computers, broken TVs, chandeliers – you name it.

This will require that you or somebody on your team is really, REALLY, super duper fu**ing nerdy about taking stuff apart, valuing it, and putting things together.  You need to have a real handyman working on this stuff, after all people are bringing you what a normal person thinks is JUNK or trash – so you need to be able to look at the trash and see treasure.  I wasn’t that person but I had a few guys who were perfect for that.

If you are into that kind of stuff (I’m NOT, I barely know how to hook up an Xbox) you can learn more with publications like the Holland Interchange for car parts, you’ll also need to understand more about salvage car titles and overall basic handyman approach.

 44.) Off Road Adventures

When I was in high school me and a friend I used to rent out his four wheeler to kids after school, that went great until his parents found out and we had to stop because they didn’t want to see an accident.  Before we shut down our massive operation, it was small but kids were lining up everyday after school to take rides.  It was the first time I saw the demand for this kind of off roading, since then we’ve opened a few operations like this and done correctly they are fun and profitable.  You can use four wheelers and a host of other ATVs or “all terrain vehicles” and not much else is needed to get started.

45.)  Rehab and Addiction Treatment

We do a lot of work with addiction, mental illness, special needs, etc. and while I don’t mean to relate or equate those situations, the solutions are often very similar and mentality based.  With many addiction treatment centers, part of their total rehabilitation may involve physical activities and exercises.  You can allow them to hike, walk or camp on your land as part of their 12 step process.

We also help those recovering by giving them simply, yet HIGHLY profitable work like putting out signs and making five grand a week, so check that out too.

46.) Host Auctions

To do car auctions or estate auctions, they usually need a LOT of space.  Sometimes there will be hundreds of cars that need to be slowly driven in a line to get bid on, this takes space.  Many items from estate auctions need storage and space before and during the auction.

47.) Profit from Donations

The U.S. tax laws are written by the rich and powerful FOR the rich and powerful.  This means that if you know what you’re doing you can not just keep your money but make money for keeping it.  This item alone is worth a fortune because you can get paid (as I’ll explain later) just by helping the owner do this.

So let’s say instead of renting the property out they donate it for a short time, they give up the money that they would’ve gotten but you still make money, now they have a tax write off on that transaction and they can deduct and bring down their taxable income.  The profits they gave up can be treated as a donation.  This write off can be far above and beyond and worth much more to them than what they would’ve gotten anyway if they took the money or rented it out themselves.

And by “donating” each time you rent out their land, you can repeatedly rent the property out (even for a day at a time for example) and keep bringing down their taxable income each time.  This is how you get these owners calling you up constantly and begging you to work with them again.  And each time you can keep doing this again and again and keep bringing their taxable income down.  Brilliant… yes talk to an attorney for more on this.

Also check out my class on 30 ways to buy a property with no (effing) money and I break down exactly how this donation model can work with houses.

48.) Marching Bands

This one time at band camp… just kidding.  So often school bands don’t have the space to practice or pull off an epic Moonwalk like this (go watch it, seriously, it’s badass) but they could if they had more time and space to practice.  I have even taken youtube videos like the one above and sent them to bands because not only is it good practice for the band to try that stuff but if the video goes viral the school, the program and the members get even more credit.  If it doesn’t go viral they each still have a good video to add to their resume.

49.) Archery Training and Competitions

These people are as serious as Robin Hood about archery, there are many training centers and I would imagine that you would be shocked to learn just how many archery groups were around you and how much they are spending.  To host an event or become a recognized training grounds, you want to get in touch with a few local people, you can learn more at the World Archery Federation’s website.  In general to see how involved this you can check out the wikipedia page on this here.

50.) Start an Orchard

Often the full fruits of this labor (get it… fruits… because we’re talking about… oh forget it…) will not be realized overnight BUT you can still get paid faster depending on how you set up your partnerships.  There is always good demand at the right time so if you don’t know what you’re doing work with some experienced growers or at least start connecting with them.  The U.S. Apple Association is a good start, another good source is The Organic Fruit Growers Association.

51.)  Unique Fiverr Pictures

Maybe you have a special view of the sunset or sunrise, a horse stable, some giant oak tree, a cowboy/cowgirl, etc. these things are worth money if you add a special message like a company slogan or a happy birthday message.  I used to use a drone shot with a custom message written on top of a barn and we had days where made over $600.  We’ve also used zoom lenses with scrabble letters, monopoly pieces, stuffed animals and other items with a country or rustic background.  This doesn’t just work with land you can get on fiverr and come up with a lot of great ideas.

52.) Fish Farming

This is big business in India and Pakistan and other places like that, others on our team have trained folks out there on how to do this properly and the industry is growing here too.  Here is a wikipedia article fish farming on it for more info.  There are many people who are not doing this right or humanely as the Animal Welfare Institute pointed out,  but done properly this can help the environment, fish and local economies.  You don’t need a lake either, this can be done indoors.

53.)  Meditation or Spiritual Center

What better way to clear your mind than having nothing around.  Think of anything with an Indian sounding name and you get the idea, tents with people sitting and breathing (and often doing drugs illegal in America) for hours at a time.  We’ve hosted yoga retreats too.  These can be a lot of fun, and often they are not allowed to talk, text or anything like that so no noise complaints either.

54.) Water Parks

This industry has been growing for years and there are even successful franchises like Great Wolf Resorts, although you don’t have to have the world’s largest water slide or something crazy big like that (which was shut down after a 10 year old boy was killed) you can start with just basic sprinklers and not even a pool to begin with.

55.) Grow Microgreens

These are things like chia seeds, cilantro, kale, etc. and this is booming business field.  You can even do this indoors.  You will need a green thumb or a partner with one while you help the marketing side.  I’m doing this now with a few planters and if you guys want I can post the results as it is going well so far.

56.) Internships and Classes

If you want people to come clear up brush, build a barn or do other work around your property you will probably have to pay them UNLESS you call them interns and call the work “learning“.  One play here is to work with an owner and get paid for helping them put together an intern program to get work done.  There are groups like the Future Farmers of America that are great recruiting places.

Take any or all the ideas so far, any time there is work involved in preparing a property for something like a haunted house, or drone photography or building a small barn for storage – think of how useful that process is for somebody with land to learn about.  Hell, they should be paying you.

57.)  Consulting

A student recently took this list, printed it out and dropped it off at local farms and vacant land owners’ homes.  She was offering to help them put one of these money making ideas to work with their land in exchange for a consulting fee.  She made over $4,000 her first day.  She was a receptionist that was more than her monthly income.  Turning your monthly income into a daily one, what a thing.  Anybody can do this y’all.

Okay a few bonus ones for you…

You guys know, we always over deliver, so here just a few more examples of how you can start from zero and make $3,000 – $5,000 a month with raw land starting with no experience and no money:

Bonus: Grow Flowers and other Specialties

One of the most profitable crops to grow (legally) are flowers.  You can also look into ginseng, mushrooms, cannabis or other herbs.  Overseas we’ve turned around failing farms by growing roses, grown correctly they are highly profitable.  You can also package them and offer tea blends. 

Bonus: Corporate Retreats

Big companies spend billions and billions every year trying to create a better bond with their workers, whether it is personality tests, behavior analysis, trust falls and lush resorts, etc.  There is almost nothing, however, that brings people together more than sharing an extreme experience.  Like being without electricity, running water or… (GASP)… WIFI… for several days.  You can can help give them that experience and I love these deals because the LESS you do or provide (water, shelter, etc.), the more “authentic” the experience.

We have done this a lot with NPOs, charities, schools, families, etc. so not just companies or big businesses.  Although it may not seem like it, most people come back and tell us that this was one of the best experiences they’ve ever had in their entire life.

Bonus: Romantic Getaways

We talked about using Airbnb.com before, but the BEST way to use places like that is to have something unique or having a hook that gives the user a better story… and you more money.  So you can use a tiny house like I mentioned earlier or something like that OR you can use a barn or the current house of the owner (or some nearby housing) and they can also provide the meals and a brief tour of the grounds.

You can also include couples activities like horse back riding, star gazing, nature walks, firefly collecting, skinny dipping, four wheeling, photography, tent building, tree climbing, zip lining, etc. there are hundreds of things to do or that you can easily add that can give them more than enough memories for a weekend.  When we do this normally the owner or somebody on the grounds is involved because they provide some meals and a basic tour and instructions, so they will be paid or maybe we split the money if it’s the owner.

The reason for going to these lengths and NOT just calling it a “two day stay” but instead a “Romantic Country Getaway” or something like that is because instead of having a price of of $200 or so you can set this at $500 – $1,500 easily.  The last time I did this we took a standard $150 two day stay and turned it into a $1,000 stay, “Couples Country Escape” and we have four couples the first weekend ($4,000) who each went home with home made jam that they made together.  Make it special and there’s no limit to what you can do.  This is a great lesson.

Bonus: BBQ Cook Offs

We love doing these, and notice it says cook off and not cook out, you need some competition in order to get more people more invested.  You also need a good hook, we’ve used “I can’t believe it’s not meat meet.”  For vegans and vegetarians, you need to have a group that will light up about it and with enough good cooks who will come and bring with them their social circle of friends and family.  Doing these as a fundraiser for charities is also a good idea.

Bonus: Snail Farming

What is the deadliest creature in the world?  Well, if we’re speaking about deadly in general then it is definitely humans because will more things than anything else.  But when we discuss “deadly creatures” we assume that the death only counts if something is killing us, but even then humans are the second deadliest creature – we kill each other more than anything else kills us in every case except one.

The number one human killer is… the mosquito.  They are responsible for about 700,000 human deaths a year, second are humans at about 500,000 deaths a year.  I bet you’ll NEVER guess what third is… well the average person would never get this right at least but you BigReia.com folk are so smart and probably know this but for everybody’s sake I’ll tell  you – okay so the third biggest killer in the world… SNAILS.

On average snails have over 10,000 teeth and kill about 200,000 people a year.

Read that again.

Crazy town, right?

Anyway, there is big money in farming them, what a way to introduce them lol.  You don’t need much land either.  You can even do it… in… your very own HOUSE!  So if you ever call 911 and the operator says “The killer is in your house!”  She will be right.

Bonus: Petting Zoo

Animals can have a magical effect on people.  We have been treating kids with specials needs (autism, Down Syndrome, etc.) for years and animals have been a big part of that, having a mini and mobile petting zoo has helped and that may be the best way to start if you are unfamiliar with this.  You can slowly add to it from there, maybe starting with horse rides and adding an animal or two at a time.  Also check out organizations like the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums for more.

If you are an animal lover and you want to do something like this, please let us know because not everybody is lucky enough to have learned to love animals.  Also learn how to use EPIC pet policies to buy apartment buildings zero down, brilliant stuff.

Remember you can download that cheat sheet for free HERE.

Love to hear your thoughts…

Thanks so much everybody!

Help people and make money with raw and vacant land and you’ll…

Make the Universe Smile.

~ Indy Anna
Love (at) BigReia.com
408-430-7417 (YES that’s my actual Direct Line and I really do answer lol, so please text me first Thx!