Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by po boy on August 10, 2008 at 14:48

CPA s. Lawyers, Real estate people, all kinds of people are offering to negotiate for groups and individuals. Some are motivated by profit, some by compassion, some on special interests and environmental concerns.
At least the "WE BUY GOLD,SILVER and MINERAL LEASES" signs aren't up at the neighborhood pawn shops-yet.
I have had lease brokers from as far as Washington state and Colorado email me .

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Permalink Reply by Snake Stewart on August 10, 2008 at 16:02

Its still early po boy , not to mention the fact that you just turned a light switch on for some of them in that line of work ! Thanks a heep ! Now I wont be able to look at old lawnmowers, tools and other assorted items without carrying my legal description with me. Have a great one pal (LOL) !

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Permalink Reply by Snake Stewart on August 10, 2008 at 15:04

Hello CSC , Yes ! Everyone from CPA's, CPL's, RN's , Geologists , Lawyers and a partridge in a pear tree.Entrepreneur is the newest catchword I have been hearing around here. Every conceivable angle has and is being used in this play.

Some of the guy's claim to not charge anything yet some of these guy's are flipping the property. Meaning they are selling it outright at a higher amount. Some are taking a percentage of royalty without landowner knowing. They say you get 25% yet the gas company allowed 26% so" Mr. I'm looking out for your best interest " is getting 1% of your royalty for the rest of your life and part of your heir's life as well.

Some are just brazzen enough to tell you they are getting their money upfront.Even if it is an auction and they aren't doing anything but relieving people of their money. They aren't even negotiating. They are handing your info over to someboby who is handing it to somebody else. Sounds tough don't it.

Some of the real guy's are actually working to raise your offers.Even those aren't doing enough to earn my money though. Their are a few out there that I would consider using if I hadn't started this no fee no % group we have. They would have to lower their fee to what Kassi has done. Mr Merrill seems to be doing o.k. in Shreveport but in Heflin he hasn't done my friends any big favors. I think some of thee guy's actually use the areas outside of their sweet spot to raise the prices of the other groups.

I guess thats part of the reason for the response the other day from me about your particular fellow. I knew he was working an area around us and wasn't going to get the same deal for everybody in the group. Even next door neighbors would sign a different lease from each other. Thats just not right in my opinion. Why get in a group if you aren't going after the same thing. Its like herding the sheep to the slaughter. I guess thats why I laugh every time I think of one groups slogan.

Hope this gives you some of the info you were looking for

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Permalink Reply by Caroline B on August 10, 2008 at 15:11

Yes, I think Arnie Castellano, a CPA, was doing this in Blanchard.

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Permalink Reply by louisiana lady on August 10, 2008 at 16:55

I had signed the letter of agreement with Castellano and terminated it through correspondence after my neighbor called his office. Seems they are not honoring the three week turn around on the offer to small landowners. That office is expediating the large tracts first.

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Permalink Reply by Snake Stewart on August 10, 2008 at 17:01

Hey La. Lady , As soon as they get the larger landowners signed they will come back with a smaller offer to others if they come back at all for a while.This is a pattern that they have been using around here with quite a bit of success. After larger owners are gone you don't have any leverage left for smaller tracts.

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Permalink Reply by Kassi on August 11, 2008 at 2:33

You are right in that this is attempted. We agreed, in the Desoto Parish group I am negotiating for, the large land owners in a section to stick with the small land owners. Now most of our 125+ land owners from various sections are small land owners but we have a few large tracts that agreed to surface rights.
The O&G company said no to some of the small land owners unless the large owner came along. Large land owner said no to O&G co unless the small land owners were included. We are in the home stretch of negotiations and plan to sign letters of intent later this week.
The money side of negotiations went relaively quickly. We set a price range we wanted and their offer fell within the range. The environmental and land owner protections is what took a while to hammer out, along with the continuous drilling clause and such.
Our group decided early on we were more concerned about our environment, water and quality of life than driving lease prices up higher. I was surprised at the amount of negotiation involved re, those things.
oh, and just for the record, I am not charging this group anything and while I got the group together and did the negotiating, I consulted an attorney to make sure there are no loopholes. No one should be doing this without the advice of an attorney. There is too much at stake if you get it wrong.

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Permalink Reply by alleyboy on August 13, 2008 at 1:10

Kassi,
You'e my pick for a negotiator/ When you get your present project through, are you considering taking on another person or group?
I went to a meeting last nite. CROSS LAKE HOMEOWNERS ET.AL.
They announced they had an agreement with Twin City for 17,500.00
per acre.It was for sections 1and 2 t17n 15w. All of this acreage
is in the city limits with the exception of 3 acres which I own. I asked the
lawyer(who will receive from this non-profit organization 500 dollars per acre or 300 dollars if less than an acre) if they were including one half the street right of way. He like to have blew a fuse--said they were going strictly by the deed. I tried to interject that it was my opinion that the deed was for surface rights but that the right of way in front of my property was the same as an easement as far as mineral rights were concerned. He said he was the lawyer,
not me. I have done a lot of research concerning riparian rights and as far as I can see, mineral rights extend to the middle of the dedicated right of way in front and to the middle of the stream or bayou or whatever unnavigatable sic. water way in the back.This post should elicit some conversation other than your answer, which I will value a lot. Thanks if you took the time to read this.

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Permalink Reply by smith1 on August 11, 2008 at 1:46

who is this Arnie Castellano or Mr. Merrill with?

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Permalink Reply by Caroline B on August 11, 2008 at 2:15

Arnie Castellano is a self-employed CPA with his own accounting firm.

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Permalink Reply by Kassi on August 11, 2008 at 2:38

This is way to important to use a standard or canned lease. You have to look at the environmental and neighborhood issues. Very different issues in town vs in the country. Different issues between land owners with livestock vs land owners who do not have live stock.

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Permalink Reply by smith1 on August 11, 2008 at 4:40

OK, so is there somewhere we can go that will let us know if these CPA, others have securities licenses, which would prohit these in particular? THank you for your help.

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