Maybe you’ve got a house with a pool — or a recreational vehicle that you bought during the Covid era when RVs were the only way to travel. You can make these — and many other luxuries — pay off thanks to a host of peer-to-peer rental platforms.
In fact, it’s so easy to make your luxuries pay off that you might decide to buy one for both fun and profit.
Here are the online platforms that can help you make your luxuries pay off.
RVs
They’re incredibly expensive to buy new. But sales of recreational vehicles soared during the pandemic with more than 1.5 million new vehicles purchased from 2020-2022. If you’re part of the RV nation, you should know that several sites will help you rent your RV to other consumers craving a road trip.
The best sites — Outdoorsy, RVShare and RVnGo — operate in much the same way. They let you set the rates and the rules, such as whether renters are allowed to smoke indoors, bring pets, or take the camper out of state. You also manage the schedule and decide whether to offer add-ons, like bikes, beach chairs, and refueling.
How much can you earn? Generally, RVs rent for the cost of nice hotel room — somewhere between $250 and $500 a night. The sites handle marketing and collecting payment for a portion of the rental proceeds.
Boats
Boat sales also broke records during the pandemic. And there are also three good sites that can help you rent these out — RentMyBoat, Boatsetter and LakeHop. All three sites allow owners to set their own rates, schedules and rules. For instance, owners can opt to rent the craft only, or require that anyone renting the boat also use him or her as their captain. RentMyBoat and Boatsetter operate in most major ocean-side ports. LakeHop is exclusively used in inland waterways.
Though seasonal, renting your boat is a highly lucrative business. Boats rent by the hour, not the day. A quick check of Boatsetter listings found that most owners priced their boat rentals between $250 and $1,200 per hour, for instance., Skippering services rang up an additional $50 to $150 per hour.
Spare cars
When my husband and I replaced our SUV, we decided to keep the old one. Why? It was paid off, insurance was cheap and having an older car available for Home Depot runs seemed like a luxury we could afford. It also opened up the possibility of renting out one of our cars to travelers.
A site called Turo allows consumers with spare vehicles to rent them out. Owners set the rates, rules and schedule. But the site suggests that owners check the cost of renting similar vehicles through established rental agencies, such as Hertz and Avis, and set their rates slightly below those to generate more business.
Car rental pricing is dynamic, moving up and down with demand. However, when we checked in late April, a 2024 Volkswagen Atlas Sport was renting for $86 a day; a 2017 Nissan Murano was listed for $62 a day.
Swimming pools
Have a swimming pool? A site called Swimply will help you list it for rent.
Pool rentals typically go for between $40 and $100 an hour, depending on location, amenities and other details. When you list your pool for rent, for instance, you’ll note whether guests have the use of a bathroom and/or other amenities, such as a barbecue, jacuzzi and rafts. Pricing also varies by group size. Bigger groups pay more.
Yards
Your big yard is also a rentable luxury that a site called Sniffspot will help you rent out by the hour to dog owners looking for a private dog park. As with the others, you set the rates, rules and schedule. Typically yards rent out for between $10 and $25 an hour.
Residence
Owning your own home is one of the worlds greatest luxuries. And, fortunately, it’s a luxury that more than 65% of Americans enjoy.
There are dozens of ways to rent out all or portions of this space. The most lucrative of these options is to rent your house to filmmakers, photographers, and event planners by the hour.
Renting your house as event space is generally only viable when you have a large house built for entertaining. But much smaller spaces can be attractive to filmmakers and photographers, who are more interested in how the space looks than the square footage. If this sounds like an attractive idea, you can list on Giggster, Peerspace, Splacer and Avvay.
Don’t have the right space for the movies? If you have a spare room, you can rent it out through Airbnb. Rates here vary dramatically by the property, region and time of year. But, typically, you’d earn $50 to $250 per night.
Have room, but don’t want company? Consider renting out your spare storage space through Neighbor or Stache. This low maintenance side hustle won’t generate huge money, unless you’ve got a whole lot of space to rent. But, you can figure that a spare storage shed or garage could net about $250 – $300 per month.
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