How to Make Money Off Your Driveway
Ever dream of being a parking lot mogul?
A quick visit to a website now lets you become one, albeit in a small way. Here’s the background…
On a post-college visit to San Francisco, Anthony Eskinazi was driving around before a Giants game, hunting for a parking spot in vain, when he jokingly asked a friend, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could knock on that lady’s door, give her $10, and park in her driveway?”
It’s probably not an uncommon sentiment. The key part, however, is that Eskinazi decided to run with it.
He created ParkatmyHouse, a site that connects homeowners and businesses that have parking to spare with the desperate drivers who spend hours circling.
ParkatmyHouse has operated in the U.K. –where it has over 150,000 customers– since 2006. Thanks to new backing by BMWi Ventures (BMW’s venture capital arm), the service is expanding to the U.S., starting with New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston.
It’s an easy way to make a buck, and, according to Eskinazi, a security feature for many users since it gives the impression that someone is home.
“Homeowners like the idea of a car parked outside their property” Anthony Eskinazi
The service just launched in the US in January, and is already getting traction. Want a private garage in Harvard Square? That’ll be $200 a month.
Parking spot sharing is perhaps the least invasive element of the growing sharing economy, which consists of home-sharing sites like Airbnb. There is minimal interaction with the people renting your driveway and little risk of property damage (barring them crashing their car into your house).
While a slight tangent from the vacation rental topics typically written about here, ParkatmyHouse is worth mentioning since it might get you thinking about possible overlap with your VR business.