# State owns mineral rights?



## ATB (Feb 17, 2006)

I've been looking for acreage for 5 years now, (glad I held out!) and was going to go look at a piece near Mio. Its surrounded by state land(which I am not crazy about) and the State owns the mineral rights. 

IS that a big deal? Dont bother looking?

I am buying for recreation, building a off grid 1 room sleep area, hunting and solitude not mineral exploration. I wouldnt want loud pumps on the acreage and I think they could do that with the rights.

Thanks, for your thoughts
Andrew


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## WoW (Oct 26, 2010)

How/when did the State acquire mineral rights and has there ever been exploration?


Bottom line, I wouldn't worry about it.


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## ATB (Feb 17, 2006)

Further research the state sold them to a company in 91 and they have a pump on the adjoining 31 acres to the east.


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## Michael Wagner (Jul 17, 2007)

I bought my property in 1981 and the mineral rights are owned by Shell, Saling/Hansen, I was young and had no clue about them, I just signed on the line and owned deer hunting property. It`s been no problem for us, back in the late 80`s they did size magraph tests, I think thats what it`s called they dug holes, set off charges and recorded the shock waves and found nothing but the neighbors property across the street, one morning 3 semi`s with 2 dozers and a crane showed up and leveled about 10 acres, built a drilling rig, pumped for 8 months packed up and left him a big dirt field that to this day is just sand and weeds. They do have to pay you for what they do to your property, they run a pipeline across about a 25' corner of ours and we got a check for $350.00, but you have no choice in what they do since you don`t own the rights. Things may be different with other companies this is just my experience. 
Mike


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## WoW (Oct 26, 2010)

check it out....it is worth reading. TWICE


http://michigan.gov/documents/deq/ogs-oilandgas-mineral-rights_257977_7.pdf


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## bucko12pt (Dec 9, 2004)

If the state owns the mineral rights, there really is'nt anything you can do, so I would make your decision based on that fact. Given it is in the Mio area, there is 
probably a decent chance they could drill there in the future. Depending on where the property is around Mio there could be either oil or gas exploration, although there has'nt been a lot of oil exploration around there for a number of years. More likely if there was any drilling it would be gas.

If they do drill, they must pay you for surface damages
and some of the drilling companies will work with you to a degree as to well and road locations.


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## basshunter125 (Mar 31, 2011)

We owned 10 acres in grayling for hunting but we didn't have mineral rights one year they found oil on the property and threw up a ton of pumps that scared away the deer...... It really sucks we had to sell it had a ton of nice deer


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

Right now, the focus for most of the natural gas and oil companies in northern Michigan is the new technology that has allowed them to begin drilling deep underground for Utica/Collingwood natural gas reserves. The Utica/Collingwood reef extends in a fan like manner from down near Big Rapids to the northeast, and encompasses most of northeastern Michigan. 

So, although there may not be anything going on now, or in the past, that doesn't mean that it couldn't in the future if you are located within the Utica/Collingwood area. The DEQ has maps on their website of the extent of the reef. 

I don't know about the Utica pumps, but the normal shallow well pumps are not audible at all these days...the processors built every couple of miles aren't real loud, either, but you can hear a steady hum from them most of the time. That's another possibility if you are surrounded by state land and exploration/development increases in your area-that you may have a processor right next to you...

Those pads take up 3-5 acres of surface...much larger than the shallow well pads we've seen until now. So, it may be something you may want to consider before you buy...if you can hurry up and build on it as soon as you buy it, that would prevent a pad from being constructed within a certain distance of the building, but wouldn't prevent them from developing your surface land entirely...do lots of research on this before you make the decision to buy.


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## NATTY BUMPO (May 12, 2001)

I wouldnt buy a recreational property of any kind unless *all* of the mineral rights were included with the deed to the land. I know of too many horror stories out there re mineral rights owned by someone else. 

Caveat emptor.......


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## bucko12pt (Dec 9, 2004)

NATTY BUMPO said:


> I wouldnt buy a recreational property of any kind unless *all* of the mineral rights were included with the deed to the land. I know of too many horror stories out there re mineral rights owned by someone else.
> 
> Caveat emptor.......


How about if the land did'nt include the mineral rights, but was priced at $ 192 per acre and in NWLP? That's what we paid in 1993 for our camp property. Would that sway your decision at all? We talked about the mineral rights at the time, but the price of the land made the decision for us.

May not be prices out there like that today, but there are some pretty attractive prices on some parcels that might make me ignore the mineral rights if they were'nt included.


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## WoW (Oct 26, 2010)

bucko12pt said:


> May not be prices out there like that today, but there are some pretty attractive prices on some parcels that might make me ignore the mineral rights if they were'nt included.


Excellent point!!!


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## NATTY BUMPO (May 12, 2001)

bucko12pt said:


> How about if the land did'nt include the mineral rights, but was priced at $ 192 per acre and in NWLP? That's what we paid in 1993 for our camp property.


I'll buy all the good hunting land you can find me at $192 an acre. Mineral rights or not.

We bot our property 10 years ago and looked and walked something like 40 parcels before handing over the cash. It took a little more time and effort to find the right land.

I know a guy who bot a real nice 40, built a beauty of a log home on it too. Didnt think too much about the mineral rights. Life was good until one fine day a D-8 Cat showed up and started building a road 50 ft from his garage. The wife went nuts and called the sheriff. There was absolutely nothing they could do.:rant: The oil/gas companies have much deeper pockets than we do.

The oil company put in a road right down the middle of the property and plunked down a gas well. When the road, construction and drilling went in, the deer and turkeys left. And never came back. They come and go, 24/7/365. This is in the middle of the Antrim shale development area.

Their dream home/ hunting property turned into a nightmare. Just sayin........

NB


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## bucko12pt (Dec 9, 2004)

I doubt it happened exactly that way. We were approached last summer by a drilling company and told they might be drilling on our parcel. The guy from the drilling Co. was more than willing to work with us on where the well would be located.....................within reason. I'm sure your friends were contacted by the contractor before they showed up with a D-8 and began construction of the drilling pad. 

I would be a bit more careful and probably would only buy land with mineral rights if I was going to live on it, as opposed to it being used for recreation.


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## Zorba (Jan 24, 2007)

I found that if property ever went back to the state for unpaid taxes or something like that the state will keep the mineral rights.

So i would say the property went back to the state at one time. I own a piece that the state owns the mineral rights to, and it hasn't been a problem to me.


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## Michael Wagner (Jul 17, 2007)

[*QUOTE=bucko12pt;3613167]I doubt it happened exactly that way. We were approached last summer by a drilling company and told they might be drilling on our parcel. The guy from the drilling Co. was more than willing to work with us on where the well would be* located.....................within reason. I'm sure your friends were contacted by the contractor before they showed up with a D-8 and began construction of the drilling pad. 

Agreed, we have 5 letters from 5 times they have done anything on our property, all with the engineers name and ph.# and told to call with any questions. When they run the pipe line across our corner the guy met us 2 times and they cleared an extra spot for a turn around for our driveway. Would I buy again with knowing what I do now about mineral rights? After seeing what they did to our neighbors property, probly not but we have been lucky as of now.


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

They don't necessarily need to set up on you land.
Sophisticated technology can get there from quite a distance and you'll never know.

Our 600 acre Association had sold a substantial oil/gas lease option to a private company in the 80's, it expired in the 90's.
They never drilled or explored, didn't renew, so that was that.

We abut State land on two sides, North and East.
Lo and behold about 4 years ago, we heard heavy equipment to the East all summer and fall.
They cut off about 5-6 acres of trees, dozed a larger road and started drilling...about 1/2 mile from us.
Talking with the driller, we found out they can drill down, then off to many sides for long distances.
Supposedly they tapped into seams of gas all around the area including under our two lakes.

Now that work is done, just a capped pipe or two it looks like, they left & closed off the road, planted rye and other grasses, volunteer saplings are now growing in the clearing.

Every so often we see a DNR truck parked on a berm in the evening, catching shiners sneaking back to that clearing for the numerous Deer now in the area. Great hunting for those that live on that side and can walk over from their back door.


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

bucko12pt said:


> How about if the land did'nt include the mineral rights, but was priced at $ 192 per acre and in NWLP? That's what we paid in 1993 for our camp property. Would that sway your decision at all? We talked about the mineral rights at the time, but the price of the land made the decision for us.
> 
> May not be prices out there like that today, but there are some pretty attractive prices on some parcels that might make me ignore the mineral rights if they were'nt included.


Must have been the Packaging Corp of America?
They liquidated a couple hundred parcels, of all different acreages, for $175.00 to $350.00 per acre around that time.
We looked at about 10 places including along the Betsie.
We found a good one on the river, about 75 acres, but they wanted cash and we were out bid.

5-6 years ago that same parcel was broken up into 10 acre sections and were selling for $18,000 to $25,000 each...nice investment, mineral rights or not.


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

Zorba said:


> I found that if property ever went back to the state for unpaid taxes or something like that the state will keep the mineral rights.
> 
> So i would say the property went back to the state at one time. I own a piece that the state owns the mineral rights to, and it hasn't been a problem to me.


Same here...got a few at tax sales.

If the state ever took it over for taxes they also own any aboriginal or Indian
Artifacts and fossils also. You just acquired surface rights only.
If you go to dig a foundation, a pond or basement and find something like that, they may cause headaches if the find is substantial...


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## bucko12pt (Dec 9, 2004)

jimp said:


> Must have been the Packaging Corp of America?
> They liquidated a couple hundred parcels, of all different acreages, for $175.00 to $350.00 per acre around that time.
> We looked at about 10 places including along the Betsie.
> We found a good one on the river, about 75 acres, but they wanted cash and we were out bid.
> ...


Yes it was. We made them a cheap offer and they took it.......................on a land contract. We paid it off in two years.

Heard later that the bean counters that made the decision to sell all the properties, lost their jobs.

Not surprised!!


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

bucko12pt said:


> Yes it was. We made them a cheap offer and they took it.......................on a land contract. We paid it off in two years.
> 
> Heard later that the bean counters that made the decision to sell all the properties, lost their jobs.
> 
> Not surprised!!


Congratulations, a once in _SEVERAL_ lifetime's deal.
I think a realtor named Moellar ran all the sales, our offer of $18K on a contract almost flew until another one came in something like $24K, cash.


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