Would you consider renting out your stuff for cash?

Boatbound, StyleLend, Spinlister all let you rent your stuff

We've all heard about sites like AirBNB and HomeAway, where you can rent out your home or vacation property for extra cash, but some people are taking it to the next level.

News 6 investigator Adrianna Iwasinski looked into what risks are involved in renting out your things in today's Life Hack Monday.

She discovered people like Joe Whiddon and his wife, Connie, who just bought a brand new Avalon 22-foot cruiser, are paying for it by renting it out to other people just a couple of times a week.

"Probably making around $16K to $18K this year," Joe Whiddon said.

The Whiddons are two of the many people who have discovered Boatbound, a new kind of online rental company, located at https://boatbound.co/. It allows boat owners like the Whiddons to rent out their watercraft when they're not using it. Whether it's a sailboat, a fishing boat, a pontoon boat or a yacht, you can rent it, and even a captain, at just the click of a button.

The creators of Boatbound said some of their boat owners receive several hundred of dollars a day by contracting with them. Boatbound takes 35 percent -- you pocket the rest.

We checked, and Boatbound has several rentals listed in the Orlando area that rent for anywhere from $250 to $600 per day.

"If you're doing 30 to 40 rentals a year, that's another $10,000 to $15,000 in your bank account," said Chris Fox, fleet director for Boatbound.

Ladies, many of you have gorgeous clothes that you never wear. Your closet is full of glittery gowns and shoes that could be making you money.

"It's crazy. You could be making $250 per week renting out your closet," said Lona Alia, the creator of StyleLend. "How amazing is that?"

Alia is the creator of StyleLend, a company that allows you to rent out high-fashion dresses, shoes and bags for 10 percent of their retail cost. The more clothing you send them, the more money you make. Check them out at https://www.stylelend.com/.

"We warehouse them, dry clean them, take pictures of them and then when something rents, they get 50 percent of each rental," said Alia.

If you have a designer dress that retails for $500, StyleLend offers it for $50 to rent, and you make $25. Customers who want to rent your dresses pay a $55 a month user fee (three-month minimum) that entitles them to one seven-day rental per month. The site states any unused credits roll over. There is also free shipping and insurance.

Other clothes rental websites: www.thredup.com and http://garment-exchange.com/.

Ever thought about renting out your bike? Now you can. You can rent your roadster or your cruiser by the hour, by the day, or even for the week on Spinlister, https://www.spinlister.com, where you set the rental price yourself.

The company markets your bike and takes a 17.5 percent cut. Spinlister even offers protection if the bike is stolen or damaged. We checked, and in the Orlando area there are about a dozen bikes for rent for anywhere from $7 an hour to $18 to $40 a day.

You can rent out your car as well to help pay down your monthly car payment.

Turo is a peer-to-peer car rental company that gives people an opportunity to rent a high-end car. If you've got a sought-after classic, this might be the site for you: https://turo.com/.

"It's not only paying itself off, but it's actually generating a little bit of money every month," said Chris, who uses the service to rent out his Mustang.

The company also has a $1,000,000 liability policy for coverage.

As for the Whiddons, they will be able to completely pay off their boat in just two years, simply by renting it out.

Finally, for all you photographers out there, you can rent out your camera equipment through a website called Kitsplit, formerly known as Cameralends. We checked, and the Orlando area has 34 results for rentals of cameras ($25-$250 a day) and lenses ($15-$85 a day) with this group. They also rent out tripods ($30-$40 a day) and light kits ($50-$250 a day).

Find them at https://kitsplit.com/?source=cameralends.

Who knew sharing your stuff could be so lucrative?

Special thanks to KPRC-TV's Click2Houston.com for their original story, "How to Make Money By Renting Your Things Out."


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