Elizabeth Morosani: $7,100 a month renting empty land to dog owners, six to eight hours a week
Elizabeth Morosani had a horse farm near Asheville, North Carolina, with acres she never used. She fenced some of it, listed it on an app as a private dog park, and her best spot, an old airstrip, got its first booking 30 minutes after it went live. In the first half of 2024 it averaged $7,100 a month, with $8,400 in May alone, for six to eight hours of work a week.
Overview
Morosani rents fenced land by the hour to dog owners who want their dog to run off leash with nobody else around. She lists the spaces on Sniffspot, an app that works like Airbnb for private dog parks. She has 11 acres split across three properties around Asheville, and she was building a fourth.
In the first six months of 2024 the parks averaged $7,100 a month in revenue. About a quarter goes to Sniffspot in commissions and fees, about a quarter goes to upkeep, and roughly half is profit. She spends six to eight hours a week on it, most of it on a lawn mower.
"I didn't think it'd be this popular, this successful," she told CNBC. "If you have space and the ability to give a private experience to individual dog owners, there's definitely room for everyone to do this."
Before the dog parks
Morosani's working life is her farm. She boards horses, which is where most of her personal income comes from, and she sometimes sells goats. She is also a dressage technical delegate for the United States Equestrian Federation, which she describes as a horse show referee.
She and her husband, a dentist, bought 40 acres in 2014 and another 68 in 2019. Most of that land sat unused, and she wanted to change that. She has four dogs of her own and fosters more, up to 14 at a time.
The idea
She grew up in Asheville and could see what was happening to it. New apartment complexes were going up faster than the city was building dog parks. That meant more people with dogs and no yard, and public dog parks that were crowded with other people's dogs.
In 2020 she saw a segment about Sniffspot on "Good Morning America." She listed her first space in November 2020. At first it was a way to meet other dog owners nearby. It turned into a business.
The demand she was betting on is real. Sniffspot's CEO has said about 90% of the people who book spots have no fenced yard at home.
The airstrip
Her most popular spot is not even on her farm. In late 2022 her father leased her four acres in Fletcher, North Carolina: an old airstrip once used as a landing pad for farm planes and model planes. She and her husband put a fence around it. It got its first reservation within 30 minutes of going live.
Why it works: it is close to a highway, so people visiting Asheville from out of town can get there easily. It is private, flat, and has a small creek running through it. The asphalt is now almost entirely covered with grass.
It has almost nothing in it. No umbrellas, no paddling pools. A doggy teeter-totter and some weave poles. That is on purpose.
The money
For the first half of 2024 the business averaged $7,100 a month in revenue, and May hit $8,400. Roughly half of that is profit after Sniffspot's cut and maintenance.
She put the profit back in. She hired an assistant, bought a $6,500 lawn mower, and pays for supplies for the dogs she fosters. "It's allowed me to bank some money, [and to] be more aggressive with helping my local humane societies."
For context: Sniffspot's CEO has said hosts set their own prices and average about $10 per dog per hour, that bigger spaces with more amenities charge more, and that top hosts make over $3,000 a month. Morosani is several times that, because she runs several large spaces instead of one backyard.
Her two rules
Rule one: skip the expensive extras. "I put [out] Adirondack chairs from Lowe's, thinking people could use them to sit in the shade." Many of them ended up in ditches and in the creek. People come for space, not furniture.
Rule two: don't greet the guests. "Most clients are grateful their dogs can be dogs without pressure from people or other dogs ... This allows them to get out and be in nature." She talks to guests through messages in the app, and never in person.
Running it
Mowing. Twice a week she is up before 7 a.m. and spends about three hours on the mower. That is the bulk of the six to eight hours a week.
Cameras. She checks each park on Ring cameras after every visit, so she can see whether a guest left too much mess behind without driving out.
Messages, not visits. Guests get entry instructions through the app. On Sniffspot, most guests never meet their host at all.
Reviews. The reviews are what keep her going. "When I read [positive] reviews, I almost cry." One owner booked a visit for their dog's last day. Others have held dog birthday parties there with all their friends.
Growing
More fenced acres means more bookings, so she is adding a fourth park on three more acres she leases from her father in nearby Hendersonville. It cost $18,000, mostly paid from earlier Sniffspot profits, and took nearly three months: leveling the ground, building the fence, and hydroseeding grass.
Notice the pattern: two of her best spaces are leased land, not land she owns. The business is fence plus listing plus mowing. The land can belong to someone else.
How Sniffspot works
Sniffspot was founded in the Seattle area in 2018 by David Adams and grew across the US. It calls itself "like Airbnb, but for off-leash dog spaces." It grew fast during the pandemic, when more people got dogs and some cities closed public dog parks.
For hosts: you list a space, set your own price, and give guests self-service entry instructions, so you don't need to be home. Your own dogs stay inside during bookings. Sniffspot's help center lists its host fee as 22% of each booking, plus card processing of 2.37% and 22 cents per charge for US cards. On a $10 booking that leaves the host about $7.34.
For guests: the app is free. Guests start with a seven-day trial that includes a $10 credit, then pay a monthly membership of $20 to $120 that goes toward bookings. Trainers, shelters and breed groups also book spaces for private sessions and meetups.
What sells: yards over half an acre tend to get more visitors, and extras like balls, a ball thrower and water let hosts charge more. Hosts also sell add-ons, like a $5 birthday sign.
The numbers
| Figure | Number |
|---|---|
| Started | November 2020 |
| Land in use | 11 acres across three properties, a fourth being built |
| Monthly revenue (first half of 2024) | $7,100 average |
| Best month | $8,400 (May 2024) |
| Profit | Roughly half of revenue |
| Sniffspot's cut | Nearly a quarter (22% fee plus card processing) |
| Her time | 6 to 8 hours a week |
| First booking on the airstrip | Within 30 minutes of listing |
| Airstrip size | 4 acres, leased from her father |
| Fourth park | 3 leased acres, $18,000, nearly 3 months |
| Lawn mower | $6,500 |
| Average host price on Sniffspot | About $10 per dog per hour |
| Guests with no fenced yard at home | About 90% |
Do what she did: step by step
1. Find the land. You don't need to own it.
Do this: look for flat, unused land of half an acre or more within about 15 minutes of dense apartment areas: vacant lots, the back of a farm, an unused field behind a church or business, a family member's land. Morosani's best spot is leased from her father. Check the map for public dog parks nearby. Fewer is better.
The lease ask, word for word (to a landowner):
"Hi, I'm [name]. I noticed your field on [road] isn't being used. I'd like to lease about an acre of it to run a private, fenced dog park, booked by the hour through an app. I'd pay for the fence, mow it every week, and you'd get [monthly amount] a month. Nobody would be on the land except one dog owner at a time. Would you be open to talking about it?"
2. Check the rules before you build.
Do this: call your county or city planning office and ask whether renting land by the hour for dog exercise is allowed under the zoning, and whether you need a business license. Ask your insurance agent about liability coverage for guests on the land. Do this before you spend money on a fence.
3. Fence it, and keep it bare.
Do this: a secure fence with a gate is the product. Skip the furniture, as her Adirondack chairs showed. Add only cheap things dogs use: a water source, maybe a couple of agility pieces. Shade helps.
4. List it.
Do this: create a host listing on Sniffspot with clear photos of the fence, the gate and the open space. Write simple self-entry instructions so you never need to be there.
A listing description, word for word:
"Private, fully fenced [size]-acre field, just for you and your dog. No other dogs, no other people. Flat, open grass with [creek / shade trees / water]. Easy parking right at the gate, [X] minutes from [area]. Perfect for reactive dogs, recall training, zoomies, and birthday parties."
5. Price it.
Do this: start near the platform average of about $10 per dog per hour, then raise it as reviews come in. Larger spaces and extras earn more. Offer add-ons like birthday visits.
6. Run it from your phone.
Do this: message guests in the app, never greet them in person. Put up a camera so you can check the space after each visit. Mow on a fixed schedule.
7. Add space when the calendar fills.
Do this: when your best spot is regularly booked, lease the next piece of land and repeat. Pay for it out of earlier profits, as she did with the $18,000 fourth park.
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Sources
- CNBC Make It, interview with Elizabeth Morosani on renting land as private dog parks (July 26, 2024)
- Sniffspot Help Center, "How much does Sniffspot charge hosts?"
- The Philadelphia Inquirer, reporting on Sniffspot hosts and CEO David Adams (May 29, 2025)
