ShreveportTiger07

To me it depends on the location of the land, and what the highest and best use of it would be.

If you intend to build a house on it one day, a trailer or something else that could easily be removed seems to be the only option to me.

Buying a house could make sense if you either a) plan to live in it for the next 5-7 years, b) have a realistic plan for renting it at a decent return, or c) some combo of the two. I'm 25 and just bought a house that I live in. I plan to be here for at least 2 more years, probably more, so it made sense. However, you really need to hold a house for about 7 years or else the transaction costs will eat up your return from equity/appreciation. If I have to move out of the area I can easily rent to college or grad students. My mortgage is 900/month and rent in the neighborhood is 1500/month so the value made sense as well,

It's probably too late to buy BH except as a defensive play. However, Buffet's investment philosophy and strategy are still solid gold IMO. His performance has dwindled with time as the sheer enormity of his cash position has anchored his returns. Still the greatest investor who ever lived.

If you're bullish on natural gas, Encana (ECA) or Devon (DVN) would both be good picks, with encana offering more risk/reward.

I've worked as a landman/abstractor, so I've dealt with both issues multiple times.

Taxes

You probably are thinking of the city taxes. Mortgage companies/banks that pay the property taxes will usually pay the parish taxes, but may not have agreed to pay the city taxes.

Or, there may have been some sort of error by the assessor or bank. You may have gotten a duplicate city tax notice, the assessor may have sent the notice to the wrong place, or the city may not have been notified that municipal taxes should go to the bank.

Regardless, you need to follow up with whomever sent you this notice to verify what it is, and if it has been sent to your mortgage company also. Then, you should check with your mortgage company to clarify who is responsible for paying. If this ball gets dropped, you get stiff penalties on your taxes.

Title

It's situational.

Obviously houses in older neighborhoods that have had multiple owners will probably not have complicated title issues, and so 32 years would be plenty far.

Other tracts with fewer conveyances (and therefore fewer title inspections) may have uncured defects that need to be addressed.

When I did mineral title, it was different as well. At the leasing stage we would go about 15 years before the last date of production (when prescription runs), so we could lease as fast as possible in the land grab. After everything was leased in an area we often went back to the patent from US, and always got a full title chain on a drillsite. The risk is too great not to have complete title on a piece of property sitting on top of your $10MM well.

You wouldn't believe how much curative work got done as a result of old title, especially in TX where there's no mineral prescription. I've heard of people having to track down owners based on 1890s deeds.

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If you have a signed and recorded lease, her estate may still be responsible for the remainder of the lease

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Reminds me of a law school contracts exam question from LSU a few years ago.

An author sends the Unibomber a letter offering to do his biography for free if Uni would grant him exclusive access.

The Unibomber sends a letter back that says "I accept." He encloses a bomb with the letter, which promptly explodes and kills the author when he opens the envelope.

The Unibomber sues author's estate, claiming his failure to write the bio was a breach of contract.

The fact that this is hysterical to me is proof that law school turns you crazy.

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Depending on income level, the tax exposure can suck, but the profits are solid.

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I'm doing this in my Roth, so the only downside is the $10 per trade cost. It's a nice scenario when your stock goes down for no good reason, you buy, then it goes up for no good reason, and you sell, just before it goes back down again...

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"write covered calls"



I grind it out and I make a ridiculous return. It's like stealing

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Can you explain this?

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You might see a $5K debt go to sheriff sale, but it's dangerous to deal in that because the debtor has like 6 months to pay it off

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That is very similar to Texas's Tax Sale process, which is facilitated by a Sheriff. When people don't pay taxes the Sheriff auctions a lien for the delinquent amount or higher.

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RedStickBR

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Thanks for that overview. Your strategy of looking for the "perfect storm" approach for the upside makes a lot of sense.

From the downside, I can see how opportunity cost is the real issue: you can't be riding a wave when you're stuck in a great stock that's irrationally depressed by the industry.

High: Dress clothes. I don't need Gucci everything, but looking sharply dressed is important to me. I've done the Jos A Bank thing and had all my suits fall apart for the last time.

Low: Household items. For the most part, if I don't already have it then I don't need it.

Forgive the ignorance, but do the day-to-day or even month-to-month market vicissitudes really matter? If you focus on the fundamentals and value of the specific investment you're making the broader market should matter THAT much unless it sinks your investment.

I've come to understand that the only thing to worry about is when the market is cheap, because it causes favorable inefficiencies in price.

Thanks in advance for the input.

Mail it to her office from your home.

In my opinion, there is never a time where a thank-you is cheesy unless it is insincere.

Ok here are the basics of Louisiana pooling and unitization:

When an oil company wants to drill for oil under land, they naturally drain oil/gas from neighboring tracts even though the well is next door. This happens even if they drill vertically only. So, neighboring mineral owners rightly expect to be compensated for their share of the minerals extracted.

To address this need, Louisiana "pools" all the minerals in a given area into one Unit. The area, especially with Haynesville wells, is typically a 640 acre (1 square mile) block called a section.

So if XYZ company drills a well on a 40 acre tract in that unit, everyone in that unit is entitled to their pro rata share of the costs and revenues. If you own 320 acres of minerals, you are entitled to 50% (320/640) of the costs and 50% of the revenues, even if someone else drills the well.

Since the costs of a Haynesville well are $8-$10 million, most people choose to lease their rights to a company in exchange for a flat dollar amount (called a bonus) and a percentage of their pro rata share of the royalty.

So if you have 320 acres and you lease with a 25% royalty you are now entitled to 25% of 50% of the revenues and little to no costs.

If you lease to someone and they're not the company drilling (called the operator), you are still entitled to royalties just as if you leased to the operator. The leasing company either sold the lease to the operator or has put up the pro rata share of the costs themselves.

Bottom line is this: if you leased your 35 acres at 25% Royalty and there is a producing well you are entitled to 25% of 5.5% (35/640) of the royalty, or a net 1.36% of everything that comes out of the ground - give or take some taxes and costs if applicable.

I doubt the well is currently making 28 mmcf. That was likely where it started, but these wells taper off a good bit. I have royalty in a well in the same area that came on at 18 mmcf in December and is now pretty steady at 6 mmcf a day.