DR Horton is the nation’s largest homebuilder but that’s not enough success for them. They also want to be in the oil and gas business. When you buy a DR Horton home, you have to sign away your rights to any minerals under the home.
Texas-based D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest homebuilder, is then transferring those exploration rights en masse to its subsidiary, DRH Energy.
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The terms give DRH Energy, also based in Texas, “the perpetual right to drill, mine, explore … and remove any of the subsurface resources on or from the property by any means whatsoever,” according to property deeds filed in Chatham, Wake and Durham counties.
In an article published today in The Durham News, New homes sold without underground rights spur fracking fears, we learn that you better find a buyer with a bunch of cash if you want to sell a DR Horton home.
For the D.R. Horton homes, however, the problem may go beyond perceptions. Those homes, stripped of their exploration rights, could be harder to refinance and resell because some lenders won’t back a mortgage for a property that doesn’t come with “mineral rights,” the legal term for the right to mine, drill and explore beneath a property.
The State Employees Credit Union is among those that won’t underwrite homes without mineral rights “because of the potential danger” of property damage, water contamination and other risks that could cause property values to sink, said Spencer Scarboro, SECU’s senior vice president of loan originations.
“We’re putting our branches on notice to be looking for it anytime where D.R. Horton is the seller,” Scarboro said. “It’s just a small little blurb in the contract. It’s easily missed if you’re not looking for it.”
UPDATE: Some additional and stunning information regarding DR Horton in the Barnett Shale will soon be revealed. Fasten your seat belts.
HERE it is! HERE it is! Be sure to go to page 5 as instructed and see the bonus surprise. And please note: it’s not just the minerals they have retained. Check it out!
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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Just when we didn’t think it could possibly get more ridiculous……The 21st anniversary of the death of the last survivor?
Think that will be long enough?
Zabel, William D. “The Rich Die Richer and You Can Too.” New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
I don’t think I’m going to be able to read that.
It’s as important to understand as the General’s counterinsurgency manual.
Well, okay then.
Note that it specifies George H.W. and not Barbara…..
The men in that family were always afraid of Barbara.
Appears the state attorney general is interested in exactly what buyers were told when they bought homes sans mineral rights.
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/18232690/article-AG%E2%80%99s-office-requests-info-on-D-R–Horton-disclosures-
Our AG never does much but grandstand and he is soaked in oil and full of gas.
Other builders in Texas have retained the minerals in the Barnett Shale. 1/2 million dollar homes were built in the mid-2000s in the Joe Pool Lake area and now have drilling, fracking, pipelines and all the rest within 500 feet. It’s a community amenity, so they say.
This well-known developer retained the minerals for at least half the homes in the particular development. Not much negotiation with the homeowners needed when fully half the lease/pooled unit is already a done deal.
http://www.wynnejackson.com/