10 Tactics Lease Buyout Companies Use to Get you to Sell!
If you own a cell tower lease, you aren’t just a landlord — you’re a target. Cell tower lease buyout company agents are trained in a specific sales psychology designed to make you feel like your asset is a ticking time bomb. Below are the top 10 tactics we’ve identified over 20 years and $100 million in completed lease buyout transactions. If you hear these phrases, you aren’t being advised — you’re being hunted.
The 10 Tactics
- 01 The Fake Drop-Dead Date
- 02 Higher Rent Negotiation Bait
- 03 The Marketing List Ghost
- 04 The Termination Threat
- 05 The "Better Reinvestment" Pitch
- 06 Selling Revenue - But Keeping Obligations
- 07 Hiding Long Term Impact of Easement
- 08 Carrot and Stick False Dilemma
- 09 Title-Tying ROFR / Non-Compete
- 10 The War of Attrition
01
Valuation: It's More Than Just a "Multiple"
02
Higher Rent Negotiation" Bait
03
The "Marketing List" Ghost
For ground leases, the buyout company usually has zero right to market the tower. For rooftops, you’re often giving up the rights to your entire roof for a “potential” share of future rent that never arrives. Carriers choose sites based on radio frequency (RF) needs, not because they saw your site on a buyout company’s “marketing list.”
They provide inflated estimates for how much more money you will make in the future after you sell the lease to them.
04
The Termination Threat
The carriers do not like to terminate leases or move sites. It is expensive and time-consuming. Most threats (but not all) are empty. If they are asking to buy the lease at the same time, they don’t think its going to be terminated.
05
The "Better Reinvestment" Pitch
While technically possible, most landowners aren’t professional fund managers. To beat the long-term value of a guaranteed, escalating wireless lease, you’d need an incredibly high (and risky) rate of return. They are betting that you’ll see the “big check” and ignore the math
They provide a spreadsheet showing the upside to you. Without knowing the assumptions in the spreadsheet, you can’t adequately vet it.
06
Selling Revenue - But Keeping Obligations
Downplaying your long-term responsibilities as the landowner.
You might be selling the revenue, but you aren’t selling the responsibility. You still have to maintain the property, address access issues, and assume liability for the structure. You’ve sold the “gold” but kept the “dirt” and all the work that comes with it.
They attempt to convince you to sell the lease because “you won’t have to deal with the carrier or tower company again”. That’s patently untrue.
07
Hiding the Long-Term Impact of Easement
Neglecting to mention that these deals are nearly impossible to “unwind.”
If a developer offers you a fortune for your property in five years, you might not be able to sell. Why? Because the lease buyout (and its accompanying easement) prevents the developer from tearing down or moving the equipment. You have effectively given a third party a permanent veto over your property’s future.
They claim that the sale of the lease won’t affect the property’s future use and that future owners can simply work around the easement. Worse, the lease buyout company suggests you can just move the cell site later if it is in the way. (False)
08
The Carrot and Stick False Dilemna
Companies like MD7 send lease buyout and lease renegotiation offers. Basically, they are using a psychological trick called the False Dilemna trying to get you to choose the buyout by making you think your lease is worth less than it is.
Ask yourself, why would they be interested in buying the lease if the lease was likely to be terminated or is worth less than what they are paying you? While there are some scenarios where the lease rate is too high and should be renegotiated, it still has some value if they weren’t buying it.
They push you to make a quick decision – hoping you will choose the buyout rather than the lease renegotiation because they want to buy the lease.
09
The "Title-Tying" ROFR or Non-Compete Clause
Slipping a “Right of First Refusal” (ROFR) or Non-Compete into the easement language.
This doesn’t just apply to the lease; it can tie up your entire property. If you ever want to sell your land, you have to offer it to the buyout company first. This creates a “cloud” on your title that can scare off future buyers and complicate your estate planning.
They want a ROFR on the entire property, or they want exclusive rights to place broad telecom equipment on the property, not just a cell tower or cell site.
10
The War of Attrition (Harassment)
Calling, emailing, and mailing you 10, 20, or 30 times.
They know the “10-point rule.” They know that if they stay in front of you long enough, they will be the first person you call when you have a financial emergency.
By being the only person you talk to, they prevent you from getting multiple offers and seeing the true market value. Their insistence isn’t “customer service”—it’s a gatekeeping tactic.
Recognized a tactic being used on you?
Forward the offer. We’ll tell you what’s real and what isn’t — no obligation.