Cell Tower Lease

Tractor Seabee · Oct 18, 2016

My church has been solicited by a tower broker to build a cell tower on our land. They then sub-let to various cell services.

Anyone in out there in TBN land have any experience with such leases?

What are the Pros and Cons?

Do they normally try to scam low ball rates and fees to catch the unwary like some have had with oil and gas line leases?

Any ideas on what the going negotiated monthly lease payments might be?

Thanks for any good info. I am on the board but the others are pretty much not business oriented.

Ron

2458n · Oct 18, 2016

I worked on both cranes and drill rigs that poured the concrete bases for towers. Great business. Was money for everyone. The bases that are box like can get hit with falling ice coming off the towers. The roof is usually 12 inches thick concrete. Location is important. The industry has changed with everything getting smaller and piggy backing different business on one tower. Great return- you need a lawyer.

Redneck in training · Oct 18, 2016

I heard a story about a guy who bought all guard towers between Czech republic and Austria and Germany. There were hundreds of them built. Now he leases them to mobil phone companies in all three countries. The lower platform is open to public. The very top platform containing the equipment is locked.

This one is about 150 ft tall.

I and wife on the top.

r porter · Oct 18, 2016

lawyer up, you can not possibly think of all that can go wrong with a lease.

consider what happens if they decide to walk away and leave you with a tower you have to keep up [ paint, maintain lights, etc] or dismantle.

i have seen them do just that.

PJSprog · Oct 18, 2016

No tower experiences, but we were approached a few years ago by a company wanting to drill for oil. After talking with neighbors around the area who did it, and hearing the stories of access roads, property damage, and garbage left behind (capped wells and concrete pads), we decided to say no. Turns out no one made a dime off of those "deals," and actually ended up spending their own money and time to clean up and reclaim their sections of field when the wells were abandoned.

As someone else already noted, get a lawyer to interpret everything for you.

NorTracNY · Oct 18, 2016

As the others have said, you need an attorney to review any contract of this nature. You need to consider lease length, escrow of removal cost, monthly income, yearly percentage increase, when do payments start, will payment be based upon number of services on the tower, amount of property used, access to tower, liability, permit, taxes. I do not know what the amount would be as I'm sure it varies. I do know it should be well over $1K/month. I am aware of one person with a tower and it has worked out very well for them. No problems, but the number of offers to buy the tower lease for one price occur all the time. Lot's of companies looking to cash in on people unable to understand the time value of money.

bigtiller · Oct 18, 2016

We have had one on our ground for several years. By the time the first guy knocks on your door, the phone company has already done the research to find the most advantages spot -within yards- for a tower. But, they could easily go 1/2 a mile down the road also. There is still a lot of inspection to do before things start getting serious. They probably will make an offer early on, but this price may be slightly negotiable. They will eventually send you a contract to read over. Feel free to suggest a few minor changes, they will accommodate.

The pros.... a monthly check automatically deposited into your savings account.... for life, and it is transferable to your beneficiary.
If it is tall enough, there will be a flashing red light on top, It helps to find your way home occasionally.

The cons.... I haven't found one yet.

JD5210 · Oct 18, 2016

Cell towers come in all shapes, sizes and heights. Find this out as well as the foot print size. The will also need a small building for power. Find out how they will get to connectivity, will fiber be pulled in or will the signal come from another tower. If your county requires any permits, who will pay for the permits and permit process. Also any requirements, such as fencing, screening ie plants bushes. If the tower is no longer used down the road, is there a requirement that it be taken down. Who will pay the property taxes on the tower. The will want access to the tower.

Most likely in the end you will need a lawyer, but get a copy of the contract, dollar range, talk with your county office, often they can provide you with a lot of info. Do your checking on the contactor.

Argonne · Oct 18, 2016

bigtiller said:
The pros.... a monthly check automatically deposited into your savings account.... for life, and it is transferable to your beneficiary. If it is tall enough, there will be a flashing red light on top, It helps to find your way home occasionally.

The cons.... I haven't found one yet.

I have a 330' tower on my property. Another pro...there is no better lightning protection, and the big BOOMS when it gets hit are entertaining.

k0ua · Oct 19, 2016

r porter said:
lawyer up, you can not possibly think of all that can go wrong with a lease.

consider what happens if they decide to walk away and leave you with a tower you have to keep up [ paint, maintain lights, etc] or dismantle.

i have seen them do just that.

Man o Man, if someone abandoned a big tower on my property I would be one happy camper. I would hang a bunch of antennas on that thing...Whoo-Hoo. Of course I love towers and antennas.

roadhunter · Oct 19, 2016

My dad was approached with an offer to put a tower out behind his shop. If I remember correctly they paid him about 1,000 a month. Occasionally they came by to do maintenance but that wasn't very often. Just depends on the situation I guess but it can be a good thing, especially if you have bad coverage in your area.

k0ua · Oct 19, 2016

roadhunter said:
My dad was approached with an offer to put a tower out behind his shop. If I remember correctly they paid him about 1,000 a month. Occasionally they came by to do maintenance but that wasn't very often. Just depends on the situation I guess but it can be a good thing, especially if you have bad coverage in your area.

I would take an extra 1000 a month, all day any day.

oosik · Oct 19, 2016

Heck - I just wish one of the phone companies would put another tower out my way - anywhere near by. My cell phone service is the pits. And I don't have land line service.

James - wouldn't it be fun to have access to an abandoned 330 foot commercial tower. I'd have antennas hanging everywhere - CQ, CQ.

prichard · Oct 19, 2016

I suppose they'd frown on hanging personal antennas on an active one...

TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark · Oct 23, 2016

Tractor Seabee said:
My church has been solicited by a tower broker to build a cell tower on our land. They then sub-let to various cell services.

Anyone in out there in TBN land have any experience with such leases?

Ron, I just saw this. Haven't read the other responses, so if I'm repeating something, my apologies.

First off, I'm in the business. Since it was new. 1984. I see somebody said "lawyer up". YES!!!! You can get royally taken to the cleaners otherwise. I could tell you quite a few horror stories.

The good news is, I can tell you who to go to! I have been doing side consulting for this guy for.... 15 years, I think. He's honest. Not cheap, but he's honest. He used to do site acquisition for T-mobile, and got tired of their dirty tactics. So, he switched sides and now works for the landowners.

Here's his web site: Steel in the Air- Nation's Leading Cell Tower Lease Consultantss

Ken Schmidt is his name. He will do right by you. This is a specialty area; not just any lawyer will do. Please, please, please contact Ken and work with him.

If you need any advice on the technical side, PM me and I'll be glad to help you out. No charge. (As long as it doesn't get too involved, of course.)

:drink:

k0ua · Oct 23, 2016

oosik said:
Heck - I just wish one of the phone companies would put another tower out my way - anywhere near by. My cell phone service is the pits. And I don't have land line service.

James - wouldn't it be fun to have access to an abandoned 330 foot commercial tower. I'd have antennas hanging everywhere - CQ, CQ.

I would be in hog heaven.

TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark · Oct 23, 2016

prichard said:
I suppose they'd frown on hanging personal antennas on an active one...

Actually, I know of a ham who leased space for a tower on his land, and wrote into the lease some space for his own stuff on the tower. It's been done more than once.

vvanders · Oct 23, 2016

TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark said:
Actually, I know of a ham who leased space for a tower on his land, and wrote into the lease some space for his own stuff on the tower. It's been done more than once.

Yup, our local club runs from one of the AM station's towers. If you decide to go ahead and have any hams in your church it'd be a crime not to try and work out something like this. Tower leases are rapidly disappearing and I'm sure the local club would be very interested to help if they don't already have a setup.

+1 on Lawyer. There was an article a while back on how all the major cell companies sub-contract out the work on towers. It's one of the more dangerous jobs out there now and having all the work done by a sub-contracted company removes them from liability in the case of something bad happening. I imagine they try and do similar things in their tower leases.