When you’re looking to buy property, you’ll likely run through a common set of considerations. Some likely items on your list include school districts, property tax rates, convenience to work and shopping, and crime rates or neighborhood reputations. But when you’re considering Dallas and Fort Worth real estate options, some additional area-specific features also need to play into your decision.

Mineral Rights

In recent years, a large consideration for Dallas and Fort Worth home buyers has been on the issue of mineral rights. In Texas, two different rights exist for a particular plot of land: the rights to the surface property and the minerals contained beneath. As more and more of the area is being tapped for the natural gas that the underlying Barnett Shale houses, this issue has become more prominent.

The issue of mineral rights is complicated, and the two most important factors you’ll need to consider when purchasing your DFW-area home are whether you’ll receive royalties for gas recovered from beneath your home and whether the idea of someone else having the rights to minerals below your land is a deal-breaker.

If you purchase a property where both the surface and mineral rights are offered, you then get to control whether or not you agree to have those minerals mined out — or whether you’ll continue or sign a new lease if one is already in play. If having access to a bit more income monthly is on your radar, you may need to bargain with sellers to release those rights if they’re otherwise inclined to keep them.

Whose Water Is It, Anyway?

Water is an extremely precious commodity around the world and perhaps more so in the DFW area than others. In a state where a vast majority of water sources are manmade, the control of that water not only affects your summer camping or fishing plans, but also the relationship between the land you own and the water that supplies it.

In North Texas, this can split several ways. Many Dallas and Fort Worth real estate on the market simply taps into municipal water systems. Which town supplies your water can have a huge difference on your monthly bills, however. For instance, in Fort Worth, the amount you pay for your water usage goes higher, and not just incrementally; Fort Worth water bills include a monthly service charge and a volume charge.

One approach you may consider taking is to research Fort Worth real estate that contains well water. Not only does that relieve you of having a monthly water bill, but it also allows you greater control over how you use water. Local watering restrictions, for instance, would not affect you if you have your own well.

Once you’ve run through a list of common considerations and then added the area-unique considerations like your water options and how mineral rights affect your property, you’ll be set to narrow your search for Dallas and Fort Worth real estate.

Image Source: Flickr/David Herrera

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