Every question we get asked —
answered honestly.

Don't sign anything, and don't call the number on the letter — at least not yet. The company that sent it employs trained professionals whose job is to acquire your rights at the lowest number you'll accept. The first offer is almost never the best offer, and there's no deadline pressure that a few days of due diligence won't survive. Call us first. We'll review the offer for free, tell you what it actually says, and tell you honestly whether it's fair.

Yes — this is one of the most common situations we work with. If you own mineral rights and want to understand what they're worth, or you'd like to sell or lease but no one has approached you, we can take your rights to our network of qualified buyers and create a competitive process. You don't need to wait for a letter in your mailbox to find out what your minerals are worth.

Mineral rights and surface rights can be owned separately — many families discover their ancestors sold the minerals decades ago, or that they inherited minerals under land they no longer own. Confirming ownership requires examining the chain of title in county records. Title examination is part of our process; we help clients confirm exactly what they own before any offer is evaluated, so no one is surprised at closing.

You're not alone — a large share of mineral owners inherited their rights and have never dealt with oil and gas companies before. Start by gathering whatever documents you have: deeds, old leases, royalty statements, or letters from operators. Then talk to us. We'll help you confirm what you own, whether any old leases still encumber it, what it's likely worth, and what your options are. There's no cost and no obligation for that conversation.

Artificial deadlines are one of the oldest tactics in the industry. If a buyer genuinely wants your minerals today, they will still want them in two weeks — and if the offer truly disappears, that tells you it wasn't a serious offer. No legitimate deal is lost by taking the time to have the offer reviewed by someone on your side.

Nothing upfront — ever. We charge a 10% fee that is paid at closing by the buyer or operator, not by you. There are no retainers, no hourly rates, and no charges if no deal closes. If we don't close a deal you're happy with, nobody owes anything.

Because our fee only exists if you say yes — and you only say yes to a deal that's better than what you started with. Our entire model depends on negotiating your deal up: the better your outcome, the better ours. In every closed case, our clients walked away with significantly more than the original offer even after the fee was paid. We never buy minerals ourselves and never represent buyers or operators, so there is no competing interest.

Step one: we talk — by phone, video, or in person if you're in western Pennsylvania. Step two: we assess what you own and what any offer on the table actually means, and give you our honest read. Step three: we go to work — negotiating terms, reviewing every clause, and taking your rights to our buyer network to create competition. Step four: you decide. We bring you the best available deal and you accept it or walk away. Most negotiations take two to eight weeks.

No. Once we represent you, every call, email, and negotiation goes through us. You don't take a single call from operators or buyers unless you want to. We bring you decisions, not phone calls.

Never. You make every decision — that's the foundation of how we work. We negotiate the best terms available, present them to you plainly, and tell you what we think. Then you say yes or no. If you walk away, you owe nothing.

Yes. We're based in western Pennsylvania and know the Marcellus and Utica formations deeply, but we represent mineral owners in all major producing basins — West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, and beyond.

Royalty rates typically range from 12.5% to 25% depending on the region, formation, and competition in your area. The standard lease most operators send starts at 12.5% to 15% — because most landowners sign it without negotiating. We routinely secure 18% to 20% or higher. Just as important as the rate is whether post-production deductions are excluded: an 18% royalty with unlimited deductions can pay less than 15% with none.

The bonus is the upfront, per-acre cash payment you receive when you sign a lease — paid whether or not a well is ever drilled. It's the only guaranteed money in a lease, and operators routinely open at a fraction of what the market supports. Fair bonus values vary enormously by county and formation; in one recent transaction we moved a landowner's bonus from $3,500 to $6,000 per acre. Never accept the opening number without knowing what comparable deals in your area have paid.

They're costs the operator subtracts from your royalty check — gathering, compression, processing, transportation, treating. Unlimited deduction language can quietly reduce your royalty income by 20% to 40%. It's often the single most expensive clause in a lease, and it's written to be easy to miss. We fight to have deductions excluded from the royalty calculation entirely, or strictly capped and defined.

A Pugh clause releases acreage that isn't part of a producing unit when the primary term ends. Without one, an operator can drill a single well touching a corner of your property and hold every acre you own — indefinitely — while you collect nothing on the rest and can't lease it to anyone else. We consider a meaningful Pugh clause, including depth limitations, one of the highest-value protections in any lease.

Shorter is better for you. Operators typically ask for five years, often with an automatic extension option that effectively doubles it. Every extra year is a year your minerals are locked up at today's prices even if the market improves. We push for three-year terms and the removal of automatic extensions wherever the market supports it.

Under most standard leases — yes, broadly. Roads, pipelines, equipment, water use, sometimes even timber. If you live on or farm your land, surface-use language matters enormously. We negotiate restrictions: written notice requirements, defined disturbance areas, reclamation obligations, and compensation for damages.

Sometimes, yes. Old leases expire, get held by questionable production claims, or contain terms operators fail to honor. We can review whether your lease is actually still valid, whether you're being paid correctly under it, and whether expiring acreage creates a chance to renegotiate. Royalty audits regularly find owners being underpaid without knowing it.

It depends on your situation. Leasing keeps ownership in your family — you collect a bonus now and royalties if production happens, and the asset passes to your heirs. Selling converts an uncertain future income stream into guaranteed cash today. Neither is universally right: it depends on your financial needs, the development outlook in your area, and your tolerance for waiting. We'll walk through both paths with real numbers so you can decide with clear eyes.

The honest answer: you can't know from one offer. Value depends on your county, formation, nearby drilling activity, existing production, and — more than anything — competition among buyers. The buyer who mailed you a letter knows exactly what your minerals are worth to them; their offer tells you the floor, not the ceiling. We establish real value by taking your rights to hundreds of qualified buyers and letting the market answer.

Because they know they're your only offer — and they price accordingly. One buyer negotiating against nobody has no reason to pay market value. In one of our cases, a couple had a $3,200-per-acre mailbox offer they thought was reasonable; our competitive process closed at $5,800. Competition, not negotiation skill alone, is what moves the price.

Selling minerals transfers the underlying ownership — permanently, including the right to lease and all future income. Selling a royalty interest (or part of one) transfers a slice of the income stream while you may retain the underlying rights. Buyers sometimes blur this distinction, and some offer instruments like overriding royalty interests that evaporate when a lease expires. We make sure you know exactly what you're being asked to give up before anything is signed.

Yes. Partial sales are common — sell half, keep half, and you get cash today while retaining upside if development comes. Minerals can also be divided by formation depth or by tract. Structuring a partial sale well takes care, but it's often the answer for families torn between cash now and legacy later.

Once you accept an offer, the buyer conducts title verification — typically two to six weeks — then funds are exchanged for a signed mineral deed, usually through an escrow or title process. We manage the closing alongside you, review the conveyance documents, and make sure the deed transfers exactly what was agreed — nothing more. Our fee is paid by the buyer at closing; the purchase price shown in your agreement is what you receive.

You may be right. Underpayment is common — through aggressive post-production deductions, incorrect decimal interests, wrong unit allocations, or simple accounting errors that never get caught because most owners can't decode their statements. We audit royalty statements line by line against the lease terms, and when we find discrepancies we pursue correction and back payment.

A division order states your decimal share of production revenue from a well. It's generally routine — but verify the decimal before signing, because an error costs you money on every check for the life of the well. A division order also cannot legally change the terms of your lease, though poorly worded ones sometimes try. Have it checked; it takes us minutes.

Common causes: the well was shut in, production naturally declined, prices dropped, the operator changed hands and payments fell into suspense, or a title question froze your account. Some of these are legitimate; some are not. If payments stopped and nobody told you why, that's worth investigating — funds held in suspense are recoverable, and a shut-in that drags on may mean the lease itself has expired.

Yes — bonuses and royalties are taxable income, and mineral sales are typically treated as capital gains, which often makes a sale more tax-efficient than the equivalent income stream. States also levy severance or impact fees that appear on your statements. We're not tax advisors and will always tell you to confirm with yours, but we'll make sure you understand the structure of what you're receiving so your CPA has what they need.

We're advisors and negotiators, not a law firm — and the two work together. Our team includes legal resources for document review, and for certain transactions we'll recommend independent counsel and work alongside them. What we bring that most attorneys don't is market knowledge: what bonuses and royalties are actually closing in your county, which buyers are serious, and which clauses the market will bear removing.

A lease is 'held by production' (HBP) when a producing well extends the lease beyond its primary term — potentially forever, as long as production continues in paying quantities. Combined with a lease that lacks a Pugh clause, HBP is how one well from decades ago can still control every acre a family owns. Whether production is genuinely in 'paying quantities' is also contestable — marginal wells are sometimes kept barely alive purely to hold acreage.

It depends on your lease and your state. Most modern leases grant pooling authority, and some states have forced-pooling statutes that can include you under certain conditions. What you can control is the lease language before signing: maximum unit sizes, consent requirements, anti-dilution protections, and royalty treatment inside the unit. After signing, your leverage shrinks dramatically — which is why pooling clauses deserve attention up front.

They pass through your estate like any real property — by will, trust, or intestacy. Unmanaged, mineral interests fragment across generations until dozens of heirs each own slivers too small to negotiate well. If your minerals have real value, they belong in your estate planning: deeds properly recorded, ownership consolidated or clearly documented, and heirs told what exists. We regularly help families untangle inherited interests; it's far cheaper to organize them while the current generation is alive.

Take their card, be polite, and don't sign anything. A landman is a professional lease negotiator working for the operator — friendly, knowledgeable, and paid to secure your signature on their paper at their price. The pressure to answer quickly is a tactic, not a real constraint. Call us; we'll deal with them from that point on. It's what we do every day.