My aunt is trying to clean up the estate of a friend and has discovered that the friend apparently owned two town lots in Atascosa County. These have gone through a couple/few inheritance situations but the paperwork is supposedly in order.

The lots are town lots bought into the family on a deed from Dr
Charles Simmons' 95,000 acre subdivision. One lot in Christine (undeveloped, south side) the other lot in Imogene (obviously undeveloped). For those familiar with that speculative sale, the 10 acre tract that came with the town lots was sold in the 1940s.

Anybody know what these are worth or who to ask? I believe the minerals are intact.

What size lots are they? You can browse Zillow and other real estate sites to try to get an idea, but I'd reach out to a local realtor. Depending on where they are located/size/utility location/adjacent properties, marketing them as residential v. commercial can make a big difference in price.

Imogene did not develop at all. That lot is 50 by 150 of brush. It's kinda near a county road but I doubt it has frontage.

Christine is similar where that lot is but Christine actually exists as a small town. This lot is inaccessible brush.

This what town lots look like in Christine.

Call Ruple Ranch and Land. They're very familiar with that area, and a sponsor of Texags.

Or post the county appraisal district tax i d numbers so they can be looked up by anyone interested.
Not sure if you meant a 10 acre tract or two 50x150 ft lots.

Somebody here would dove hunt on 10 acres. Lol

I doubt it adds a lot of value to the discussion amongst the hundreds of lots exactly like this one, but here is the lot in Christine.
https://esearch.atascosacad.com/Property/View/21187?year=2024&ownerId=7869

The lot in Imogene doesn't have a tax ID number. More common than you might think.

I don't think there is much value in the surface, some, but not much. What I'm really hoping for here is if someone can explain why both of these areas with difficult title problems haven't had any mineral development other than the title problems? While surrounded by mineral development. Is there value there?

The lot you posted is 25x 140 for 3,500 sq ft. Worthless without road frontage unless it has minerals. Not sure why the county or school district have not foreclosed if taxes are not being paid.

What size is the other one?

They haven't foreclosed because the value of the lot is less than the cost of the suit without mineral production. And there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of lots just like it in the county. I'm mostly curious what the minerals are worth. Go look at the RRC GIS map. There is a mineral development donut hole around Christine. Why is that there? Is a geological phenom? Or is it because nobody can secure all the undivided mineral interests?

It's most likely under fence and someone has been paying taxes on it. Adverse possession is thing out there especially in Dr. Simmons subdivisions.

Adverse possession is absolutely a thing in that area. The Christine lot looks somewhat safe based on the aerials (no clear use) and other/adjacent lots being bought up over time by a number of interests that seem to be competing to buy them. Also we have the tax receipts for a ton of years.

The Imogene lot has a similar situation except there has only been one buyer there.

normaleagle05 said:

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They haven't foreclosed because the value of the lot is less than the cost of the suit without mineral production. And there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of lots just like it in the county. I'm mostly curious what the minerals are worth. Go look at the RRC GIS map. There is a mineral development donut hole around Christine. Why is that there? Is a geological phenom? Or is it because nobody can secure all the undivided mineral interests?

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I suspect that is precisely the reason a donut hole exists. If those tracts have never even been leased, much less pooled into a production unit of an oil/gas field, it's because they were too fractured (small) so as to make them not worth the effort cumulatively, much less individually. They could literally be "left out" of any development for economic reasons.

I own a five acre "farm tract" on the bank of the Nueces River in the Simmons City subdivision near the community of Simmons in Live Oak County. My grandfather acquired it about 100 years ago, and he and my father, and now I (for the last 28 years) have paid taxes on it. I almost leased it 15-20 years ago as part of an Eagle Ford prospect, but at the last minute, the oil company backed out.

Even 5 acres has marginal value, so those tiny lots are practically worthless.

The attached link includes some local history of Dr. Charles F. Simmons' purchase of a portion (60,000 acres) of the George W. West Ranch in Live Oak County in 1900, which he later subdivided. My grandparents were married in that little church (pictured) in Simmons, more than 100 years ago, and I grew up out in the brush about 8 miles south of there.

Simmons City history

Google Charles F. Simmons. He was an interesting character. Musta been a helluva promoter! A lotta people from "up north" bought these small acreage "farms" with the intention of making a living raising vegetables (truck farming) but soon learned the weather (drought and heat) was simply too harsh. Thus, most ALL of those small tracts have been consolidated back into larger farms and ranches.

And what's the going rate on consolidation?

normaleagle05 said:

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This what town lots look like in Christine.

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I count 300 deer blinds…..

B-1 83 said:

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normaleagle05 said:

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This what town lots look like in Christine.

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I count 300 deer blinds…..

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My thoughts exactly. Might be some monsters hiding in there.

And bodies.

normaleagle05 said:

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And what's the going rate on consolidation?

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Ha, ha! Good question. My guess is that most of it took place before the middle of the last century. Unless you're able to bundle together multiple acres, I just do not see how it can be economically feasible. Just how big is the donut hole you've identified? And just to be clear, I'm speaking exclusively of the mineral estate. The surface is effectively owned by whomever has it under fence and has been using it for the past 100 years.

Donut hole is a little bigger than 1 mile by 2 miles.

A lot in the same block sold last year to one of the active investors in the area.

That's a very big area to be untapped (more than two sections, or 1,280 acres), in an otherwise very productive part of the Eagle Ford, no?

Wow! Just took a look at Google Earth, and you're right about the scope of that "hole". Of course with directional drilling today, horizontal well bores can cover that area with all ease, but there is a distinct absence of pad sites in and around the townsite, to be sure! But it's a bit surprising that no one has stuck a straw in that.

Yeah, really unusual looking on the RRC GIS map. That map shows the well head and bottom hole location connected with a straight line and it really makes it stand out. It has to be the several thousand 25-foot wide lots making the lease acquisition impossible.

So I assume the mineral estate on all those many "city lots" is so fractured/divided that obtaining a lease is impractical. But seems it should be possible to accumulate enough acreage in a lease to drill and produce a well, or is it incumbent open said "operator" to hold royalties in escrow for non-participating mineral owners? Been too long since I've dealt with the issue.

It's been a long time since I was doing O&G consistently enough to remember all those rules.

Been awhile for me too, but if i remember correctly some companies might go to the trouble of getting a receiver appointed on behalf of the absent owners if it was worth it to them. The receiver is generally a county official who can then execute a lease. The bonus and any royalties are then put into an escrow account usually maintained by the county or district clerk. I think there are escheat rules where eventually the money may default to the state if never claimed.

DargelSkout said:

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Call Ruple Ranch and Land. They're very familiar with that area, and a sponsor of Texags.

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Jason Ruple very kindly took my call yesterday and we reconnected today after he'd had a chance to look up the particular property. He had useful experience to share and we had an otherwise productive conversation.

It looks like the path forward on the matter is to snail mail a number of the larger land owners who are actively, albeit slowly, acquiring similar properties and see if we can make a private deal

The property is for sale and the minerals appear to be intact. Everything would convey if I understand the estate correctly, and I think I do after asking the executrix (my aunt) about it directly today. There appears from a distance not to be any adverse claims on the property. I have a lot of relevant experience in that area but can't guarantee that.

There was an O&G lease on the property to the east in 2001. It was released at the end of it's primary term in 2004. There was a private sale of a single lot in the same block as recently as January 2023.

ALL offers would be considered.