This is an actual “How To” guide from a Landman Notebook that explains in a few easy steps how to hard pressure landowners into signing their property rights away.
Notice how they have researched the demographics so they can fine tune their message and prey on each individual area’s strengths and weaknesses.
Use hard pressure sales tactics to get people to sign on the spot.
Use patriotism and the lure of energy independence:
This is intentional misleading. Much of the gas produced in the US is now headed for Asia. From a recent article: Marcellus Shale gas may head overseas.
Again the intention is to mislead as the notebook instructs:
This Landman Notebook instructs the con artist on how to deflect and fool landowners on every issue of concern. Read it. Pass it on.
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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The only human lifeform lower than lawyers….Landmen.
How true Anonymous (11:19) above.
I always say to a landman "are you a lying landman, or you one of the ordinary SOB's?" They are are all Worthless! They will drop your fat into the fire in a NY minute!
Beyond disgusting.
Anon @11:19 AM: Personally, I've known some very fine lawyers. I haven't heard about or seen any fine landmen or landwomen (I think the landwomen refer to themselves as landmen.) Maybe it's the nature of their work. I can "hire" a lawyer to represent me.
Landman will only work for the gas operators and make the best deal for them…telling me all the while that he's doing what's best for my financial future and the future of the United States of America. He'll also harrass me non-stop if I won't sign a lease.
Speaking of getting fleeced, juuuust remember as you shell out your hard earned income to the IRS that some of our favorite Gasholes (Exxon Mobil) are getting paid by the IRS to slowly kill us all:
http://soulhangout.posterous.com/ten-giant-us-companies-avoiding-income-taxes
Check out # 1 on this list, Range Resource Corporation
http://www.businessinsider.com/16-more-profitable-companies-that-pay-almost-nothing-in-taxes-2011-3#1-range-resource-corporation-rrc-16
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/news/companies/1104/gallery.foreign_untaxed_profits.fortune/index.html
People need to get out in the streets on April 16th and demand that corporations pay their share and then some.
@ Anon 4:43 PM – You're right, if I offended any lawyers, I am sorry.
Fine, and jail them just like you would an ordinary citizen for
breaking the law. Their actions are criminal all the way to the top.
75% percent of landmen have no contact with the public! Just like any profession the bad ones ruin it for the rest of us. Please understand we get paid the same whether you sign a lease or not. I have absolutely no financial incentive for you to sign, in fact it is better for me money-wise if things take longer. Please try & be a little more balanced.
Dear Neighbor, it's hard to report anything good about a landman when I've never heard anything good. What should I do, make stuff up?
Hey, @Your Neighbor:
What do you mean you have no financial incentive?
Testifying against our neighbors and for gas operators you work for…in these Rule 37 Hearings when our neighbors have to fight for their own property from being taken from them. Maybe you get a big bonus if you do a good job ~ and the gas operators win against the property owners. Or if you manage to get some signatures during the hearing.
And you say you have no "financial incentive," and yet, you say it's better for you "money-wise" if things take longer. Double talk is so prevalent in your industry. You've got it down real good.
I've dealt with multiple landmen from multiple different companies. There was one who was honest, he quit, couldn't associate himself with the industry. Then there was the one who showed up on my front door and said "You should sign, because if you don't, we'll just take your minerals anyways". What would happen if a realtor came to my front step and said, "You should just sell me your home for 25 cents on the dollar, because if you don't, we'll just take it anyways." Kind stupid, huh, but with minerals, it's a-ok.
I’ve been in the business for over 20 years as a landman. I read the above article and wonder why you don’t give us the name of the Landman Notebook you quote. Who wrote it and published it? This is not a common thing to see.
There are sharp dealers in every business who say what’s needed to close a deal. I’ve met some in the land business, sure. It human nature.
What really amazes me is the lack of business acumen in the landowners in these comments above. I represent who pays me. You would want a lawyer or a real estate agent to do that if you hired one. A landman is doing his job by getting a lease at the best terms he can for his client. What’s so hard to understand about that? If you cut a deal and later prices went up, tough. If they went down and you got top dollar before the price plunges for leases in 2005 or so, great for you. That’s life, children.
Ethics is another story. Please don’t paint us all with such a broad brush.
Many of us have had dealings with landmen so we are not unfamiliar with the tactics which are deplorable!
Here’s what is hard for me to understand:
Landmen are unregulated. They have no standards and no license is required. Yet, they are making deals that ultimately can put people’s health and long-term wellbeing and the environment at risk.
The deals you make ruin lives. If you want respect, find a new occupation.