Got an Unsolicited Offer?

A letter shows up offering to buy your mineral rights, with a deadline printed at the bottom and a check enclosed. That deadline is a negotiating tactic, not a real constraint on your timeline.

Unsolicited mineral rights offers follow a predictable pattern: a flat number, sometimes attached to an actual check meant to create a sense that the deal is already done, a short acceptance window, and very little explanation of how the number was reached. Some of these offers are fair. Many are priced against the seller's likely lack of comparison, not against what the interest is actually worth given nearby activity.

We'd genuinely rather be your second call than your only call. Send us the offer letter along with your division order or deed, and we'll tell you plainly whether the number looks reasonable for your county and interest type, whether it's light, or whether the buyer is working from information you don't have, like a permit filed nearby that hasn't hit the news yet.

Why the deadline on the letter usually isn't real

A mineral interest doesn't expire, and neither does a legitimate buyer's interest in it. The ten-day or thirty-day acceptance window printed on most mailbox offers exists to prevent you from shopping the number, not because market conditions are about to change that fast. If a buyer's price genuinely reflects the interest's value, it should hold up whether you sign today or three weeks from now after getting a second opinion.

We treat any deadline on someone else's offer as information about their negotiating posture, not as a constraint on yours, and we'll say so directly if we think you're being rushed.

What actually moves the number

Buyers who send blanket mailers to a whole county are often pricing off average activity across that county rather than what's happening on your specific section or unit. A permit filed on an offset tract, a recent well completion nearby, or an operator's public statements about expanding development in your area can all justify a materially different number than a generic county-wide offer reflects. We check recent filings and nearby activity specific to your legal description before we tell you whether an offer looks fair, rather than quoting off a countywide average.

The interest type matters too. A flat per-acre offer that doesn't distinguish between a mineral interest with full executive rights and a bare royalty interest with none is a sign the offer wasn't underwritten to your specific deed language, and that's worth knowing before you sign.

What we'll tell you, even if we don't buy it ourselves

If we look at your offer and think it's fair for the county and interest type, we'll tell you that, even though it means we're not the one closing the deal. If we think it's light, we'll explain specifically why, usually tied to activity we can point to rather than a gut feeling. And if we think we can beat it, we'll say what we can offer and let you compare the two side by side. Either way you walk away from the conversation with more information than the original letter gave you.

Enclosed checks and 'negotiable instrument' clauses

Some offers arrive with an actual check attached, and the fine print states that cashing it constitutes acceptance of the sale terms printed on the back. Read that language carefully before depositing anything, because in many states it can function as a binding acceptance the moment the check clears your bank, regardless of whether you meant to accept the underlying deal. If you're not ready to sell at the stated terms, don't deposit the check, and don't assume you can negotiate after the fact just because you haven't signed a separate document.