Communication Tower Site on my Property?

[MossRoad]

For you view lovers, God help you if they ever put up a wind farm near you. There's a wind farm about 90 miles south of here with something like 1500 turbines. Each one has a red light on top and ALL of them are synchronized to flash at the same time. Imagine seeing 1500 red lights as far as the eye can see, on........off.......on........off........on.......off all night long. And they all twinkle at varying speeds depending on the wind and how often the blades pass while they're on.

 

[Industrial Toys]

For what it's worth. ISPs around here rarely give more than free high speed service for the host of the tower site. And, YOU pay the power bill which in my way of thinking, they play down and underestimate. If they have to put up a small tower for 30G, there isn't much money left for paying rent.

The one provider I spoke with was going to use my 80' tower and building located at a good high elevation. They were going to provide me and my neighbor with high speed service. When I suggested that only I get high speed, plus fifty bucks a month, and there was a reasonable out clause in the contract, I never heard from them again!

Also, they did not think access was a problem, but I thought, I would be clearing snow on the steep road to the tower every so often.

But like I said, Cellular is different.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Industrial Toys may have been referring to this video I came across a few weeks ago. I know you can't believe everything you read on the net but if true, it's scary. Look here :
TURN OFF YOUR WIFI ROUTER BEFORE BED! - YouTube. This will lead to other related videos.
Al

That video is a conspiracy theory. Not true IMO. A router is very low power. The only way to get hurt by RF is to have enough power to actually heat your tissues.

 

[NorTracNY]

Greater than $1000/month. Leases are generally 20years plus. Lease payment increases 3%+ each year. Some leases will pay money for each antennae they put on the tower. Make sure you understand with the lawyer what they are allowed and not allowed to do. What options exist at the end of the lease? Are there additional taxes that you need them to cover. Lots of questions....

Also, if you do go ahead with the tower understand that you will start to get letters and phone calls. They are worth a lot of money (~$300 to 500K NPV). Therefore other companies will try to buy up your lease. They will scare you into believing that some new technology will make most towers in your area obsolete. They will off you $100K cash up front to buy the lease.

 

[joecoin]

I own a commercial property in a small town 10 miles from home. I leased the back corner of that property to a cell phone company starting in 2005 or so. They paid me a lot more than the $250/month you have been offered. A lot more. Like 10 times as much. They paid me for three years before turning a shovel of dirt.

They finally built the tower. Two years ago the original company sold all their cell sites to another company. (I think it's some sort of corporation shell game, but that's beside the point). The new company wanted to renegotiate. Long story short, we took a lump sum buyout granting them a permanent lease. I'll never see another dime from them. However, it was like winning the lottery. Let me assure you, there is a LOT of money in cellular communication.

I retired last year at the age of 59.


My understanding is that rural areas don't pay as well as urban areas. But I think you can shake them down for more.

 

[Industrial Toys]

We have not established the kind of service and scope of tower yet.

I wonder if you have to pay commercial property tax on that portion? You may have liability insurance, but is that good for people crossing your land to fulfill a commercial enterprise?

 

[Fuddy1952]

That video is a conspiracy theory. Not true IMO. A router is very low power. The only way to get hurt by RF is to have enough power to actually heat your tissues.

I had an aunt who was a three pack a day smoker, and overweight, lived to be 86.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I had a step dad who smoked and drank and died of throat cancer at 63. Just nicely into his retirement.

 

[bigtiller]

Yes, these are things NOT specified in the exploratory letter. They would ALL have to be answered for sure.

And yes, it's a peaceful picturesque place. There's a microwave tower about a half mile away on AT&T property, about 3 acres... and I appreciate that it affords me good cell and data service with AT&T only... but having a nasty tower right by the house would be a big deal breaker.

Good things for me to think about, gentlemen. Thank you.

You might want to reexamine that. If it is a deal breaker for you, it may not be for your neighbor and you will still have to look at it.

I have a cell tower on my land. I learned that by the time they contacted me, they had already hired a company to run tests to find where a tower would give them their biggest bang for their dollar.

 

[George2615]

Going price out here is about $1500 a month.

Same price here, around $1500 a month. We have 5 sites on a building roof at work. Building is only about 100' tall but from the roof there is a view of about 30-40 miles in any direction.