12 Things to Rent Out for Money

Do you know that there’s a significant amount of money sitting right in or around your home? You don’t have to sell your things to make extra cash.

Instead, you can find things to rent out that you already own. That way, instead of making a one-time sale, you’re able to earn money consistently from that item or thing.

You don’t have to have a lot of fancy stuff to enjoy the benefits that come with leasing out your items to others.

Here is a detailed list of the best things to rent out for money.

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12 Things You Can Rent for Money

Renting out things can earn you a part-time or even full-time income. You don’t have to spend a ton of money or get into real estate to rent things out.

Instead, you can make money from unused things that are sitting right around your home. 

This also helps you earn semi-passive income since you’ll make money while other people are using your items.

Ready to start renting and earning? Below are the things to rent out along with tips on where and how to advertise your items.

1. Your Car

If you’re wondering what can I rent out for money? start by looking in your driveway or garage. Odds are, your car is just sitting there.

If you live in a two-car household, consider renting one of your cars out from time to time. On average, most cars are parked in the driveway 90% of the time.

Sure, you may need your car to get to and from work, but you can always see if you can carpool with a coworker or take public transit. Sign up for Turo and list your car so other people in the area can rent it out.

Turo allows you to set your own rate per day and also provides supplemental insurance for renters. The average person can earn around $10,000 per year by renting out their car with Turo. 

If you’re looking to start a local car rental business, Turo can help with this as well. The website now allows you to list multiple vehicles and rent them out to accelerate your earnings.

Related: Getaround vs. Turo: Which is Better For Car Owners?

2. A Spare Room or Your Home

The average home size has increased within the past few decades. If you have a spare room or basement, you may want to try renting it out on Airbnb.

Hosting your space on Airbnb is easy and you can create a listing in just minutes. You’ll want to add clear images of the room or common areas of your home to help market the listing to travelers.

You can also write a detailed description about the space, any amenities that are included, as well as how you’d like guests to check in and check out.

A lot of Airbnb hosts offer contactless check-in procedures depending on the type of property to give guests privacy. You can put keys in a lockbox or give someone directions on how to access the space by other means. 

Airbnb lets you set your own nightly pricing for people to rent your space out and you can also set your availability.

For example, if you’re going to be out of town for a week and want to rent your entire home out during this time, you can make sure your availability calendar allows people to automatically book or request to book your space during this time.

Or, if you want to block out certain days when your space won’t be available, you can do this as well.

The average person who rents a spare room out on Airbnb can earn anywhere from $1,100 – $2,000 per month depending on the area and amenities. 

Related: How to Make Money with Airbnb

3. Your RV

An RV is one of the most expensive things to rent out in addition to your car and your home. RVs provide a great way to travel around the country with family and friends to camp and explore.

If you own an RV, odds are you may not be using it all the time. Instead of just storing your RV away for several months, you could be making money by renting it out. 

Sites like RVShare help you list your RV online so others can borrow it for a fee. You can set your own rental pricing and arrange rental pick-ups and drop-offs through the site.

RVShare helps take care of the payment. Depending on which RV or trailer you have, you could earn anywhere from $80 to $250 per night by renting it out.

The best part about RVShare is that you’ll have a built-in list of people already searching for RV rentals to market to. That way, you won’t have to do any searching to find guests and just need to list your RV online with good pictures and include a price.

Related: How to Make Money Doing Nothing and Generate Passive Income

4. Baby Equipment

Kids grow so fast, so if you have baby equipment you’re not using, consider renting it out. BabyQuip makes it easy for you to rent out your baby equipment safely online.

You can even start a baby equipment business by investing in some additional items like strollers, a car seat, crib, etc.

Traveling parents or even daycare centers may want to rent your items out. BabyQuip provides training as well as your own website for people to safely browse through your items and book them.

You can set a daily rate for each item and arrange to drop it off to the customer or have them pick it up. 

When renting baby equipment you’ll need to make sure you check regularly for recalls and make sure everything is still good to use. If you have enough inventory and a solid flow of booking customers, you can easily earn a few thousand dollars per month simply by renting out baby equipment.

4. Storage Space

The storage unit industry is a multi-million dollar one. People have so much stuff and rely on storage facilities to help them hold onto certain items. If you have extra room in your home or on your property, you may be able to rent out that space for others to store their things.

Storing an item in someone’s garage or in their shed can be a lot cheaper than paying a monthly storage bill. Sites like Store At My House and Neighbor allow you to list your storage space online so other people can rent out your space.

Neighbor provides a free $25,000 protection plan that can help people feel more willing to store their items privately vs. going to a storage unit.

This could be the perfect passive income strategy for anyone with extra space or a spare room that is just sitting empty. It’s also a great alternative to Airbnb.

If you prefer not to host people, you can just store their stuff instead and make money that way.

5. Your Truck

Most people who own a truck say they love it. It’s roomy and often has plenty of space to haul items. When you’re not using your truck, you may want to rent it out to others. People rent trucks to move their things, pick up big items, and for other reasons.

While Turo and Getaway are solid options for listing your car, there are also sites specifically dedicated to helping you rent out your truck. Fetch helps you list pickup trucks and cargo vans for rental.

They must have been manufactured within the last 10 years and you’ll need to have a clear title and updated insurance.

Fetch provides insurance and also will determine the best price for your vehicle to help it get rented fast. After each rental is complete you’ll earn 65% to 80% of the total rental fee and Fetch keeps the rest. Fetch pays your rental earnings on a bi-monthly basis.

6. Photography Equipment

Aside from vehicles and spare space at your come, other things to rent out include photography equipment. Quality cameras and photography equipment can be expensive to buy. People who need it but want to save money might consider renting it out. 

There are tons of sites that can help you list your photography equipment so it can be rented out. KitSplit helps prescreened renters come to you.

Renters will need to request your equipment and once you approve someone, they get charged instantly. KitSplit then pays you within 24 hours after the rental period starts. 

ShareGrid is another option to rent photography equipment out. They also offer equipment sharing, but you can still make money if you decide to go with renting. The average professional camera daily rental fee ranges anywhere from $90 to $179. 

All the gear is protected with insurance paid for by the renter. If you spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your photography equipment, make it worth your while and rent items out sometimes to earn back your investment quicker.

Related: 17 Recurring Income Ideas You Can Start Today

7. Textbooks

Have extra textbooks from high school or college? You may be able to rent these out to other students and earn extra money. For college textbooks, people usually rent books out for the entire semester or school year.

That said, you may not make a ton of money renting out your textbooks depending on how many you have.

One place you can get started with is Valore Books. Students go here to rent books all the time and it’s free for you to join. You won’t pay any fees unless your item gets rented. Valore Books takes a 20% commission of your rental fee and you get to keep the remaining 80%. 

How it works is you can list your textbook and rental price so other students can request to rent it. You have 48 business hours to approve a rental request before it gets canceled. As soon as you approve, you’ll need to ship the item and the renter will be charged a fee.

To earn more money by renting out your textbooks, consider obtaining books for popular subjects and courses that people take often. If you’re in college, for example, you know that everyone has to take certain general education classes like English 100, math, and psychology. 

Start by renting out your own old textbooks but then research to see what the most popular textbook options are. That way, you can purchase those to rent out instead since most schools retire outdated textbooks after a few years. 

8. Parking Spot

If you don’t want to rent out your car or don’t have a car, you can rent out your parking spot instead. Sites like Spacer and SpotHero help you connect with drivers who are looking to pay for parking in a particular area.

If you live in a busy city where parking is limited, you can make a lot of money by renting out your parking space. With Spacer, the average host receives a booking within 2 to 3 weeks of signing up.

You can earn around $400 per month by renting your spot to a local commuter which rounds up to $4,800 per year.

The interesting thing about renting your parking spot is that people can rent it daily or for weeks at a time. The average monthly rate you can charge in Chicago ranges from $60 to $300+ depending on the area and what’s nearby.

If you live near airports, a university, or parking is simply hard to come by, you can earn a lot of passive income by doing this.

9. Bike

Other things to rent out include that bike you probably aren’t using every single day. If you have a bike just sitting in your yard or garage, you could be earning money by lending it to others. Splinster is a site that helps you rent out your bike for cash.

This peer-to-peer bike rental site provides you with a platform to reach people who are seriously interested in paying you to borrow your bike. Renters will search for bikes in their area so be sure to include your location when you create a listing. 

Splinster offers different protections and delivery services to keep both you and the renters happy. Listing your items is free, but Splinster will deduct a 17.5% cut of your rental fee when someone reserves your item.

The site says you can make up to $500 renting out items like your bike, surfboard, snowboard, skis, and more.

If a renter happens to damage or bike, Splinster covers up to $1,000 with insurance and also provides theft coverage as well so it’s very safe to use. 

10. Tools 

Tools can be expensive. When someone is working on a one-time job or needs to fix something up around their home, they may not really want to buy a ton of expensive tools. The tools that are laying around your garage or home could be rented out when you’re not using them.

Consider signing up for SpareToolz.com if you need help finding people to rent your tools out to. This is the perfect site to list your tools and even offer your services if you do handiwork.  

Renters will get charged as soon as you approve the rental request so the payment could be coming your way pretty quickly. You can list multiple tools that you know people will need for certain projects.

You can also list your lawnmower, snowblower, or other landscaping equipment as well.

11. Bounce House

Bounce houses are so popular for kids’ birthday parties, festivals, and other large events. While you may not own a bounce house yet, there is nothing stopping you from buying one and renting it out. 

A standard bounce house may cost you a few hundred dollars. However, you can easily rent it out for $200+ per day. You can even start your own bounce house rental business if you obtain a few more bounce houses.

Setting up a website to market your services is easy. You can also make business cards and post in local groups to advertise your business. 

Try to make the most of the summer season which is when most events that could use a bounce house might occur. If you don’t want to start out by buying a bounce house outright, there are some companies that will allow you to make payments on one overtime so this is a more budget-friendly option.

Starting a Rental Business Could Be Your Ticket to Passive Income

With so many things to rent out, you’re bound to have some items around your house that could be making you money. Renting things out is one of the best passive income ideas because you can make money again and again off the same item.

You can also consider starting a rental business and build your inventory to earn a full time income. When brainstorming your list of things to rent out for money, consider how much you want to make, and how many days per month you can manage to rent the item out for.

Also, for larger things like a car or RV, you’ll need to decide whether you’ll like to offer delivery services or how pick-ups will work. 

Just like with any business, some planning and organizing is required. But the potential to earn more money from your things is definitely there.