I live on a ridge and that's the first question I asked. The seller pointed to a healthy pine tree some 50 feet tall, so it seems, about 100 feet away and said,

I live on a ridge and that's the first question I asked. The seller pointed to a healthy pine tree some 50 feet tall, so it seems, about 100 feet away and said, no need. There are a couple more near it, unscathed, and in my time here, the nearest hit, by the 5 second rule, has been 2 miles away. 5280 ft/mile / 1100 ft/second -- 5 seconds per mile, lightning to thunder. I would still consider it, but since the ground under the house is mostly quartz rock, I wonder about the grounding.