I have been contacted multiple times by a company who wants to purchase the lease from me. Since falling into the wireless rental business when they selected my land for a flag pole tower I have tried to educate myself on the technology.
I am hearing a lot about DAS distributed antenna systems, LTE technology and 4G. I am wondering if any of these will eventually replace the cellular antennas we have and if I should sell the cell site leases on our land to make sure we don't lose the income. On the other hand why would the finance company purchase it from us if they risk the cell towers becoming obsolete??
I think it depends on what the money from the sale is used for. I sold my lease and took advantage of the tax treatment then spread the money out in my investment portfolio. Over all I am out gaining what the rent was and what it was escalating at and if the cellular tenants ever leave it is of no consequence to me financially.
Editor's Note: Tower Genius does provide financial advice, however in today's economy the bigger danger of tenant's leaving is in the event of a financial collapse or major economic meltdown, and they go belly-up when people can no longer afford cell phones. So maybe you should consider selling that cell tower lease after all, and getting a few hundred ounces of silver coins or silver bars. Maybe you could end up buying the carrier if Mr. Bernanke keeps this up...
Nov 05, 2010 Rating
Dear Anonymous by: Tower Genius
If they are going to take nine and a half years of cell tower income up front and roll it into something else it's a fair offer. If they are going to take the lease buyout and purchase the new plasma TV and Escalade, then you can't really help them.
You are always giving up income on the back end. Could have came in handy yesterday to go all-in with cash during the stock market rally however.
As always, we don't give financial advice on this site :-)
Oct 27, 2010 Rating
Similar Situation by: Anonymous
My friend was just talking to me about this. He said he had a cell phone tower and currently makes $12,000 a year from the rent. A company built it there and all he had was the land. He received an offer of 115,000 for it and he wanted to take it. Is it worth it?
Oct 20, 2010 Rating
Your cell site lease by: Tower Genius
In my opinion carriers utilizing DAS & LTE systems are applying band-aids to wounds that need a tourniquet. In addition they are only affective in densely populated urban areas where it is difficult to deploy a traditional cellular site, or places like sports stadiums, shopping malls or large universities. Also, they are quite cost prohibitive. To really improve capacity and meet increased bandwidth demands the carriers need to add more sites in certain areas. Don't lose too much sleep over them. Hold onto your cell tower lease and enjoy the rental income if you don't really need to sell. However if you need to sell your lease, we can make sure you are getting the very best possible buyout offer.
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