Next Signing Day – Tuesday, February 26, 2008 – 5:00pm to 8:00pm

Just a reminder about the signing meeting tomorrow.

When: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Time: 5:00pm to 8:00pm
Where: Pleasantview Baptist Church
Who: All property owners in Neighborhood Group (Green, Red and Blue groups all welcome)

Please bring a copy of your survey showing the lot lines to your property if you have one. Be advised that Paloma does not have the tools to recalculate property acreage size on the spot. They will need to take your unsigned lease packet back to the office to perform the recalculation. I believe they may call you once the recalculation is completed.

If the recalculation is done early enough Paloma should have these recalculated lease packets available to be picked up at the next signing meeting which will be sometime in early March (details forthcoming).

If you wish to complete the transaction before that next signing meeting in early March, you may opt to go to Paloma’s office in Fort Worth to sign your gas lease papers. Just be sure that you have confirmed with Paloma that your lease packet and survey recalculation (if you provided them one) is completed.

A third option is to let Paloma know that you want them to mail your gas lease packet to your mailing address for signing. If you opt for this approach please remember that some of the papers in the lease packet will need to be notarized. Read the instructions carefully.

Reminder: Signing Day – Saturday, February 23, 2008 – 2:00pm to 5:00pm

One last reminder going out to the group about tomorrow’s signing day.

When: Saturday, February 23, 2008
Time: 10:00am to 2:00pm to 5:00pm [Corrected time]
Where: Pleasantview Baptist Church
Who: All property owners in Neighborhood Group (Green, Red and Blue groups all welcome)

Note: The next signing day will be on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. Again, all groups may attend.

Announcing Two New Signing Dates – Feb. 23 and Feb. 26

Here are the new dates for the two rescheduled gas lease signing meetings:

Saturday, February 23, 2008 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:00pm – 8:00pm

The signings will once again be at Pleasantview Baptist Church.  Paloma has promised that they will be completely prepared this time.  Let’s hope that is true.  I will be expecting it and I know you will, too.

Clarification to an earlier post – Maximize your acreage

Please see the update to an earlier post regarding how to measure to the middle of the street and obtaining lot measurements.  I changed some of the wording and, hopefully, this will remove some of the confusion.

Saturday’s signing day has been rescheduled

I just received word from Paloma that the signing meeting that was previously scheduled for this Saturday, February 16, 2008 from 10:00am to 2:00pm will need to be postponed. Apparently, some of Paloma’s office staff have been out sick. As a result, this lack of staff members has backed them up on other deadlines they are trying to meet prior to ours which, in turn, has pushed our Saturday signing date back.

The new GREEN Group signing day will be on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 from 5:00pm to 8:00pm.

Incidentally, any RED Group or BLUE Group members who were unable to make their originally scheduled signing dates last week or this week are welcome to come out next Tuesday to sign their gas leases.

Please tell of your neighbors who are property owners in any of the approved subdivisions who might just now be learning about Neighborhood Group’s deal with Paloma that they are welcome to show up as “walk-ins” to speak with one of the Paloma reps about signing a gas lease with our Group.

As usual, the signing meeting will take place at Pleasantview Baptist Church.

There will be at least one additional signing day after next Tuesday, but the exact date has not been determined yet. As soon as it is, I will let the group know what it is.

Sorry for the inconvenience of this schedule shuffle.

There is NO Saturday (Jan. 26) deadline for our group

Some of our members have written and called us regarding several red and white lawn signs that have popped up in our area. Those signs read as follows:

DO NOT MISS OUT!

MINERAL LEASE SIGNING

ENDS SATURDAY!

http://swapo.info

FOR NEW NEIGHBORHOOD MAP

DISREGARD THESE SIGNS!!!! If you are a member of NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP the deadline for you is NOT Saturday. Our first signing day will probably take place this coming week. Therefore, our group’s last day to sign contracts probably won’t be for another month or so. It certainly would not be tomorrow!! So do not let these signs confuse you!

Again, just to repeat – If you are a member of NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP your signing dates will be announced to you in a couple of days. Disregard the deadline on the lawn signs as they do not pertain to our group.

So what happens next?

As I reported earlier, we have reached a tentative agreement with Paloma Resources but there is still work to be done.   Bob and Randy will be meeting face-to-face with the Paloma representatives to work out further details including a formal letter of agreement, the gas lease contract itself, as well as the timeline to completion.  This includes arranging a series signing meetings for homeowners, procedures for disbursement of monies, etc. 

This has not taken place yet.   Rumors are creeping up that are straying from the facts of the matter.   The bottom line is if you did not receive instructions or an update in the form of an email from Bob Haelle in your “Inbox” then it is rumor and you should dismiss it. 

This situation with Paloma is still unfolding.  As we meet, discuss and reach agreements the process will begin to take shape as it should.   Also, as we pass each of these “milemarkers” we will bring you up-to-date on them via email and this blog. 

Be advised that even though we have reached this tentative agreement, you are likely to receive personal offers from various individuals and/or entities regarding your mineral rights.  We ask that you remember that any update, alert or call to action for the group will come from Bob Haelle only and broadcast again by this blog.   So if you do receive another offer we ask that you please disregard so that we may finish what we have started together.

Thanks once again for your patience and endurance. 

The end is near!

Now that the holidays are behinds us and work life has returned to normal, things are beginning to pick up speed.  The Negotiating Committee will meet tomorrow to finalize the draft of our gas lease contract proposal.   After the meeting, we will be contacting the land companies to let them know we are ready to discuss offers and terms. 

We are just as ready as you to conclude this whole affair successfully.   Just the same, we will be pressing hard for commitments and concessions when we do meet with the land companies, hopefully, after the weekend.  I will update the blog with more information as I receive it.   Stay tuned.

Don’t take the bait!

In the coming days expect to see a flurry of offers from land brokers trying to get you to sign a gas lease for your mineral rights….as an individual.  You’ll find big envelopes in your mailbox, flyers on your door with offers and even phone calls and voicemails trying to sway you into signing away your mineral rights.

Don’t do it!  The offer will likely be below what other nearby neighborhood alliances have received recently.  Those other neighborhood groups were able to negotiate much higher amounts and better lease terms because the residents were committed to sticking together and negotiating as a group.  There is strength in numbers.

We are asking our group members to hold steady and not sign the lease papers that they receive in the mail.  By signing now, the gas companies are dictating the terms and amounts.  We have a great negotiating team in place that is knowledgeable and highly committed to bargaining for the best possible lease for all of our great group of members. Additionally, we are also homeowners and have a vested interest in seeing all of our neighbors succeed with a great gas lease.

Don’t just settle for the arbitrary amount that the gas companies feel they can get away with.  After all, when they started making offers they thought our mineral rights were worth much less than they seem to think they are worth now.  Now that they know we have a strong group, they would like nothing better than to get our members to sign for less than what they know they’ll have to offer in the end.  By standing firm with us, our group members are reinforcing the signal to the land brokers and energy companies that they will have to come to the negotiating table ready with offers that are equal to or better that what we are seeing around our vicinity.

Growth of Neighborhood Group spurs a blog name change

Watching the progress of our group has been amazing! What started out as an effort to band neighbors together around Coronet Estates to challenge the gas companies for a better gas lease deal has ballooned to an area of several square kilometers (see Neighborhood Group’s area map).

Therefore, in order to reflect the growth of our group from one subdivision to now over a dozen, I am changing the name of the blog from Coronet Estates Homeowners Weblog to NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP Gas Lease Blog. This name is more encompassing of who we are and why we have come together.

Thanks to everyone for standing together with us. Let’s continue to keep this alliance strong and we will all reap the benefits of our solidarity!