It usually starts the same way: an official-looking letter, a company name you've never heard of, and a dollar figure that's hard to ignore. Maybe it offers to buy your mineral rights outright. Maybe it's a lease with a signing bonus. Either way, someone you've never met has decided your minerals are worth pursuing — and that's the single most important piece of information in the entire envelope.
Companies don't spend money mailing offers for worthless minerals. If you got a letter, your rights have value — almost certainly more than the number printed on it.
Step 1: Don't call the number on the letter
The person who answers is a trained professional whose job is to acquire your rights at the lowest price you'll accept. Anything you tell them — that you're retired, that you have medical bills, that you didn't know you owned minerals — becomes negotiating information used against you. There will be time to talk to them later, through someone on your side.
Step 2: Ignore the deadline
Most offer letters include an expiration date: "valid for 15 days," "must respond by the 30th." This is a pressure tactic, not a real constraint. A buyer who genuinely wants your minerals this month will still want them next month. If an offer truly vanishes because you took two weeks to do due diligence, it was never a serious offer. No good deal dies from a careful review.
Step 3: Figure out what you actually own
Before you can judge any offer, you need to know what's on the table: how many net acres, whether an old lease still burdens the property, whether there's production nearby, and whether the minerals were ever severed from the surface. Gather what you have — deeds, old leases, royalty statements, tax records. If the picture is murky (it often is, especially with inherited minerals), a title review sorts it out before anyone negotiates anything.
Step 4: Understand what kind of offer it is
The letter is one of a few standard plays, and each has its own traps:
- —A purchase offer — they want to own your minerals forever. The first number is the floor of what they'd pay, not the ceiling. Only competition among buyers reveals the real value.
- —A lease offer — a signing bonus plus a royalty. The bonus gets your attention; the clauses do the damage. Watch for unlimited post-production deductions, missing Pugh clauses, and automatic extension options.
- —A "top lease" or renewal — a sign your existing lease is expiring and your acreage is back in demand. That's leverage, if you use it.
- —A division order or amendment — looks routine, but verify the decimal before signing anything. Errors cost you on every check for the life of the well.
Step 5: Get the offer reviewed by someone on your side — for free
A real estate agent wouldn't let you sell your house to the first person who slipped a note under your door. Mineral rights deserve the same representation. We review offers and leases at no cost: what the document actually says, what comparable deals in your county have paid, and whether the number is fair. If you decide to move forward, our fee is paid at closing by the buyer — never by you. And if you walk away, you owe nothing.
The one sentence to remember — the one we've built our whole firm around: call us before you sign anything.
Have an offer or a lease in front of you?
We'll review it for free and tell you the truth about it. No upfront cost — our fee is paid at closing by the buyer, never by you.