“Plummeting real estate values” is the key word in all of this.”
Perhaps- but they have it backwards. Wherever mineral rights exist, the values will go up.
Yep. A co-worker has had some undeveloped land in the boonies for 30 years, paying taxed for it for that long. Now they have an offer for so much an acre for rights to drill, plus revenue sharing if energy is found. $86,000 isn’t a bad chunk of change.