Buying land but no mineral rights and multiple easements

[Adrian Enriquez]

Hello, I am interested in buying land in linden,Tx, it was bought by a nonprofit, and I am a 7th day adventist christian and the seller bought 100k acres to build a christian community and selling land to those interested whether it's 1,2,5,10,20 acres. But he mentioned that theres no mineral rights and multiple easements. I have been very confused on the issue of mineral rights. I am looking to buy 2-5 acres from him. But I am concerned of corporations coming and causing disruption and ruining the land. He does say we have surface rights. Thank you in advance.

[Bruce Lynn]

It is normal in Texas that you don't get the mineral rights, so that is probably not an issue.

East Texas is mostly vertical wells, but technology does allow in the right situations now to drill something like 2 miles sideways, so if they ever drill under your land, you might not even see a rig, hear it, or know they're drilling under you.

Easements can also be a normal part of transactions....utility easements for example are common.   If it is a road easement going across your property, that might be something else.  So you have to find out what they are, where they are, etc.  Could keep you from building permanent structures.

Overall I don't like the sound of this.   Lots of restrictions and challenges...perhaps....and maybe lots of expenses.  Are roads put in, utilities put in.    On deals like this I consider it more of a donation than an investment.   If you want to resale at a future date, who is your buyer?  Is the community big enough that there will be a big enough market among your group to resale to other members?   This might be less of a business transaction an more of an emotional/spiritual transaction.

Who profits from the sale?  The church or the individual selling the property?   There are plenty of examples where these were not good ideas for investment.