Mineral rights properties have been a hot topic nowadays. It has been an interesting investment for real estate investors since last year but it has only begun to boom in the real estate market now. Let’s look more closely at the nature of mineral rights and mineral lease transactions.

Purchasing mineral rights isn’t as simple as buying a house or a car. When buying mineral rights, the energy/mining company has to get a mining permit and organize everyone’s schedule to commence operation on the property.

This is if the buyer wants to remove and make use of the minerals, of course. There are buyers who just prefer to invest in the property. The investment would include the plan to sell that property to energy/mining companies themselves.

Mineral Rights and Surface Rights

Mineral rights are different from surface rights. Surface rights only focus on the properties (buildings, landmarks, etc.) that is at the surface of the property. Mineral rights, on the other hand, refer to the energy or minerals that are present under the property. This would explain why we can have a surface rights owner and a different mineral rights owner.

Naturally, we can expect that there would be disagreements between the mineral rights owner and the surface rights owner. These would most often come out during the extraction of the minerals, and most of the time it is the surface rights owner who gets inconvenienced. Disagreements like these can be cleared up by looking back to the mineral rights agreement, or the mineral lease agreement. When it is written that the mineral rights owner has the right to operate mineral extraction any time he/she wants, then there is nothing that the surface rights owner can do. This is the reason why written agreements and contracts should be kept and valued. Legal assistance is always a big help, especially when it comes to mineral rights leasing.

Surface rights owners, and surface rights buyers, should also take a look at the mineral rights agreement. You may not be directly involved in the transaction of the mineral rights of your property. But you are still a part of that property and there may be certain things you need to prepare yourself for (like the extraction of the minerals at an inconvenient time).

Seek legal assistance when you are going to buy a property that may have mineral rights attached to it. Copies of mineral rights transactions are normally kept at a government office if you cannot find the original ones. Buyers should always ask what rights are included in the sale of a property. You can ask your lawyer to research on the property you want to buy and the extent of the ownership being offered to you. A lawyer’s assistance is important especially if you’re dealing with a property that has historic mineral activity and potential mining activity.

State and Local Laws

Most states have laws and regulations pertaining to mineral rights ownership, transactions, and extraction. There are laws and regulations that emphasizes the limitations of a mining company’s actions during extraction, for example. These laws are put down to help protect the environment and the parties involved. Both the mineral rights owner and the surface rights owner should be aware of these laws to avoid future problems and disagreements. To make matter clearer for both parties, lawyers and legal assistance should be present.

Obviously, mineral rights and mineral rights transactions are a very complex situation. They require a lot of research, a lot of counsel, and a lot of effort, time, and money. The most important thing to remember is to always ask about the rights and seek legal assistance.

Many people don’t really give a thought if there is anything valuable underneath the surface of a property. Most of us would only look at the exterior part of the property and the land, but not really what’s beneath it. Well, you just might have to, especially when you’re buying a property in a place where minerals and resources are abundant. In this case you have to buy the land with the mineral rights.

Check first whether the property you’re buying really does have mineral deposits underneath. You can ask for help from a local geology surveyor for this. You can ask around real estate agents, developers, or lawyers for any recommended surveyor.

Local and state laws regarding mineral rights are usually the same in many states. But it won’t hurt to check just to make sure. The state you’re in may have different definitions and elements for mineral rights purchase and extraction. Ask help from the local land commission or a real estate lawyer you know in the area.

When creating the contract for the purchase of the land and the mineral rights, it is important to write down the minerals included in the purchase. Include the sub-surface extractions and clear up any issues regarding the price of the mineral rights.

Now the seller might want to keep some of the minerals of the property. In order to obtain all the mineral rights, you’ll have to negotiate the price of the mineral upward. You should define the minerals and rights included in the transaction clearly to avoid future disputes.

One important thing to remember when doing a deal with a property with mineral rights is to always seek counsel from a real estate lawyer. Have your contract looked over and checked before finally agreeing to the deal. Buying land with mineral rights, after all, have great advantages for you as the buyer and you’ll need to make sure that the mineral rights are yours.

While it is important to hear every word of what your client says, it is also important to only focus on the words that will be beneficial for you. This means considering some details of what your client said while automatically dismissing some of it. We call this selective hearing, where we just take in what we want to hear and ignore those we don’t want.

• Your greeting should not go like you are promoting your company. For instance, do not go answering your calls with “Good morning. Thank you for calling Real Estate Company.” Homeowners feel more comfortable sharing their home troubles with individuals, not companies. The proper greeting should go like “Good morning. Real Estate, this is Name speaking.” Your greeting should be more on a personal level to get the sellers to be comfortable with you.
• Get right on the point of how you can help the seller. He or she called for your help, after all.
• There are some homeowners who would want to ask you for information first before going unto the problem. Be patient with them and be courteous. These homeowners may feel upset about having to sell their property and may also not like to trust you. Concentrate on building trust between the two of you and there is a possibility that he or she may warm up to you about their real estate problem.
• Take down some personal information about the homeowners. You will be able to see whether or not the homeowner will face a possible foreclosure or not. They may also share that they are behind bills and loans. You might be able to help them in a different way with these information. For instance, you might be able to help the sellers better by offering to work with their lenders and avoid foreclosures.
• Ask if you could take a look at their property on the same day they called. This will show the homeowners your dedication and sincerity in helping them. Negotiations and talks may also go more smoothly when you are talking face to face and not over the phone. There is also the danger of losing the seller to other investors if you postpone looking at the property on another day and the homeowners are in need of immediate action.

It all goes down to getting that first phone call right. When you have successfully communicated to the homeowners and they warmed up to you, then that real estate deal is yours.

A successful real estate investor would naturally equate to having lots of successful real estated deals. A real estate deal is not considered to be successful if it isn’t completed and you’ve gained a promising profit. What does one have to do to garner successful real estate deals?

The 6 Steps

1. Find Motivated Sellers

Motivated sellers are a very huge part of a successful real estate deal. Without them, you wouldn’t even have a deal. Motivated sellers are especially preferred rather than the unmotivated ones since you’re probably not going to have a very successful negotiation with an unmotivated client.

Motivated sellers can come to you themselves. But most of the time it’ll be you who has to find and target them. Building your own prospective sellers list can do wonders for your real estate career.

2. Is It a Good or Bad Deal?

The next thing you have to look up when you’ve found a motivated seller is whether or not the property serves as a good or bad deal. Knowing if a deal is good or bad is critical. Bad deals have a way of sticking as bad deals. As much as possible, study and analyze the property and determine whether you can successfully invest in it.

When you’ve found that you’ve entered into a bad deal, renegotiate and immediately get off the deal. Getting out of it as soon as possible will help you cut back on losses in money and time. This is better than losing more in the future.

3. Clarify Your Goal: What To Do With the Property

Goal-setting is simple, but important, in real estate deals. What is your goal with the property? Why invest in it? Your answer should be obvious and easy: it’s either to make long-term equity or short-term profit. Either one is the correct answer. Either one will result to you making the most out of this deal.

4. Back End Strategy: How To Get Rid Of the Property

The back end strategy is something that every real estate deal will go through. How will you get rid of the property? How will you profit from it? Are you going to buy and flip it? Or buy and hold it? Are you going to lease or rent it? Any way it goes, just remember to think about your back end strategy before making an offer int eh negotiations.

5. Prepare a Back Up Plan

Some real estate investors don’t prepare a back up plan. It may not even be needed. But having a back up plan would help lighten things up when your original plan goes amok. Bear in mind that even experienced real estate investors make mistakes. For example, the property might not be sold as soon as you’d like. You’d be forced to extend and incur more expenses. Getting a back up plan to counter or adjust to the changes would be a really good boost.

6. Financing

Never get financing out of your system. This is huge part of your business and career, after all. Once you’ve made sure that the property is a good deal, and after you’ve made plans on what to do with the property, it is time to dig in with papers and numbers.

Budgeting, forecasting, and planning will be critical for the development of the deal. You have to make out an offer wherein you can get the property as cheap as possible, and sell it as quick as possible. If you’re going to hold on to the property a bit longer, or if you see that the property needs remodeling or refurnishing, you need to make a strict budget on the expenses and costs. Forecasting your ROI and profitability may also help you determine which course or strategy to take to come up with the highest income.

In real estate, contracts are a must. But what can sometimes be surprising is that despite the fact that it is a common requirement for deals and investments, only a little of it is understood. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter if you’re beginner or an expert in real estate investing. You have to be equipped with contracts when working on your deals.

As real estate contracts are based on common law principles, it is naturally important that real estate investors understand the general flow of contract law: offer, counteroffer, and then acceptance. Although there are some differences in the contract law of each state, generally all contracts come down to a center point: mutual agreement between the parties.

Basically, the contract is initially drafted and serves as the “offer.” If the seller wants to add to the contract (another condition or a clause), then the seller is making his counteroffer. If the seller agrees to the terms of the contract, then there is “acceptance.” The result would be a mutual agreement between the two parties, making the contract binding.

Unilateral and Bilateral Contracts

A real estate contract can either be unilateral or bilateral depending on the kind of deal you’re making. If you are involved with a sales deal, for example, the contract would have to be bilateral. This means that it’s a two-way agreement wherein the seller agrees to sell and the buyer agrees to buy. The bilateral contract is most often used in real estate, since almost all the deals require the assent of both parties.

If you’re involved with options, however, a unilateral agreement is appropriate since in this kind of deal the seller is obligated to sell but the buyer is not obligated to buy.

Basic Requirements Of a Contract

Each state has its own standards and criteria for the real estate contracts. But all contracts more or less have most legal requirements in common.

Written and In Print: Verbal agreement is not enough when it comes to real estate deals. Real estate contracts have to be in writing for it to be enforceable.

Identification of Both Parties: The contract must clearly state the identification of both parties. It may not be really legally required, but full names and middle initials helps to avoid possible mistaken identities or misunderstandings.

The Property: The property to be sold and bought should of course be written down, along with a legal description and location.

Purchase Price: The purchase price of the property must also be written in the contract. If the purchase price has not yet been determined, you can state a reasonably ascertainable figure in the contract.

Mutual Assent: Mutual agreement is the most important criteria in a contract to be binding. This is especially important as almost all real estate contracts are bilateral and can only be enforced with both the parties’ agreement.

Signatures: For the contract to be enforceable, it has to be signed by both parties. The law requires both parties signing to be of legal sound and mind, of course. A facsimile signature is acceptable as long as it is stated in the contract that facsimile signatures are valid.

Consideration: Consideration is what induces a promise. It is something of value or interest bargained for in exchange of the property. It binds a contract and makes the contract enforceable. The amount won’t really matter, as long as there is a consideration. Money is the most common form of consideration, but another property, a promise to perform, or something else in value is acceptable.