Cell Tower Lease or Cell Site Lease Buyouts

CELL PHONE TOWER LEASE BUYOUTS- Recently a number of companies have entered the cell tower lease buyout industry- they purchase the remaining cash flow under a cell tower lease. Some tower companies like Global Signal and Crown Castle have been contacting owners as well. The transaction is typically crafted as an exchange of a one time payment for a lease assignment or a permanent easement on the landowners parcel in exchange for the rights to collect all future rent payments from the cell tower owner. Other companies just purchase an assignment of the cell tower lease and a successor lease.

Some companies have resorted to "scare tactics" whereby they suggest that technology will make the tower obsolete in the near future. They also sometimes suggest that industry consolidation might shorten the length of what we in the industry refer to "90 day" cell tower leases. This is due to the fact that most agreements are written such that the tower company or wireless carrier can terminate the cell tower lease without penalty with 90 days notice. While it is true that the cell tower leases can be terminated, it is not a common occurrence that they will be.

There are, of course reasons why a landowner might want to sell the remaining portions of the lease to a company that specializes in this type of transaction.

First and foremost is the opportunity to get cash out of your asset. These companies often can give a sizable payment when your financial institution would not. The purchasing companies can reduce the risk that any one lease will be terminated over the purchase of hundreds of leases, where the landowner could not. Landowners who have attempted to borrow against cell tower leases often find that banks do not loan against them due to the 90 day termination rights common in most cell tower leases.

Secondly, depending upon the location and the company purchasing the cell tower lease rights, the offer might be one that the average landowner with a cell tower lease would be hard pressed to turn down. Determining which situation the landowner is faced with, unfortunately requires expert review.

Third, in certain situations where a landowner has exposure to termination due to the Cingular / AT&T merger or the Nextel / Sprint merger, the sale of the cell tower leases for a lump sum can eliminate the risk that those companies will terminate the cell site lease. We can help you guage that risk and determine if the sale of the lease is right for you.

If you are interested in simply getting a better offer, contact us the details of your lease and any buyout offer you currently have and we will be happy to see if we can beat it. There is no cost to you.

If on the other hand, you are interested in getting assistance with whether you should sell your cell tower lease, we can assist. Steel in the Air has consulted with many landowners on cell tower lease purchase offers based on in depth analysis of the landowner's parcel and the surrounding wireless environment. We can assist you with working through the wireless side of the decision and help you determine what you are really selling. We can help ascertain what the real remaining term of your cell site lease will be so that you can figure out the true "present value" of your lease. We can tell you the history of the lease purchase market as well as where we expect it to go. We can help you answer the decision of when the best time to sell is. We have compiled a database of numerous transactions and can tell you trends in this arena. Furthermore, we can determine whether or not you are passing up future revenue that you might not have known about. The standard consultation normally runs around $1000.

Please contact us for a free estimate of what a review will cost. Click here to see what many of our satisfied clients have had to say.