When most people think about what can be done with vacant land, they have a surprisingly small imagination. Go ahead and tell anyone you're a “vacant land investor” and you'll probably see what I'm talking about.
Many people struggle to see the practical applications and benefits of raw land, but with a little bit of creative thinking, there is a VAST world of opportunity for those who are interested in becoming landowners.
In this blog post, we're going to cover 50 solid examples of how versatile, useful, profitable, and enjoyable land can be. My hope is that once you see all the ways raw land can be put to use, your eyes will be opened to the kind of potential that lives inside every vacant land opportunity.
When you understand what can be done with a property in accordance with your local zoning and planning administration, you'll start to realize that there are A LOT of potential options on the table. Let's explore some ideas!
1. Build a Spec House

The great thing about this option is that most vacant lots are already zoned precisely for this purpose, and whether the dimensions of a parcel of vacant land are large or small – building a new home may be a valid option worth considering.
2. Community Garden

This is also a great way to increase the sense of “community” in your area. You can even pool funds from your neighbors and have everyone chip in to buy seeds and plants. If you grow more food than you can eat, there are always food banks that would be very grateful for the fresh donations.
3. Wildlife Preservation

4. Tiny Houses

The great thing about tiny houses is that they're almost always built on a trailer (not permanently affixed to the ground). Tiny houses are built this way because they rarely conform with any municipality's zoning requirements (which typically require any legal residence to be 600 square feet in size or larger).
The typical tiny house ranges in size from 69 square feet to a few hundred square feet and is extremely mobile. These houses can be placed anywhere there is land – whether it's in a densely populated urban scene, or a remote setting far away from civilization.
5. Farming

Farmland in some areas of the world can be leased or sold for an extremely high rate per acre. Depending on the characteristics of your property, this could be a potential use worth inquiring about. If you're not sure what to look for, try contacting an agricultural real estate broker to see if your property might be a good fit.
RELATED: Want to Invest in Farmland? You Need to See This First…
6. Recreation

Alternatively, if you're looking for more of a laid-back recreational use, you can simply take your family and friends out for an evening to eat and have a bonfire. Not a bad way to have a night of good, clean (and inexpensive) fun!
7. Education

If you contact local Boy Scout or Girl Scout troops, you may also be able to offer your land to them for annual camping trips. Any kind of knowledge like that can be a valuable skill set to pass on to others, especially younger generations could be fair game. It could even be a profitable venture if you decide to charge a bit and run it regularly.
8. Harvest Timber

In some cases, it's quite possible to buy a property with trees that are worth far more than the property itself. There's a whole unseen layer of value here! You can read more about it in this blog post – where I've covered the topic in great detail.
9. Orchard

10. Raise Livestock

Cows, pigs, horses, chickens, sheep, horses, goats… they all need a place to call home, and in some markets – grazing land can be easy money for landowners. If you've got a large tract of land that isn't being used for anything else, why not lease it to a farmer in the area?
11. Tent or Hammock Camping

If you've got a property that could be used as a private getaway, why not sell it to a rustic camping enthusiast? Especially if it's a property in the less expensive range (as many rural lots are), this kind of property could be a dream come true for the right person. You could make someone's day by giving them the deal of a lifetime on the exact type of property they've always wanted!
12. Off-Grid Living

People who go “off-grid” are those who want to reduce their carbon footprint, assert their independence and avoid reliance on fossil fuels. Many of these folks live away from society, and as the name implies – they aren't connected to any public utilities. No electricity. No natural gas. No water. No sewer. Complete disconnect.
People who choose this lifestyle typically have their own wells, septic tanks, solar and/or wind power and alternative sources of fuel. As a result, they can assert their independence and live without being tethered to expensive utility companies that run the show and determine the cost of living for most of society. If you've got a property without access to any public utilities, it could be a perfect fit for someone who wants to live off-the-grid!
13. Easement Access

It never ceases to amaze me, but I see it all the time. There are tens of thousands of vacant land properties around the world that are landlocked with no road access.
What if one of the neighboring property owners wanted to build a road or a path through your property to reach the nearest road? What if the local power company wanted to cut through a corner of your property to connect the utility lines? What if a giant oil company wants to use your property as an access point for its drilling operation?
The possibilities aren't necessarily obvious, but there are all kinds of ways in which outside parties may be willing to pay you for the use of your land. If you own a property in an area where other people need to go, you could easily sell easement access, lease out a portion of it, or sell your property altogether.
14. Wind Energy

In most cases, land can simply be leased out to one of the big power companies, who will then place their turbine on the property and handle all the maintenance (so the landowner can simply collect the lease revenue, rather than hassling with the actual generation of power for the electric grid). In many cases, it can be a perfect fit for the property and its uses.
RELATED: Passive Income from Wind Energy (What No One Else Is Talking About)
15. Solar Energy

With the continually emerging technology of solar energy, solar panels can be rigged to power one house, or create an extensive power plant. If you're interested in off-the-grid living, a few solar panels could be enough to power a house, and if you're looking to start a larger operation, consider leasing or selling your land to a power company.
The use of renewable energy will only increase in the years to come, so if you want to get into this business on the ground floor, it could pay to be an early adopter!
16. Park an RV or Travel Trailer

Depending on where your property is located and what the rules are in your area – it could be the perfect place to use your RV or Travel Trailer temporarily or to simply park it year-round.
17. Build a Self-Storage Facility

If you own a parcel of land that is more than a few acres in size and zoned commercial, it could very well be an ideal fit for a self-storage facility. These types of projects aren't cheap to build (most of them will easily exceed a million dollars construct from the ground up), but if it's located in an area where there are no other storage facilities in the near vicinity – it could absolutely be a worthwhile investment.
RELATED: What NOT To Do As A Self Storage Investor
18. Build an Outdoor Storage Facility

In most of these situations, you'll have to build a reasonably large fence or wall (enough to obstruct the view from the road and keep trespassers out) and keep a locked gate – but other than these standard aspects of any storage facility, there isn't a great deal of development required to start making money.
19. Establish a Dog Park

This option isn't necessarily a “money-maker”, but if you own a property in one of these areas that don't have any other obvious desirable use, it could be a great fit and worth exploring further!
20. Outdoor Photography Studio

Most photographers are always on the lookout for good locations to shoot in the outdoors, so if you've got a parcel of land with good scenery, a good backdrop or other features that give it an interesting landscape – considering leasing it out or using it yourself for the purpose of an outdoor photography studio!
21. Drill for Oil or Gas

In many situations, if you own the mineral rights to the land, and if you're part of a 640 acre tract of land that is being drilled by a large oil company, you could automatically be paid royalties simply for being part of that 640 acre section of land (even if they're not drilling on your property)!
Some areas of the country will obviously have more potential for this use than others – but if your property is located anywhere in the hotbed of American oil production, it could be worth your while to do your research in this area.
22. Outdoor Advertising

In most cases, using your property for this purpose will hinge on the local municipality allowing it – but generally speaking, if you own a property that is zoned commercial and in range of a well-traveled road (even if it's not vacant), it could be a great candidate for outdoor advertising!
23. Install a Mobile Home

In many cases, the only real “prep work” for installing a mobile home is in constructing a cement slab and/or a driveway (which falls more into the category of “nice to have” rather than “required”) along with connecting the mobile home to any utilities. Otherwise – it is surprisingly inexpensive to place a dwelling on a vacant lot when compared with the typical construction of a site-built home.
24. Pave a Biking or Walking Trail

This option – while only ideal in certain, unique situations – could be a great way to create a pleasant atmosphere where you can spend your time and get exercise, or a generous way to give back to the local community. Many property owners find that the value of their land actually increases when a path is connected or runs alongside it.
And on the subject of giving, that brings us to our next option…
25. Donate Your Land

You might be surprised at the power of a simple donation! To learn more, you can read all about how it works in this blog post.
26. Mine for Minerals

Think about it – literally, every substance known to man can be found somewhere underground. If you own land in an area that is known for minerals like coal, gypsum, gravel, limestone (just a few of the hundreds of possibilities), it could be worth exploring the potential for mining some of those minerals out of the ground.
27. Parking Lots

Many examples of this can be found in cities like Detroit, where there are hundreds of vacant lots not far from Comerica Park and Ford Field. On the night of a big event when parking is scarce, it's easy for the owners of these vacant properties to collect hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars in parking fares simply by giving attendees an easy place to park. Think about it – do you own land anywhere in the vicinity of where people are desperate for an easy parking lot?
28. Build a Pole Barn for Animal or Equipment Storage

Perhaps you know of a local farmer or animal lover who needs a place to house their horses, cows, goats, sheep, chickens or other animals?
The beauty of a simple pole barn is that it can be used for all sorts of things – and if you're in an area with people who have equipment or animals that need a place to call home in the off-season, building a simple pole barn could go a long way in meeting (and monetizing) that need.
Not to mention, a pole barn can always be repurposed for other uses like indoor, climate-controlled self-storage.
RELATED: How a Self Storage Conversion Works (Full Tour!)
29. Plant a Vineyard

States like California, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Virginia are all growing wine regions in the U.S. Likewise, many other countries around the world like France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Germany, South Africa, and others offer similar climates and soil types that are very ideal for vineyards.
If you own land in one of these global zones, this could be a great use for the property you own!
30. Drill a Well

Whether your intent is to monetize this resource or simply provide a critical resource for those in need, drilling a well on your land could be a great way to use your real estate for the benefit of those in the area.
31. Build a Golf Course

32. Build an Underground Fallout Shelter

Whether it's just a person's fun hobby or if they're legitimately concerned about an inevitable zombie apocalypse, some properties could be exactly what an overly-prepared survivalist is looking for.
33. Wetland Preserve

At the same time, it's important to recognize that wetlands are very important to many of the ecological systems in nature. By not using these types of properties for any other purpose than simply allowing nature to take its course – you could play an important role in helping the environment to stay clean and offer a refuge for many of the plants and animals that thrive in this kind of environment.
RELATED: How to Identify (and Avoid) Wetlands
34. Spiritual Sanctuary

There are a lot of people who desperately need this kind of spiritual calm in order to maintain a healthy, more balanced life. Surprisingly, it's not always easy to find a place where this kind of spiritual growth is fostered and encouraged. If you have a property with the kinds of attributes that can help people concentrate, think, breathe deep, see the beauty around them and build a stronger spiritual foundation, why not put your land to good use by using it as a sanctuary for spiritual development?
35. Boat Launch

Rather than keeping the property for your own personal use, sometimes a more pragmatic use is to give your community a gift that everyone can use!
36. Landfill

Everyone creates trash and it has to go somewhere. As long as someone is being paid millions to dump the local waste in the ground – why couldn't that person be YOU?
If you've got a large enough property to develop and landfill and you can get the necessary permits and allowances from the authorities to move forward, it could be a great way to turn your property into a money machine.
37. Hiking and Cross Country Skiing Trails

Hiking trails are easy to create, and if they're being used regularly – they require very little ongoing maintenance. If you've got rolling hills or beautiful scenery on your property, it could be a fun way to make your land more useful!
38. Build a Tree House

Treehouses can be rustic or surprisingly high-end, and however you decide to build it – they're a great way to have fun and make your dreams come to life!
39. Outdoor Shooting Range

Properties best suited for this activity are those with a natural hill or even an excavated pile of dirt or sand that can act as a backdrop to catch-all the stray bullets.
These properties can also function well for archery or paintball target practice. Whether it's just for yourself, a group of friends or whoever wants to pay the price of admission – it's a great way to have fun!
40. Athletic Fields

If you've got money to spend, you can develop the property to fit the exact dimensions and standards the field should be, but even if you want to keep it low-budget, you might be surprised at what's possible without spending tons of money!
41. Community Park

Outdoor community spaces can have a lot of value because their existence brings up the value of every other property in the area. When all of the nearby residents can have shared access to a portion of land that benefits all – it makes the community stronger and makes the neighborhood more appealing for all future property owners.
42. Drive-In Movie Theater

Drive-In Theaters of this type are certainly seasonal in nature, so if your property is situated in the northern half of the continent (where business will be dead for half the year), it's probably worth weighing the cost of that. Nevertheless, this kind of theater is relatively inexpensive to develop, because attendees can get their sound through the radios in their cars – as long as you've got a screen big and bright enough, and room to hold as many cars as possible – you could be in business before you know it!
43. Campground

If you're looking for a simpler type of property from which to earn a source of income, a simple campground could be a great choice!
44. Landscape Supply Storage

If you've got a property that isn't being used – consider working with some local landscaping companies. They could easily lease your land and use it for no other purpose than to store their unused landscaping supplies while they're waiting to be sold to their end customers. Easy money!
45. Concert and Festival Grounds

Some of the largest, most well-known and widely attended concerts and festivals happen on giant parcels of land in the middle of nowhere.
If you've got a massive parcel of land that could fit thousands of concert-goers or festival freaks – it could be a great opportunity to make your mark on the world of entertainment and host the next big event at your place!
46. Horse Stable

By building a horse stable and/or some simple fencing around the perimeter of your property, you could create the ideal environment where horse owners from around the area want to store their horses.
If you have a passion for horses, this could be a great fit for you!
47. Outdoor Obstacle Course

That being said – you don't have to be in the military to get in great shape or build a stronger bond with the people you work with. Simply by using your property as an outdoor obstacle course or even buying some equipment for an adult playground, you could create a great resource for people who are looking for a healthy, cost-effective way to stay fit.
48. Community Playground

Playground equipment can range widely in expense – but most respectable playgrounds can be constructed for no more than a few thousand dollars of investment from someone who wants to improve their local community.
49. Build an Earth Bermed House

These dwellings are designed with a unique look that offers all kinds of hidden benefits. An earth-bermed house is essentially built halfway underground and as a result, they benefit from significant energy savings. When a house is surrounded by earth on 2 or more sides, it won't get nearly as hot in the summer and the building will require much less fuel for heating in the winter – because they benefit from the natural temperature regulation of the earth around it. These houses can are usually designed with the aesthetic look that flows with the natural landscape – so if you want a house that blends in with what's already there and doesn't distract from the natural beauty around it, this could be an ideal residence for you.
50. Establish a Scenic Overlook

Endless Possibilities
Keep in mind, as I was thinking through this topic, these were simply the first 50 ideas that came into my head.
As an experienced land investor, I've looked at thousands of investment opportunities and thought through many potential ways that raw land can be used. This list is just scratching the surface and is NOT meant to be exhaustive by any means (I had to draw the line somewhere – at over 6,000 words, this article is turning into a novel).
There are MANY other ways you can put your vacant land to good use, and if you’re willing to think outside the box and look at all the options (even the ones that might not be obvious), you might be surprised what can be done with a simple plot of dirt that would have otherwise been overlooked by the masses.
Keep an open mind and keep your eyes open! You never know what the possibilities might hold.
Special Thanks
“This past December, Megan Wild from Your Wild Home and Velvet Jobs Reviews came up with the original concept for this article with her guest post entitled 5 Surprisingly Creative Uses For Vacant Land. I thought the topic was a good idea that could be expanded upon – so while most of the content from this article was created after her original blog post, her idea was the original inspiration for this work. Thanks, Megan!”
Images: Flickr, Wikipedia, PublicDomainPictures, Flickr, Wikipedia, Flickr, Geograph.org.uk, PublicDomainPictures, Wikipedia, Atlas Survival Shelters, Flickr, Flickr, Wikimedia, Flickr, Wikipedia, Wikipedia, Wikimedia







