Do Wireless Consumer Trust The FCC or FTC?

 

Are Home Buyers Reluctant to Live Cell Towers?

The attitude of homebuyers towards living near cell towers and DAS cell phone antennas can vary. While some homebuyers may have concerns or reservations about living in close proximity to cell towers, others may not view it as a significant issue. 

Here are a few points to consider regarding homebuyers and cell towers:

Safety and Cell Phone Coverage is What Homebuyers Consider Most

Safety and cell phone coverage are indeed two important factors that homebuyers often consider when looking for a new property. 

Buying a Home Next to a DAS Antenna or Cell Tower

DAS Antenna on Utility Pole Next To Homes

If you are buying a home these days you should probably do your due diligence on cell phone towers and DAS antennas that are within a few blocks of your home.   

One of the biggest concerns of a prospective home buyer today is the cell phone reception quality of a home.  Will my new home get a good cell phone signal?  However, most people don't often think of living too close to a DAS antenna on a utility pole (picture above) or a cell phone tower being in their backyard (below).  Here are some articles on cell tower health and safety issues.  Another concern is property values declining near cell phone towers.  

Cell Tower in Back of Home

It is not always transparent if you are new to a neighborhood if there have been historic health and safety issues from a cell phone tower or DAS antenna nearby.  In fact, cell phone companies have dozens of local public relations people on staff to keep the surrounding communities appeased by donating to charities and sponsoring local events.  Public relations is a huge part of trying to squash any negative press or city council issues about putting up new cell phone towers and potential safety issues.  

Deadcellzones.com uses public FCC data sources to map cell phone towers and other unregistered antennas (DAS) in the United States.  The cell phone coverage and cell tower map can be found here.  The map on the left shows dead cell zone complaints and the map on the right show cell phone towers and DAS antennas that have been registered and some unregistered antennas.  The green dots are unregistered antennas and the black dots are cell phone towers.  We do not have all registered & unregistered antennas in this map.  If you see a particular area that you would like us to add unregistered cell phone towers please email us.  

We often get emails from real estate agents looking for data to help their clients better understand what cell phone towers exist in the neighborhood near the home.  This is often true of out of state buyers looking at homes who are unfamiliar with the area.   Homebuyers from out of the area often want to know how the cell phone reception is of a particular home or apartment and don't want to be surprised if a cell phone tower or antenna is hanging on a pole near the house. 

Deadcellzones.com is also actively trying to get cell phone reception feedback used by real estate companies like Zillow, RedFin, HomeSnap & Realtor.com.  We think cell reception and cell tower data should be an attribute used by real estate companies similar to how Walkscore provides information about things nearby a home like schools, restaurants, and parks.  

Most real estate companies have been very reluctant to share this data with prospective home buyers for obvious reasons.  Why would any real estate agent want to give a reason NOT to buy a home?  Hopefully, this culture of dishonesty will change in the near future and this data can provide some transparency.  

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