Texas houses and mineral rights

[James Lee]

Hello BP! Long time lurker first time poster, I love you all for all the things I've learned from this community over these months, but now I need your help. We are buying a first home near the Austin area of Texas, found a house we love, but hit a snag: the mineral rights do not convey because the sellers don't own them. According to the agent, this is fairly common and nothing to worry about. A Google search paints a nightmare scenario where mineral rights owners can come in whenever they want and dig up your land and don't even need to fix it afterwards as long as you can't prove negligence. This is a rural property if that makes a difference.

How much should I care about mineral rights ownership? The property comes with quite a bit of acreage so a large part of the value is in the land. Should I be worried that some day an oil company will come in and start drilling in my back yard? Should we walk away from this one and find a house that does come with mineral rights? Or is this much ado about nothing?

Experienced Texas investors... help!