David Espinosa

10 Common Mistakes Cell Site Landowners Make

We have identified the most common mistakes that Landowners make regarding their Cell Tower Lease.

1. Handle their own transaction.

The “Do-it-Yourselfer” will try to negotiate these complex transactions in the same manner they would negotiate a car purchase.

They only learn of their mistakes years later when it’s too late. Fact, these agreements are very complex commercial documents and last for decades.

2. Hire an Attorney or CPA to negotiate and review the agreement.

Professionals who do not make their livelihood in Cellular industry are at a disadvantage.

They will spend many hours just trying to learn the industry and they will still not have the right answers you need.

In many cases, they will actually cause you to lose the opportunity due to their lack of understanding.

3. Trust the Tower Company or Wireless Carrier’s representative.

Anyone from a Cell Tower Company, Wireless Carrier or finance company who contacts you with an offer is a paid employee of that organization.

They are not there to help you in any way.

4. Extend their lease out of fear to keep the cell tower lease in place.

You may be throwing away valuable bargaining power by extending your cell tower lease.

Extension poses an enormous amount of thought and planning and extending a cell tower lease without review can cost you hundred’s of thousands of dollars.

5. Use Real Estate “Cap Rates” to calculate value of their lease.

Real Estate “Cap Rates” should not be used in calculating values in the Cell Tower Industry.

Cap Rates assume the property will be there for 50-years and has an inexhaustible supply of tenants.

Cell Towers are very unique and require special considerations regarding valuations.

6. Do not maintain proper records.

Cell Tower Leaseholders are famous for keeping poor records.

Most Leaseholders do not know how much rent they are supposed to be receiving versus how much they are actually receiving

and most have never read their lease entirely.

7. Don’t pay attention to who is on their Cell Tower.

It is important to know who is on your cell tower.

Different Carriers carry different values with regard to risk and revenue.

8. Fail to inspect their property once per year.

In many cases, the Carrier or Cell Tower Company has encroached upon your land or rooftop.

This may create a breach of contract.

9. Develop a long-term strategy for their cell tower lease asset .

Most bad decisions are made due to lack of planning.

Proper planning is essential to the long-term growth of these assets.

10. Do not understand the real value of their lease.

Time and time again, people miscalculate the value of these assets.

In many cases, these assets can grow to have significant value worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

CELL TOWER EXPERT