18 Things You Can Rent Out For Profit Today – Ideas for 2021

I recently wrote a post on how to generate passive income as a student, and the post also mentioned the idea of renting items for money.

We rent things all the time. From Netflix to AirBnB, the convenience and affordability of renting items versus owning can be immensely appealing.

The psychology behind renting is actually interesting in that it can even feel better to rent than to own. Ownership can lead to buyer’s remorse and cut into any minimalist drive a person might possess, whereas renting is temporary and associated with new experiences.

Unsurprisingly, thanks to the power of technology, it’s also incredibly easy to find ways to make money by renting.

If you’re on the lookout for some extra passive income in your life, this list of things you can rent for profit is for you!

The Best Things You Can Rent Out For Profit

Obviously, this side hustle idea requires having assets to rent out to people to make extra cash.

But, you’d be amazed as just how many things people rent and the potential that’s out there to create a new income stream for yourself.

Looking for other unique, easy passive income ideas? Checkout:

• Fundrise – Start investing in income-generating real estate with Fundrise with just $10!
• Arrived Homes – Invest in shares of rental properties to earn residual income!

1. General Items

If you have a particular commodity that is too inconvenient to own but is something people need occasionally, you can probably make money by listing it on a general rental marketplace.

Drones, music equipment, audio/visual equipment, tools, and party supplies are just a few of the categories that come to mind, but you’d be amazed at the things people are renting (and how much they charge).

Some of the most popular rental marketplaces include:

• FatLlama – Make your own listings/profile, set your price, and get paid via Stripe within 3-4 days.
• Rentah – Another popular rental marketplace where you can also list services.
• Loanables – From ping pong tables to paddle boards, there’s plenty of items listed on Loanables at any given time.
• Keeple – An rental based app designed for friends but also for entrepreneurs looking to make money by renting things out.

All of these platforms are fairly similar, but you can make insane money if you have (or invest) in items that are in high demand. Just checkout the Fat Llama leaderboard for the last 30 days:

I also cover how to make money by renting things out for cash in a recent YouTube video, as well as some other side hustle ideas:

Ultimately, if you live in a major city with enough of a rental market, I think this is an excellent option to consider.

2. Rent Out Clothing For Cash

People love clothing shopping, and this will never change.

However, certain items or outfits can be prohibitively expensive or hard to find, and that’s where clothing rental marketplaces come in handy.

If you think you have an eye for fashion and have a desireable wardrobe, you can make money by renting out your clothing on a few sites, such as:

Rent My Wardrobe – Rent out your clothing for cash with this innovative IOS app!

StyleLend – Submit items from your wardrobe for approval and earn 80% of the rental price for all transactions.

You can also try listing your items on local Facebook marketplaces or groups, especially if you live in a major city.

Extra Reading – Checkout our post on 13 apps like Poshmark to start selling your clothing online!

3. Rent Our Real Estate Space

Renting out items like clothing can be a decent way to make some grocery money every month, but if you want to generate some serious income, real estate is where it’s at.

There has been an explosion in popularity for many home rental apps, and if you have an extra room and the willingness to host strangers in your home, you can use the following sites to turn a nice profit:

• VRBO – VRBO is one of the oldest home rental platforms and operates in 190 countries.
• Airbnb – If you have ever wondered how much you can make by renting out your home on Airbnb, you might be surprised by the stats. The average AirBnB host  makes more than $900/month, and AirBnB only takes a 3-5% transaction fee on most bookings!
• HomeAway – Less saturated than AirBnB, but charges up to 8% on bookings.
• Rent Like A Champion – The perfect home rental platform for anyone looking to rent their place to sports fans.

4. Storage Space

If you want to make money with your property but don’t want to host guests, you can still make some significant side money every single month by renting out part of your home for storage space. Self-storage units are incredibly expensive after all, so there’s quite the demand for cheaper options!

• Neighbor – Realistically earn more than $1,000 a year with one of the leading peer to peer storage platforms.
• Store At My House – Being 50% cheaper than the average storage locker makes this an appealing option for clients!
• Stow It – Keep 95% of your monthly storage price.

Neighbor is particularly cool since you can rent a variety of storage spaces, including:

• Garages
• Driveways and parking lots
• Basements
• Bedrooms
• Warehouses
• Storage units
• Attic
• Street parking
• Shipping containers

You get $100,000 in coverage and your renters get $25,000, so Neighbor is also a safe way to earn passive income by renting out things.

Neighbor states the top hosts can earn several thousand dollars per year, so this would be the first platform I check out in the storage space rental category.

Read our Neighbor storage review for all the details!

5. Event Space

If you have a large backyard or live in an interesting place, you can make money by renting out your place for events!

This is probably a harder income source to get off the ground, granted, but it’s worth looking into. Companies are willing to spend a considerable amount of money on corporate events, so you could be sitting on a gold mine!

• Peer Space – Rent out your space for photo shoots, meetings, filming, and events.
• LocationsHub – Requires a monthly fee to list your place but is a great way to connect with film crews/companies.
• Splacer – Free listings and up to one million dollars in liability insurance per event.
• Giggster – Operating in many major U.S. cities.

6. Rent Your Vehicle

While renting out your car for cash isn’t my cup of tea, many people are embracing the sharing economy and generating passive income every month with car rentals.

If you are willing to invest in an additional vehicle or don’t use your own vehicle frequently, you can use the following platforms to rent your vehicle and get paid.

• Getaround – This peer to peer car sharing platform is available in over 300 cities around the world and a main player in the industry.
• Turo – Turo is currently available in some major U.S and Canadian cities, and you can use their handy earnings calculator to estimate how much income you would make by renting out your car.
• HyreCar – HyreCar is a newer company that allows drivers to rent out cars to people looking to drive for companies like Uber or Lyft. Checkout our HyreCar review for more info!
• Riders Share – If you want to make money by renting out your motorcycle, this is the platform for you!

7. Parking Spots

One of the ways my roommates and I saved money during college was by renting out parking spaces from people in our neighborhood instead of spending hundreds a semester on parking passes.

If you have a vacant parking spot, there is no reason you shouldn’t be monetizing it!

• Spot Hero – over 20 million cars have been parked through this industry leading platform.
• Spot – Available in 8 major U.S. cities.
• Parqex – Popular in 12 major U.S. cities.
• JustPark – A leading U.K. parking rental marketplace.

8. RVs & Campers

RVs, or recreational vehicles, are immensely popular in Canada and the United States where camping/cottaging is a common weekend activity.

However, RVs and campers are also incredibly expensive to own and maintain, so it’s no surprise there’s opportunity to rent out these vehicles instead.

• RVshare – States you can earn up to $40,000/year for renting out your RV or camper van.
• Campanda – Estimates that you can earn up to $45,000/year.
• Outdoorsy – Free to list, small transaction fees, and a million dollars of insurance coverage.
• RVnGO – A newer and growing RV rental marketplace in the U.S.

9. Boat Rentals

I actually had an internship for a company that made satellite communication devices for sailors, and let me tell you, everything about boating is ridiculously expensive.

If you happen to own a boat and want to recoup some of your money, peer to peer boat rental might be your best bet.

• Boatsetter – Accepts both power and sailboats.
• Click & Boat – Has a rental earnings calculator to help determine how much you will earn for your boat.
• Get My Boat – Currently listing more than 130,000 boats in 180 countries!

10. Bikes, Snowboards, Surfboards & More!

I’ve never owned a professional road bike or something high end, but man, are bikes ever expensive.

Biking is also a major method of transportation for many cities around the world, and you can use these 2 rental marketplaces to make money by renting your bike (and other gear).

• List N Ride – A leading platform for bike rentals in Europe.
• Spinlister – Allows you to make money by renting out bikes, snowboards, surfboards, and owners have up to $5,000 of insurance for their equipment.

11. Music Equipment And Instruments

Anyone who plays music will know that it’s never as simple as just buying and owning an instrument…there’s equipment, repairs, and a plethora of new toys and gadgets to explore. Personally, I’ve probably spent over $2,000 at this point between my guitars and amplifier setup, and that’s cheap by most standards.

If you have invested in music gear or instruments, you can make some of your money back by renting it out to other artists with the following platforms.

• Spark Plug – One of the easiest ways to rent out equipment, instruments, or venue space.
• Fretish – A peer to peer guitar and guitar equipment marketplace.

12. Photography Equipment

Like music, getting into photography can be prohibitively expensive for many artists. If you have a decent collection of gear, you can definitely make some money on the side.

• KitSplit – One of the largest camera rental communities around.
• ShareGrid – Currently has more than 82,000 members and almost $850 million worth of equipment.

You can also turn to the general peer to peer rental marketplaces I mentioned at the start of this post, like Fat Llama.

13. Power Tools

While there isn’t a specific marketplace to rent out tools for money that I can find, local classifieds or Facebook groups are the perfect place where you can list these sorts of items.

Chances are, you have some power tools sitting in your garage right now collecting dust. Since no one wants to buy a random $500 tool they have to use for one specific job, you can probably make some listings in your area and have people rent your power tools for some side money.

Just remember, if you don’t go through a verified marketplace you take 100% of the risk and have no insurance coverage!

14. Rent Out Your Truck

If you own a pickup truck or box truck, you can make a considerable amount of money by renting them out.

Again, you have to be comfortable with people using your vehicle and the additional mileage that will add up, so keep these factors in mind!

• Fluid Truck – Earn up to $10,000/year for a pickup truck and $25,000/year for a 20 foot box truck.
• Fetch – Set your own pricing and earn 70-80% of the total rental cost.

Extra Reading – 20 Ways to Make Money With a Truck.

15. Sell Your Bandwidth

While this isn’t the most classic example of a rental marketplace, you can actually make money with your unused internet bandwidth.

Websites like FluidStack and Honeygain make it possible to connect your computer to a network for people from around the world to use.

Companies like FluidStack do this to operate as a CDN, which distributes web content to users from servers closer to their region for faster load times, although some bandwidth sellers also operate as VPNs.

This is a bit of a shady passive income idea since people will be using the internet through your IP address, so be sure to do your due diligence and think this one through.

16. Rent Your Friendship

I’ve covered how you can get paid to be someone’s friend in my post on creative money making ideas, and this idea definitely proves that the sharing economy has created some bizarre opportunities.

Websites like Rent A Friend enable you to make money by renting your friendship. According to the site, most listings start as low as $10/hour, but people are willing to negotiate as well.

Plus, as a rented friend, you might get invited to some interesting events or activities for free (since you aren’t expected to pay for the activities you’ll be doing).

Frankly, this website is extremely creepy to me. However, if you want to make some pocket money and meet new people this might not be a bad idea!

17. Rent Out A Website

One of the strangest things people rent, believe it or not, is actual websites themselves.

Making money with a rank and rent website is by far one of the coolest ways to make money with SEO. The idea behind rank and rent is simple, but pretty tough to pull off:

• Pick a profitable niche where leads are worth a lot of money.
• Create a niche-focused website that contains high-value posts designed to capture organic searchers.
• Collect lead information (i.e. emails) and grow traffic.
• Rent out the website to an actual company in the same niche, or sell leads.

Let’s walk through an example: let’s say you live in Houston, and you notice there’s a lot of competition in the plumbing market.

An example of a rank and rent website would be to create a website that covers everything you need to know about plumbing. The site could also have articles that break down the very best plumbing services in Houston and other Texan cities.

Once you start to rank, you could approach local plumbing companies and offer to sell them your leads or advertising space on the website.

However, this is tough work. As this Reddit thread explains, rank and renting is not easy money. You need to know a tonne of SEO and also accept that your project might take years to accomplish.

However, if you want to make money with one of the more interesting things you can rent out, rank and renting a site might be worth trying!

18. Baby Gear

Alright, this one is for the parents!

If you’re still looking for things to rent out, the answer might be sitting in an old storage closet alongside keepsakes from when your kids were babies.

With BabyQuip, you can earn passive income by renting out baby gear to parents in need.

The idea behind BabyQuip is pretty simple…families traveling with young kids can rent baby gear to save the hassle of traveling with their own, and older parents can monetize their unused baby equipment!

BabyQuip is available in over 500 cities across Canada and the United States.

According to BabyQuip, top providers earn over $600 per month; not bad for a side gig!

Examples of things you can rent out with BabyQuip include:

• Strollers.
• Car seats.
• Baby toys.
• Noise machines.
• Bouncy seats.
• Child monitors.
• Cribs.

If you have any of these products sitting in storage, apply to BabyQuip!

Just note, there’s a $200 registration fee and you keep 80% of all rental income. You also decide how far you’re willing to drive to deliver equipment.

BabyQuip insures your gear, but they have to approve your application and give a bit of training before you get started.

However, in terms of what to rent out to make money, this option is one of the best for any parents who still have their old baby gear laying around.

Tips For Renting Things Out For Profit

If you want to create a new income source, renting things out for money is pretty much as passive as it gets.

However, there are a few important tips you should keep in mind to protect your assets and rental business.

1. Always Read Rental Terms & Protection Policies

It doesn’t matter if you’re renting out a power washer on Fat Llama or your house through Airbnb; you need to understand what insuance policies and rules are in place to protect you as an owner.

The best platforms have comprehensive damage coverage. They also cover your assets in the event of theft.

But, there are typically claim limits, and claims also take time to process, meaning you could be without that asset for weeks or months in the event of  dispute or damage.

Some platforms also outlines things that aren’t covered.

For example, while Turo covers major damage on your vehicle, things like dents and scratches or general wear and tear aren’t really covered.

2. Stick With Easy Things To Rent Out For Profit

The best things to rent out for profit are usually in high-demand all the time.

There are exceptions, and seasonal rentals like snowboards, snow blowers, leaf blowers, or various sporting equipment can be quite lucrative to rent out during specific times of the year.

But, generally speaking, look for things you can rent out year-round to keep a steady stream of income coming in.

This could be things like clothing (depending on where you live), baby gear, power tools, a vehicle…you get the idea!

3. Be Careful With Renting To Friends

I lended a camera to a friend once for a period of several months. I was going to do it as a favor, but my friend ended paying me $50 for essentially borrowing the camera for longer than expected.

Renting things for money out to friends can be an easy way to find business.

But, I would advise against this for very expensive assets where, if something goes wrong, things could get awkward.

Using rental platforms ensures you have protection policies in place to cover your asset. If you rent to a friend and take cash, you’re throwing this protection away and relying on nothing but trust.

This is often enough, but again, things could get awkward for expensive assets.

4. Don’t Be Afraid To Invest

If you don’t have anything to rent out, don’t fret!

You can always invest in this side hustle idea and look for things to buy and rent out.

Some people also get pretty intense about this idea; just checkout this video from Podget Ventures where he explains how he earned $15,000 in 2020 by renting out three vehicles with Turo:

But you don’t need to build a fleet of vehicles to start making money renting things.

You can always invest $50 to $500 in some equipment, clothing, or thing people in your city commonly need.

Worst case, you can always resell that asset on a marketplace like eBay or Mercari if you can’t get enough rentals for it to be worth the effort.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to figuring out ways to make more money and diversify your income, sometimes, the answer is sitting right in front of you.

Technology has made it easier than ever before to provide a service/value to the marketplace. If you have valuable assets, you could easily start renting items out for money to increase your monthly income.

Some of these ideas are obviously more or less passive than others, but the idea remains the same: take advantage of what you already own and get creative with your side hustling!

That’s all for this one, catch you in the next post.

Tom Blake

Tom is a 24 year old recent college graduate from Canada with a passion for side hustling, passive income, and marketing. This Online World is all about providing people with honest ways to make and save more money by using technology. To learn more about Tom, read his About Page!

If you’re interested in freelance writing services or want to partner with This Online World, please visit Tom Blake Digital to get in touch!