I have 80ac 17mi west of Jal on Hwy 128. (S14 T24S R34E) It is currently leased, has a well and is producing. Recently I have gotten some inquires about purchasing 5 or more ac of the surface only, no rights to mineral. This property has about 830 feet of highway frontage and that is the part of interest to the buyers. Been told the potential buyer wants it to use for their trucking co. that is related to servicing the oil fields in the area.
Not sure how to value the property and if I do sell if I need to do anything concerning water rights (which I don't believe have ever been applied for on my property) and if I have to worry about adverse possession of my remaining property since I live out of state and rarely (never) visit the property and would be easy for the new owner to 'expand' their acreage that they use.
I know this is off topic.... but I figure other owners may have some experience with this.
I had a similar situation with 40ac we own jointly with the state of Texas. Gentleman wanted to purchase the 40 ac. I told him we could not sell the surface, because we would lose 1/2 the minerals we had, because we have to manage the surface to get 1/2 the mineral. It had quite a lot of Road Frontage, and the buyer came at me saying he thought $1500 was quite abit for road frontage. There had been no sales in the last 6 years there so there were no comparable properties to compare with. I made him 99 year lease opportunity, but he declined.
Check and see if there are any sales to compare with. Hire a realtor or Attorney in area to make sure new owner stays in his property lines.
Sincerely,
Chris a Wilson
Yeah and also remember surface damages that you'd get paid for if you get some kind of action related to drilling on your lands. It's a hot, getting hotter area. I haven't noticed a slow down yet in SENM, but definitely have in North Dakota. For what it's worth, the supply/demand ratio mid and long-term, in an overall economic sense, still supports a demand-heavy imbalance if one does the math. The only thing that threatens the higher prices I expect (towards $80) would be new technology, and it's far from an imminent threat.
Anyway, if you lease you assume a decent amount of liability for what he does there. Surely you can find previous deals by making note of similar companies and looking at courthouse documents, then find an affordable attorney in Hobbs to get you through it properly, these technical questions will be best answered by a professional. Pass along some or all of that cost to your buyer and get a deal done.
I've got some good land contacts in SENM/West Texas if you need 'em.