Got an Unsolicited Offer?

A letter shows up out of nowhere offering to buy minerals you may have forgotten you owned. Before you sign anything, it's worth knowing whether that number is fair.

Unsolicited mineral offers land in Wyoming mailboxes for a reason — someone pulled county records, found your name on a deed, and decided your interest was worth pursuing. That alone tells you something: whoever sent that letter thinks your minerals are worth the cost of tracking you down and making an offer. The question is whether the number they wrote down reflects real value or the lowest figure they thought you might accept.

We're not going to tell you every mailbox offer is a lowball. Some are reasonable. But you have no way to know which kind you've received without a second opinion, and a landman writing offers at volume has no obligation to tell you if they're leaving money on the table.

Why Companies Send Offers Sight Unseen

Buyers who mail unsolicited offers are typically working from a list — county mineral ownership records, tax rolls, or probate filings — and sending the same offer format to many owners at once. That's an efficient way for them to find sellers, but it also means the offer is often a starting number rather than a carefully researched valuation of your specific tract, formation, and production history.

Some offers are calculated with real data behind them. Others are set low deliberately, on the assumption that a percentage of recipients will sign without checking, and the ones who do sign subsidize the deals that would have been fair anyway. There's no way to tell which type you've received just by reading the letter.

What to Check Before You Sign Anything

Look at whether the letter references your actual production history, lease terms, or just a flat number per net mineral acre with no supporting detail. A real valuation usually explains itself; a mass-mailed offer often doesn't. Also check the deadline — legitimate offers don't usually expire in a way designed to rush you past the point of getting a second opinion.

It's also worth checking whether the offer is for your full interest or a term interest, and whether it includes both mineral and royalty rights or just one. Some unsolicited offers are written in a way that's technically accurate but easy to misread quickly, especially if you're not used to the terminology.

Getting a Competing Number

Send us the same legal description or deed information the other offer references, along with a copy of the letter itself if you're comfortable sharing it. We'll pull the same county records, look at what we know about the play and formation your minerals sit in, and give you our own written offer for comparison.

There's no cost or obligation in getting a second number. If our offer comes in lower, we'll tell you that honestly rather than trying to talk you out of the other one. If it comes in higher, you'll have real leverage either to sell to us or to go back to the original party and ask them to match it.

There's Usually No Real Rush

Most unsolicited offers include a response deadline, but your minerals aren't going anywhere, and a legitimate buyer's interest in them typically doesn't evaporate in a week or two. If a letter is pressuring you to sign fast without time to check the number, that pressure itself is worth being skeptical of.

Take the time to get a comparison. It costs you nothing and a few days' delay, and it's the only way to know whether the offer sitting on your kitchen table is a fair one or a number set low on purpose.

What a Real Second Opinion Looks Like

A credible second opinion should reference your actual acreage, county, and, where it exists, production or lease history, not simply restate a flat per-acre figure back at you. It should also explain the reasoning, so you can judge for yourself whether the logic holds up rather than just comparing two unexplained numbers side by side.

That's the standard we hold ourselves to when we respond to someone who's received an unsolicited offer elsewhere. If we can't beat the number you were sent, we'll tell you plainly instead of manufacturing a competing figure just to win the deal.