In addition to purchasing a piece of land, you also will acquire the mineral rights to the property. Some people hold onto those mineral rights in the hope of someone discovering oil and becoming rich because of it. The truth is that nothing will probably come of it, and those mineral rights will be wasted. Consider selling the mineral rights to your property for the following reasons.

The Payoff Could Be A Very Long Time From Now

There may be rumblings that your mineral rights could become valuable. For example, a gas plant may be opening nearby, which would require them to pay for the mineral rights to use the resources found underneath your property. You could wait for this to possibly happen, or you could get money for the mineral rights now.

Just as if you were to sell the land, you can sell just the mineral rights with the help of a real estate agent. Someone else may buy them up in hopes of eventually hitting the jackpot with a company that wants them, but they could also lose out on them as well if nobody wants the resources. Real money right now is better than the possibility of a payoff down the road. If you are not willing to take the gamble, sell those rights now.

You Don't Have A Use For Mineral Rights

Mineral rights typically have no real use for the average property owner. If someone does want to come onto your property to drill for gas or oil, you can rent out the portion of land that they need. That rental agreement will eventually come to an end, and with the resources gone, your mineral rights are useless.

Selling your land's mineral rights still gives you the ability to make money off the land if someone were to use it to gain access to the resources below, but you won't be stuck with worthless mineral rights when they are done.

You Can Change What You Invest In

If you were hoping to make money off the resources beneath your land, know that selling the rights can help you change investments. You can take that money you make off the sale and invest it in something else. You can even put that money towards another property if you wish.

The bottom line is that holding onto mineral rights is a gamble. If you are not the betting type of person, you can work with a real estate agent to sell those mineral rights when you know they are still worth something.