1. Your lease
2. The offer and your tax
Result
Questions people ask
Should I accept a lump-sum offer for my cell tower lease?
This tool does not tell you to. It shows what the offer is worth against the rent you would otherwise collect: the present value of that rent at your own discount rate, the annual return the buyer earns at the offered price, and the same comparison after tax. An offer that implies a buyer return well above what you could earn elsewhere is paying you less than the stream is worth to you.
What is the implied return on a tower lease buyout?
It is the discount rate at which the rent you would give up is worth exactly the offer, an internal rate of return. A buyer paying $330,000 for $543,000 of discounted rent is earning that gap. The higher it is, the cheaper the buyer is getting your income. Compare it with what the money could earn if you kept it.
Why does the tool ask about colocation?
Towers usually gain carriers over time, and many leases pay the landowner more when they do. A buyer prices that in; an offer built only on today's rent ignores it. The tool shows the value and the implied return with and without the extra carriers so you can see how much of the price rests on tenants that have not signed.
What does tenant-exit chance mean?
The yearly probability that the carrier stops paying, through lease termination, tower decommissioning or consolidation. It shrinks the expected rent each year. Zero is a tower that never leaves; a few percent is a more cautious view. The grid shows how much the answer moves.
Can I sell only part of the lease term?
Yes. Many offers buy the rent for a fixed number of years, then return it to you. Enter the years the offer buys; the tool values the years you sell and, separately, the years you keep.
How is tax handled?
You type a rate for the lump sum, applied to the offer minus your basis, and a rate for ordinary rent. It is a rough comparison only. Whether a buyout is a sale, an easement or ordinary income depends on its structure, so confirm with a tax professional before signing anything.
Is this legal, tax or financial advice?
No. It is arithmetic on numbers you type in, with simplified assumptions: yearly end-of-year payments, a constant escalator and a constant exit chance. Read your lease and any proposed contract with a real estate attorney, and check your lease for rights of first refusal and assignment clauses.
Not decided
Whether your lease allows assignment or has a right of first refusal, how the buyout is structured (sale, easement or assignment) and how it is taxed, what the right discount rate is for you, whether the tower will be decommissioned, any carrier consent needed, and whether to sell at all. Payments are modelled once a year at year end with a constant escalator and a constant exit chance.
Related tools: the mobile home park valuation calculator the farmland lease calculator and the mineral rights offer calculator for other land-income decisions.