And has anyone ever sold the lease to their cell phone tower to a cell tower acquisition company for a large lump sum of money?

Evan, what's the question? Been in the industry for some time.

Originally posted by @Steven Quinn :

Evan, what's the question? Been in the industry for some time.

 Do you have a building with a cell tower on it?

Did you sell the lease on it?

Do you know a way to get a provider to put a cell tower on your building?

No.

No, I work on the buyer side.

Register your property with the major carriers and hope that your location fits a network need and active build-out plan. 

Going to look into registering with the carriers. Thanks Steven. 

Evan, let me know - I buy buildings with towers on the roof in the Tri-state area

Hi Evan, I own a few properties like this in CT,NY,NJ, PA and MD. We have sold the rights, held onto them, sold properties without the rights as well as consulted for property owners because the towers aren't always paying what they should. 

Any questions I would be happy to help. 

Joel 

Michael and Joel. 

I sent you a direct message. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience. 

@Evan Torrens You should definitely have @Joel Owens advise you. He is a wealth of knowledge on all things commercial real estate and always provides solid insights.

My parents sold their rights. The tower wasn't on the roof though - it was located near the warehouse. If I remember correctly the tower people contacted my dad about putting it there - they are very strategic and build based on improving cell phone signal quality. 

Cell phone lease companies tend to pay very little for the overall value of the actual contract without the options considered.

So if primary lease was for 20 years at 10,000 a year then total value is 200,000 before options.

They might pay max 50% of the overall value and usually less. They are hedging bets for the future return of the contract.

I have had clients off on retail centers with cell tower attached or on top of roof. It can cause issues with who maintains it and also with insurance claims if a leak or damage occurs. Better is to usually have a cell tower independent and not connected to another structure.

We mostly stay away from those types of centers now. Buyer does not want the liability of a cell tower with very little benefit and upside.  

The above valuation is incorrect. Cell tower lease contracts typically have a 30 day termination clause. So it doesn’t matter if there are 30 years in options or 100 years in options. The only “guaranteed” rent is 30 days, since they can terminate at anytime.

This is why lending institutions typically do not provide any value to cell tower leases, when buyers are acquiring property with a cell tower lease.

My background, I’ve sold over 90 cell tower lease contracts for property owners and my primary business is a cell tower lease consultant for property owners.