Question about leasing cell tower

[jpinpb]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but once again, I turn to the great minds of those on Piggington. I hope someone can assist me with this.

I have land in the San Bernardino area. I have been approached by Verizon. They want to lease 900 sf to put a tower on it. What is the appropriate amount they should pay monthly? I have no idea.

Any feedback on this is greatly appreciated.

[UCGal]

I have no idea. But wanted to say “Hi JP!!!!”

[jpinpb]

LOL. Hi UCGal!

[spdrun]

Answer: as much as possible. The more expensive and less available cell service is, the better, and you should do your part to contribute to this. Too many people flapping their dough-holes into an electronic leash or staring like screen-zombies already. Yeah, I’m a Luddite in that respect.

Love being in places that have no cell service for a while — gives me an excuse to disconnect and decompress.

[Hobie]

Congrats on hitting the lottery! There is your retirement annuity.

[sdduuuude]

You’ll want CDMAEng to answer this. Here’s what I know.

From my understanding, you can get between $400 and $4500 a month, depending on the location, zoning situation, and size the of equipment they want to put there.

From an engineering perspective, location and altitude are everything. Not high enough and it won’t work. Usually, too high is bad because the antennas will spray signal all over the place. Sometimes high is good, though so it really depends on the engineering need.

From a deal perspective, the easier it is to get a site approved, the more valuable it is. If you have a million homeowners, committees, etc in the review process, Verizon will be less happy.

A third thing to consider is that carriers are willing to pay for exclusivity. If Verizon wants it, so do the others. If you plan ahead, you can get three or four clients up there, or charge the highest bidder a ton of money for the exclusivity.

You may even consider buying someone like CDMAEng an all-expenses paid weekend in beautiful San Bernardino and have him look at Verizon’s situation out there, look at your land and let you know if it is just another hunk of land or something very valuable.

[DataAgent]

A friend of mine gets $1500 a month.

Hey… can you repost that pic of you holding your AR15 rifle?

[jpinpb]

Thanks for the feedback. I own the property with 4 other people, so it’s not exactly like winning the lottery, especially once we pay taxes. Still better than a sharp stick in the eye. We are not sure if it’s going to work for them. Still very preliminary. Just trying to figure out if it’s possible, what we should anticipate receiving. I appreciate the input.

[CDMA ENG]

jpinpb…

Send me a PM if you wish. I have some insight into this. Both me and SDDuuuude have a long history in this area. I recently helped out a guy that I surfed with in a similiar situation on a NorCal site. My wife use to be responsible for the site itself… so its a small world.

SDDuuuude was right about all of those factors but if I see some specifics it might clue me in to the sites worth. Usually unless there is something specific attribute about the site there are other candidates so you have to be careful in negotiations or they may select another site.

And just so you know my creditials… I spent over 15 years designing and optimizing cell sites for Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T. I have done some work for VZW as well.

Lastly, while most contracts are only for seven years, or so, I have seen almost no towers decomissioned in my career. In 95 percent of all cases I would say that it is guarnteed income for the next 20 to 30 years. In addition if other carriers join onto the site, which in many cases they will, there could be more revenue sharing.

Regards,

CE

[CA renter]

Just saw this thread…

Woooooo-hoooooo!!!!

Congratulations, jp! Very awesome news! Sometimes, things work out a particular way for a reason. 🙂

I’d definitely hit CE up for his services, too. Sounds like it would be well worth it.

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