Cell Tower Lease Rates – Your Guide To Rent and Land Use What Is A Cell Tower Lease?
Cell tower leases are agreements between companies like AT&T, Verizon & T-Mobile and landowners or organizations allowing tower companies use of land in exchange for rent through a long-term agreement.
The value of these contracts is negotiated before installation, when the lease renews, and during lease buyout discussions.
- Number of cell towers in the US in 2018 – over 338,000
- Average cost of building a cell phone tower – $175,000+
- Average yearly cell phone tower lease rate – $45,000+
- Lowest annual cost to lease a cell tower – $100
- Wireless carriers added over 15,000 cell sites in 2018
How much do cell phone tower leases pay?
As you can see, there are a lot of cell phone towers & sites in use across the US, and the lease rates vary greatly — from well over $45,000 per year to only $100 per year.
5G
How does 5G impact cell tower rent in 2020?
Now is the time to take advantage of the 5G rollout.
Everywhere you look, telecom giants are telling you about their amazing 5G networks and all the great things it can do for you. What they are not telling you is how it will impact leaseholders.
Don’t sign anything until you talk to an expert about your options. Contact us here.
Lease Rate FAQs
Like any basic negotiation, price is determined by supply and demand. Here is what you need to know to make sure you are optimizing the value of your site.
Rent Rates
Permits
Construction Limitations
Other Factors That Influence Rates
Zoning/Permitting Restrictions
Access to Power and Telephone Service
Ground Elevation
Cell Tower Site Alternatives
Why Hire A Consultant To Fight For You?
We have over 50 years of combined experience as insiders at AT&T, Verizon, & T-Mobile.
When you hire us to fight for you, we get results.
- A Better Offer
- Our clients on average get a 305% increase in rent.
- More Money For Years To Come
- We fight for valuable rent increases.
- Protect Your Land & Your Rights
- Many property owners are suprised when they find out how much control they’ve given up on their land.
What We Do For You
Review Your Lease
Evaluate Your Cell Site
Recommend a Strategy
Get You a Better Overall Lease
Free Consultation & Lease Review
We will review your lease or buyout offer for free. If we can help, we will tell you exactly how.
We are the only Accredited firm in the industry (BBB & NASBP Accredited)
We have negotiated over $465,000,000 in cell tower rent.
You deserve to get a fair deal.
We All Had Questions About Cell Tower Leases.
Vertical Consultants Gave Us Answers & Got Results.
Melody Scott
Verizon wanted to put a tower on our land.
Ed Freeman
To my surprise, we were owed money.
Gina Martin
My business needed help with a phone tower lease.
Shanita Johnson
My church got an amazing buyout.
Russel Green
I inherited property with a cell site on it.
Vertical Consultants: “They are your cell tower lease experts.”
Do You See The Difference In These Towers?
It’s the same tower. The only difference is a 300% increase in rent.
The Moral of The Two Towers
Even though things look alike, the difference in results can be huge.
The telecom industry is a multibillion dollar machine & the infrastructure is built on property owners’ land.
Property owners have more leverage than they realize.
If you’re trying to determine value, you may start looking for comparable cell tower lease rates. The problem is that typical cell phone tower lease rates in your area may not matter at all, and could lead you down the wrong path. The reality is that a company may pay more for the use of your land than you think.
They will gladly tell you what they are paying other property owners in your area if it’s beneficial for them to do so, which it often is.
As a property owner, if you rely on figures, like your neighbor’s contract, you may be cheating yourself out of revenue. How? Because relying on “comps” can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In fact, the average lease is underpaid by $852,000!
That’s how we consistently provide 3x more rent for our clients. Talk to us BEFORE you sign anything.
991% Increase in our Cell Tower Rent!
cell-tower-lease★★★★★“Our company, VanBuskirk Properties, owns commercial real estate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We knew we needed…
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– VanBuskirk Properties
Huge Signing Bonus
cell-tower-lease★★★★★“The team at Vertical Consultants negotiated a huge signing bonus for the City of Le Claire. In addition to the …
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– Marcus Crutcher
5.0 rating based on 12,345 ratingsOverall rating: 5 out of 5 based on 3 reviews.
Every cell tower site has a different value. Caleb learned this firsthand.
“Our school district has a cell tower that’s been under lease for a number of years and we recently received an offer to buy that lease for a substantial amount of money.
They compared our tower’s value against other properties in the market, but we weren’t sure they were giving us a fair estimate of our value. Vertical Consultants took over all negotiations and got us a better deal immediately.”
What Is The True Value Of Your Property?
We will not only provide you expert consultation — we will work with you throughout the entire lease transaction, and we only benefit if you benefit. In fact, that’s our motto. We’re that confident in the services we provide.
TELL ME MY PROPERTY’S REAL VALUE
The Art Of The Negotiation
To get the best deal possible, you need to re-think how you view the relationship.
Get the lease you deserve.
As a land owner, you have more power than you realize. Try not to look at this as someone leasing your land. Instead, look at this as a utility lease.
Let’s substitute the name Verizon with the name Exxon.
If Exxon came out to your house & said I’ll give you $500/month for this piece of land & I get to keep all the oil & all of the profits from that oil — you’d laugh & tell them to come back with a real offer. No one agrees to that deal.
The only difference is that oil company is pulling value from under your land, and the cell tower company is pulling value from the sky above.
Don’t Follow The Market. Lead It.
You don’t want to major in the minors, and we don’t want you to get taken advantage of, or settle for a bad deal. You have something they need – your property. The value is on your end, and no matter what they say, you’re in a position of power here.
While it is important to understand how much rent you are going to get paid on day one, it is more important to know how to structure an agreement to make sure you are paid fairly on day two, three and so forth.
Rent is not a financial structure…it is only the result of it.
In 2018, the largest cell tower companies generated an average of over $3 billion each in yearly revenues from subletting properties like yours. As a property owner, you have a choice: be under-compensated for your land or get the cell tower lease you deserve.
A wave has been happening in the industry for years, which is that tower companies rely on lack of information & representation. With the internet, the information is out there in pieces but people don’t know what to do with it. The tower companies also see that information on the internet & they have 10 counters to everything you say.
The key is knowing how to navigate the counters & negotiations.
It’s like my dad used to say, “You can give someone a boat but it doesn’t mean they know how to navigate the ocean.”
We Get Results!
$465,000,000 in Rent Secured for Our Clients
305% Immediate Increase in Rent in 2018
$150,000,000 in Cell Site Buyout Deals Completed
“Vertical Consultants got us 3 times more money.
Not only did we get more income & a good signing bonus, we got a 10 year guaranteed contract.
We got such a better deal than what we would have been able to get ourselves.” Click here to see Juanell’s story.
New
Leases
Has a company like Crown Castle, American Tower, AT&T, Verizon, or SBA contacted you about installing a cell phone site on your roof or grounds?
It can be a wonderfully exciting time after a they contact you and it can also be a little daunting and overwhelming, when looking over the contract they offer and deciding how to negotiate on your property’s behalf.
Sarah has been where you are.
“We were contacted by Branch Towers about placing a tower on our property.”
Sarah’s Results
“We ended up with a brand new lease worth more than double their offer. It includes guaranteed extensions and rent increases and also guarantees that we receive additional rent if they add to the tower.”
Why She Recommends Vertical Consultants
“You need to have someone on your side. Even our tower company, Branch Towers, said it was the best deal anyone had ever made with them.
Hugh was very genuine. Everything they told me has come true.”
Guaranteed Results
Prior to a new tower lease, properties are evaluated for cell site suitability. Then it goes to the acquisition stage, where an agent of the cell tower company will typically have a low-ball starting lease rate in mind that they offer to you, the property owner. The agent works for the cell tower company, and getting the cell tower company the best deal possible – not you – is their top priority.
While our competitors will tell you, “We can’t guarantee that you will get a better lease as a result of using our services” — we can guarantee that you will.
We work on your behalf to make sure that get the best deal possible for now, and for the future of your property.
Get A Free Lease ReviewLearn More About New Leases
Lease
Extension
Only renew a cell tower lease if you have a great extension offer.
Extension requests are offers by cell tower companies to property owners to extend an existing lease by up to 50 additional years.
Signing the wrong deal will mean missed financial opportunity and hazards to you and your property. We’re here to help you get the absolute best deal you can.
Russel got over 300% more rent.
“A money-grabber went out to my grandmother’s property when she was 80-something years old and cut her rent down to half of what she was getting. He threatened she could lose the tower if she didn’t take the reduced rent.
After I inherited the lease, I knew I had to be proactive about getting a better deal.”
Russel’s Results
“We ended up with 3 times more rent and now get a yearly increase. Vertical Consultants also negotiated that if someone else is added to the tower, I get compensated. My grandmother didn’t have that on her lease and missed out on extra income.”
It is crucial that you know the “True Value” of your cell tower before acting.
Our clients averaged an immediate 305% increase in rent last year.
Imagine that for the next 50 years!
Optimizing the value of your lease is the most important thing you can do.
Consider this: If someone knocked on your door today and asked to buy your house, but they only offered you a fraction of its value, how long would you carry on a discussion with them?
This happens every day, but instead of asking you to buy your house, they are asking to extend or buy your cell tower lease.
You would not sell your house without knowing the real value of it, so why would you enter any agreement without knowing what the true value of your cell tower lease really is?
Don’t do a deal just to do a deal, do the right deal.
The renewal needs to be of value to you. Remember, you have something they want; it’s not the other way around.
Get A Free Lease ReviewLearn More About Extensions
Lease
Buyout
A buyout is when a company pays a property owner a lump sum for the right to future rents.
What you, the property owner, need to understand is what the “Real Value” of your cell tower lease is before you agree to any buyout deal. The wrong lease buyout deal can cost you money and possibly devalue your property.
Think about it like this: What is one of the most powerful ways to sell something to someone? You tell them if they don’t do it, they are going to lose something they already have.
We all make poor decisions when we feel like we have to do something. If someone came to your house today & said I’ll pay you 1/10th of the value of it, but you have to act now — would you feel like you have to do it? Only if you had no other options.
Every day around the United States, property owners are contacted by companies leasing their land, or companies looking to buy their lease.
These companies will eventually get to the point in the conversation where they bring up changing technology in the industry, alternative properties they can move the cell tower site to, or even that they just can’t afford the cell site unless you lower rents or sell them the lease.
They are non-discriminatory. They will use the same uncertainty and fear tactics whether you are a large company, small church, or you’re an individual that relies on the cell tower revenue to pay some bills.
They will tell you all that is wrong with your cell tower site, but then let you know that all is not lost – that they are here to save you, even if it costs them.
Our advice – beware of someone holding a match in one hand and a fire hose in the other.
Shanita got a 1200% increase for her church.
“I’m a project manager & I’m very comfortable in negotiations; however, I told the pastor, I would be doing the church a disservice if I tried to negotiate this deal myself. If you can’t do it, you find the expert who can and that was Vertical Consultants.”
Shanita’s Results
“We got 12 times more for our lease. We’re talking about a huge difference.”
Why She Recommend Vertical Consultants
“I recommend Vertical Consultants because of their leadership, expertise, & customer service — and because the results speak for themselves.”
I Have A Cell Tower Lease Buyout Offer, Now What?
The first thing you should ask yourself is: what is your bargaining power? If you are currently leasing space to a cell tower company or cell phone company, more than likely you have been contacted by a private company like: American Tower, Wireless Capital Partners, Unison, AP Wireless, or other similar companies looking to buy your contract.
You are most likely asking yourself, “Why are these companies contacting me?” and “Why won’t they stop calling?” Let us shed some light on that for you.
Get A Free Buyout ReviewLearn More About Buyouts
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Join thousands of clients who have earned over $465,000,000 in rent.