I attended a meeting last night presented by Denny Reedy of Fortress Management LLC. He wants to help the Steeplechase neighborhood negotiate a deal for the price of 4% of leasing bonuses. Most of the audience seemed to want to jump on the deal, but I'm hesitant. He indicated his company negotiated the Evangel deal for over $10,000/acre and just recently signed the deal for Greenwood, getting between $18,000-$20,000/acre. Both deals were for 3 years with no options. He did not mention any other groups that they are working with, but his website (
www.fortressmanagementllc.com) shows multiple groups he is working with. He stressed the fact that they are now obtaining bids from not 2, but 4 major oil companies; therefore, they are getting top dollar for the leases.
When questioned about how much time it takes to get your money, Mr. Reedy indicated that they stipulated 90 days in the Evangel leases, but now are using a 45-day period in their leases. I think most of the audience were seeing dollar signs in a short time and want to proceed.
I understand that there is more money to be offered if you go with a group. Also, you get a better price if you get bids from multiple companies. So why shouldn't we get more companies like Fortress to bid on our group? Does anyone have an opinion or information regarding a better "middleman" to make our deal with the oil company?
Today, I heard that one of the landowners that was included in the "Evangel deal" had received a lease that had different terms than what was originally agreed upon through Fortress. That landownder has not signed yet because of this problem. Could this be one of those "bait and switch" leases?
I'm having a hard time following the discussions here, so please feel free to send comments to me at sissy6206@yahoo.com. Please put "Shale" in the subject line.
I appreciate any help or comments.