Sounds like they are prepared to play "hardball"! Why not, they've already bought most of the judges and most mineral owners are a "bunch of dumb country hicks" that don't matter anyway.
Sounds like you have a fun activity ahead.
i have already spoke with Mcfarland in Austin. I think i will let him handle it for me... We will see what happens.
Allen in Hallettesville said could handle as well. They want 5% of gross collected...Mcfarland works at $250 an hour.
I'm sure McFarland is one of the best: however, last simmer I was needing some superior help when I was working on an oil lease. Since I had talked to McFarland a few years ago before joining the TLMA, I called him and one of his lieutenants returned the call. I already had an excellent lease developed so I wanted their help refining my personal lease as well as looking at one that that most of the oil companies were accepting. Quite honestly I got next to nothing. The young lieutenant only charged $250/hour and didn't spend but two hours and told me the lease that the oil companies were accepting was about as good as I could expect. Told him thank you and paid the bill and learned a lesson. By the way McFarland personally charges $450/hour, at least that was what I was told. I'm sure he is a good choice' but, I would contact Judan Fambrough at the Texas A & M Real Estate Center if you can get hold of him for a short chat.
http://recenter.tamu.edu/staff/jfambrough/
Again, I will say good luck.
It doesn’t cost anything to read Eric Camp’s Article about Pipeline Negotiation. I believe his article covers the subject. See-- http://un-naturalgas.org/EricCampsPipeLineNegotiation.pdf
Free useful information is also in an article in a journal of the Texas Land and Mineral Owners Association (TLMA). See--http://www.livestockweekly.com/papers/12/11/01/whl1tlmapipelinemyths.asp
Also, I have been told that the first things to do are 1.) Be guarded in first contact with a right-of-way agent. Say as little as possible and don’t discuss money. 2.) Hire a specialist. There are many things to negotiate.
Note that not all pipeline companies have gone to the trouble and difficulty to get power of eminent domain. When they have eminent domain, they usually prefer to negotiate first and avoid condemnation and the bad publicity and public outrage it can generate.
Consider talking with R. D. ‘Buddy’ Cotten, a landman with over 40 years experience. He has dealt with this subject. He is not a lawyer, but has helped me a lot. I believe his current charge is $80 per hour after a retainer of $200.
Finally, gather a lot of information and rely on your own judgment, not the things we on this forum tell you.
BigD, After further thought, I believe you would do well to at least talk to R.D. ‘Buddy’ Cotten. He is a great negotiator and has handled pipeline problems for years. He is usually pretty busy. If he doesn’t respond or answer immediately, leave him a message.
It is really important to negotiate a term on the easement so you have the opportunity to get renewals or get the thing removed at some point. Also, you want to provide for surface damages when they go ind have to repair it. Just a couple of points among many. I have seen alot of companies accept an addendum which overrides many of the overbroad parts of the form easement they present. Also, I have not seen right of way agents, generally, be as aggressive as landmen in pushing back on contract changes.
I’ve been contacted by a land man from Geo Southern to lease property outside of La Grange off 609. Anyone know about this new interest in leasing?
I've also been recently contacted by a land man representing Geo Southern. the offer that they made was what I considered to be a low ball and the contract is pretty standard and in favor of the lessee. I was able to get the bonus and kicker amounts up a little.
What was offer & what did you end up with?
I haven’t returned their phone call/email yet. I was surprised by that their contact & wanted to check out what other people were doing!
Just FYI… Been contacted by 2 companies with lease offers of $200 & $400…
What are the companies?
For what it is worth - I am sure that various brokers are monitoring these sites. If you don't want your conversations to be public and seen by everyone, you may want to "friend" individuals and talk in private
Rock Man:
You are totally correct. Plus I haven't heard royalty percentage even mentioned as well as a bunch of other extremely important lease elements. This is no secret; but, I would like to add one additional point. Whatever the bonus is, it is nothing compared to a decent mineral friendly lease and right now they know they are in the drivers seat.
The good news is that leasing is happening again!! Lots of factors to consider when evaluating the bonus, but I contacted landman/brokers in the area just a few weeks ago, and no leasing, but told if oil prices stabilize, leasing may start, so my curiosity is peeked and thank you all for the information!
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