Got an Unsolicited Offer?

An envelope shows up offering to buy minerals you'd nearly forgotten you owned, and the honest question isn't whether to trust it, it's whether the number inside is even in the right neighborhood.

Mailbox offers on mineral interests are a real business, not automatically a scam, but the number on the page is written by someone who wants to buy low, same as any other buyer would. That's not sinister, it's just the incentive built into the letter. The problem is most owners have no way to check that number against anything, since they don't have another royalty check to compare it to and don't know what similar interests nearby have sold for.

The royalty desk has reviewed plenty of these letters for owners over the years, and the pattern is consistent: some are close to fair market value, some are well below it, and almost none of them explain how the number was calculated. That last part is what you should be asking about before you do anything else.

Why buyers mail these offers in the first place

Companies that send unsolicited mineral offers are usually working from county deed records, cross-referenced against operator production data, targeting owners in areas with active drilling. They're playing a numbers game, sending out volume with the expectation that some percentage of recipients will accept without shopping the offer around. That's a legitimate business model, but it means the first number offered is rarely the best number available.

It also means the letter often arrives with real urgency language, deadlines, 'this offer expires,' pressure to respond quickly, designed to keep you from comparing it against anything else before deciding.

Reading the offer for what it actually pays

Look for what the offer is actually based on: does it reference your specific well or lease, your decimal interest, and recent production, or is it a generic form letter with blanks filled in? An offer grounded in your actual production history is worth taking seriously. A generic offer with no specifics is a starting point at best, not a real valuation.

Also check whether the offer covers all of your interest or just a portion, since some letters are deliberately vague about exactly what's being purchased until you call in, at which point the terms can shift.

Getting a real number to compare it against

The only way to know if an unsolicited offer is fair is to get at least one independent quote based on your actual check history or division order. That quote should reference the same production data the original offer claims to be based on, which lets you compare apples to apples instead of guessing. If a second buyer's number lands meaningfully higher on the same underlying production, you've learned something real about the first offer.

There's no obligation to respond to an unsolicited letter on any particular timeline, regardless of what the deadline language says. Taking a week or two to get a second opinion costs you nothing and tells you exactly what you're dealing with.

What to do if the offer turns out to be fair

Not every unsolicited offer is a lowball. Some buyers mail competitive numbers precisely because they know owners are increasingly likely to shop the offer around, and a fair first offer saves everyone time. If a second quote comes back close to the original number, that's a reasonably strong sign the first offer was already priced fairly.

Either way, read the actual purchase and sale agreement carefully before signing, checking exactly what interest, well, and county it covers, since the specifics in the contract matter more than anything printed in the original letter.