Satellite versus Cable at your Minnesota Investment Property

It is that age old argument, satellite versus cable. Not as old as Coke versus Pepsi or McDonald’s versus Burger King,

but it does come up. As a landlord, your goal is to protect your asset; your Investment Property. While cable can add unsightly black cables running up the outside walls of your property, it is generally benign. Satellite dishes, conversely typically need to be (or want to be) mounted higher up on the wall or roof for best reception. This is where you as the investment property owner need to take control and set a policy. Installed incorrectly, they can lead to water penetration and damage by penetrating the weather-proofing of the building on the walls or roof.

Here are some recommendations about how to handle the inevitable requests (in order of most control to least control):

Just say no. Absolutely no satellite dishes on my building or property.
Install a 6×6 post in the ground at least 5 feet away from your building in the correct location where a satellite dish would need to be mounted. Then require that all dish installs be to that post. This keeps the dish (and the installer) from damaging your building or compromising the integrity of the weather-proofing of the building.
Meet each installer at the building and instruct them where to install the dish and then inspect their work when completed.
Allow the dishes to be mounted only on the wood trim of the walls of the building, never on the roof.
Have a roofing company install one dish base per apartment in the building on the roof and require the installer to use that base.
Lastly, let them do whatever they want and take your chances.

Whichever path you chose above, I would also have a logical plan for how the cabling connects the dish to the TV. Over the years, the cable installers have made a couple of my investment properties look like it had vines growing on it because of the amount of cable wires going every which way. Take control and set a path up front to enter the building and units.

Allowing the tenants to have satellite is not a requirement; it is a luxury. It is should always require your permission and be done to your specification. Thinking through this process now will help you protect your asset; your investment property.

By the way, click on the picture and see if you can count how many satellite dishes this 4-plex has on it!

Have you always wanted to buy investment property, but never knew where to start? Don’t Wait! Get Started now.

6 comments

#1Property Investments TipsApril 16, 2008, 5:23 am

I am shocked to see that satellite and cable will damage the weather-proofing of the building on the walls or roof, Many of us neglect little things like which results in damage of the property.

#2John GallApril 16, 2008, 8:48 am

One downside of Satellite vs Cable is that with Cable you enter the residence one point and can split off internally. With a dish you generally have to make a one to one connection with each receiver so instead of a single wire entering you have a wire per room unless you thought ahead and wired internally but most homes wont’ be like that. I have a property with wires poking into the siding in each room that is serviced. It’s not horrible looking but cable would have been preferable.

#3TerryApril 16, 2008, 4:08 pm

Love these types of “lessons learned” posts. Nothing like the school of hard knocks to teach these lessons that you never see published in a book anywhere. You would think that with the power of the internet, we would never repeat a mistake someone else had made. Not so!

Keep posting this type of practical and usable information.

#4Larry TeienDecember 9, 2008, 5:12 pm

Dear Scott: You offer landlords practical suggestions but you have two important errors in item 1 and paragraph 2 beneath item 6. The FCC does not allow landlords or association boards to prohibit satellite TV dishes and if they refuse, they – not the tenant or owner – must sue the FCC to seek relief. Please see http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html. Minn. statute 238 also establishes communications competition.

#5Scott FicekDecember 10, 2008, 10:28 pm

Larry Teien »
Thanks for the clarification. I see you work for Comcast. I am curious if you have seen buildings or associations prohibit dishes and if so, did anyone sue?

#6kenglishMarch 1, 2009, 10:41 am

Ten dishes, and every one of them is pointed at the same satellite!
A REAL installer, not a “guy with a ladder and a truck”, could have wired the whole place up with one dish, an OTA TV antenna (with FM radio, too), and a well-hidden set of multi-switches. Proper wiring channels, painted to match the building, would have made a nice installation. And, new customers would just require a couple of added cables.

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