Mineral Rights (Euless: foreclosure, mortgage, attorneys)

[DFF]

Minerals in Tarrant County are getting a lot of attention. The reason is that some estimate the value to be over $1million per acre. Since land sells for under $20,000 per acre, buy all you can. See my findings at enjoy it!.

[Rhody]

A company has approached us to sell our mineral rights (we don't own the land, just the mineral rights) for $400 per acre. This land is located in Ward Co., TX. Does anyone know if this is a good deal? We're tempted to wait and see what happens, but have no idea of what is going on in Ward Co. Any input appreciated!

[MichelleY]

Rhody,

It all depends on the area and how much the company thinks they can get from that particular piece of land. I know here in Keller, the last big lease deal that was done was $20k per acre. I don't know much about the mineral rights in Ward County though.

[loves2read]

buying land does not automatically guarantee you buy mineral rights--most people now are not selling mineral rights when they sell land--

[I <3 Texas]

Originally Posted by i_catch_tree_bass

While I realize this isn't particularly helpful, I would suggest that if you don't know, you probably don't own them. My anecdotal knowledge seems to indicate that most individuals own only the surface rights to their property, not the mineral rights.

WRONG!!

We had no idea if we owned ours or not when Chesapeake came calling. I took our papers up to the title company where we signed our papers five years ago. They were well schooled in this question and in 30 seconds flipped through and showed me exactly where we DO own our mineral rights.

We sign tomorrow!

[gbandit70]

I live in Keller Texas since we bought our home (brand new construction) in 2006. Our homeowner's association just negotiated a contract with signing bonuses of $20K per acre and a 25% royalty for mineral rights owners.

The bad news is I received an automated mass email from the Homeowners' association (after XTO Energy did research) that I do not own the mineral rights. They sent the email to all the affected homeowners.

However, I have reviewed my title documents signed during closing and I see nothing about mineral rights nor do I see any conveyances of the mineral rights.

We were originally told during beginning of Gas negotiations that any bonus would amount to a couple hundred dollars. I didn't give it a second thought. But, now they come back with 20K! This is a significant chunk of cash up front and a nice royalty %.

So, to make a long story short, do the closing documents that I signed need to be clear about mineral rights, or is non-disclosure a confirmation that the purchaser retains the rights or does not retain them?

I could make my way down to city hall next week, possibly, but I wonder if anyone else has similar experience, or if there is any particular wording in the title that would give me clarity.

[lonestar2007]

You need to go to the courthouse and trace it back to be sure or else call one of the oil companies, XTO, etc. They have guys who do nothing but check this stuff. Your paperwork is not reliable for an answer to your question. There is nothing on my deed about minerals rights. When I bought my land in Burleson 18 years ago, I told the real estate agent (actually owner/broker) Rob Orr, who is now our representative in congress that I did not buy land without the mineral rights. He assured me I had them (His stepfather had bought the land to resale it, Orr was in on the orginal deal there). I said well make sure and later he assured me again I had them. I told him to put it in the contract, which he did and his stepfather and wife and I signed, so I have it in writing on my contract I have the minerals. I do not have the minerals. The man they (Orr and his stepfather got the land from) reserved them and just months later when Orr sold the prperty to me, I guess he 'forgot' all about that! Whew, got to watch those real estate guys! Anyway, the courthouse is the place to find your answer.

[loves2read]

to the poster asking about SELLING mineral rights--DO NOT SELL mineral rights--
oil/gas companies LEASE mineral rights to drill wells--and then if they do not drill/find oil/gas within the time frame of the lease it expires and you are free to lease to another company if anyone wants it
but DO NOT SELL your mineral rights--once sold, you get nothing from any oil/gas activity

[Ådvenio_Nobis]

The issue of holding mineral rights when selling a property is a tough one. It is possible to exclude mineral rights from the sale even if you don't own them, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But this is probably happening more often than we know. And as many have pointed out, knowing for certain whether or not you own them is not always straightforward. In fact, it's usually NOT straightforward. Just because some gas company has sent a letter offering to pay you royalties is NO guarantee that you actually own those mineral rights.

There have been cases where sellers and buyers have gotten into heated negotiations about who will keep the minerals... only later to discover that the seller didn't own them in the first place. And there are no doubt sellers who have lost buyers, or received a lesser offer, because they've withheld the mineral rights. Again, only to discover later (or maybe not discover) that they never owned those rights they were holding so dearly. Even if the seller DOES own the rights that they exclude, there's no 100% guarantee that they'll ever see royalties.

This can be a very tricky issue. Very tricky. Especially when the market is not the best. I know a homeowner in Southlake who moved across country last year and has had his home on the market for almost nine months now. He's holding onto his mineral rights for dear life... but at what price? He's already paid nine mortgage payments on a vacant $650K home. Would the home have sold more quickly if he included the minerals? Perhaps. Does he even own the rights he's holding onto? Perhaps not. If he does own the rights, will the city ever approve drilling within range of his neighborhood? No one knows yet. The only thing certain right now is the home has been on the market much longer than the average.

If there's gas being pumped from under your land now and you're receiving checks... then keeping those rights probably makes quite a bit of sense. On the other hand, if you can't afford to hold your home for an extra two or three or six months in a buyer's market, then maybe those mineral rights, especially if in the future, are not worth holding after all.

[pagb2018]

We just signed with Devon and were given a draft. We were told that it gives them time to do a thorough search. They didn't even know that we had information about 1/2 mineral rights belonging to someone from 1960. We only knew about it because it is stated in our title insurance policy. At first they were going to give us full bonus. Since we have to wait for 30 days in order for draft to clear, we didn't want to have to wait another 30 days for another draft to clear. Now we are wondering if we will even get the 1/2 mineral rights! Has anyone had this same problem?