The Offer

[Frankn]

M Zuma, I have helped a lot of THs and I don't remember any heavy packages in the mail. lol This guy is a hard case. I explaned my time and cost to him in the first letter. He came back with, It will be 50/50. I feel my partner and myself should get the same as he does especially since we did all the work. Yes we have gotten nothing so far, But he has gotten the knowledge that he has something that he can not use.

Pirate, Life is a risk that I accept. The trouble with people today is they don't want to take responsibility for their own life. They play the blame game, look for the free ride, etc.

Handy, "the pessimist", Did you read my post above? "40 YEARS". Poor Hunter nailed it on the ankle commet.

 

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[Pirate Island]

I think you are missing the point. You are saying that you accept risk, but also saying that the land owner has nothing to loose.

My point is that he does have something to lose. If you get injured on his property, from a hang nail to deader than a door nail, he is the one who must accept the risk.

But maybe we have an answer here. Do you carry insurance? If so, provide him with a copy of your insurance with a rider that relieves him of any liability and then re-present your offer. Heck, if you end up at 60/40 you are in better shape than his fiddy-fiddy!

I had a farmer that wanted to sell his land. He had a private airstrip and I asked if we could just fly in. He said NO! His reason was liability. He didn't carry coverage for visitors and his strip was for his crop dusting and the occasional grocery run. I mailed him my proof of insurance and turned a 4 hour drive into a 1 hour flight! (Then my buyer didn't buy the property)

My point is.....stop for a minute and put yourself in the Land Owners shoes. What you assume to be greed is likely risk mitigation and if you address that you will probably end up with a deal.

 

[Frankn]

Pirate Island, you missed a point. He has already said he will take only a 50/50 setup so liability is a mute point. I am not big on complicated arrangements or insurance which I view as a share the losses setup. I go by the old statement,"Keep it simple stupid". Have you ever read one of the Agreements on softwhere? I look at it as 3 partisapents a land owner and two cach hunters. To me that's a 1/3 split. We are not working for him so he is not liable and there is little if any risk in cach hunting. I realized comming into this that it would take some time. That's why I always work on more than one cach at a time.

 

[bigscoop]

We are not working for him so he is not liable.........

Frank, buddy......did your lawyer tell you that, or are you assuming that to be the case? In light of the fact there will be no written contract/agreement of any kind, I can't imagine any lawyer telling you that.

 

[Pirate Island]

If you come on my land, I am liable. That is my the point.

But you are right, I did miss the point where he said 50/50 and that is done. It seemed to me that you were still hoping to negotiate a better deal for yourself. I attempted to help you out with a reasonable method to show him that he would be less liable if you got hurt.

As for the KISS method, yea......It is a neat saying, but doesn't hold up when people end up in court or the hospital, which they often do. You see, I believe in the other principle, people get hurt when they least expect it.

I wish you the best of luck in your already ended negotiations, but I am withdrawing from this thread since it is apparently "I'm going told you a question, and ask you an ANSWER".

 

[Frankn]

Pirate island, I like to hear all suggestions, but that doesn't mean I will agree with them. People work in different ways. Realestate requires all the i's to be doted and all the t's to be crossed, but in TH I prefer invisible ink. I go in with a permission to hunt notice and a split agreement that are very simple. I don't want any catch 22s comming back on me. As far as the negotiations, I wood say we are in a waiting game.
Frank

 

[Georges Minelab Safari]

Frank did you ever let him use your MD?

 

[Bonedigger]

If I was the land owner I would be wandering about things like if you will have to dig up alot or drain a pond or even tear down buildings to get at it. I would need alot more info before I gave the go ahead. And if you start saying stuff about sharing expenses I would bring up that I paid for the land and thats alot more then computer work time.

 

[Frankn]

Bonedigger, It will probably involve one hole 2' deep and I will refill it. Yes, he paid $65K for the lot and will still have it when I finish. I will be out over over $15k in expenses.
I am convinced that most people think cach hunting means reading a story, driving there and digging it up. I think that is because they have never followed thru on a story to the point of finding it or finding the story is bogus.

 

[Frankn]

This is turning into a waiting game to see who will blink first. It will be in the 70's today. He is probably out there looking for the X on the ground and of course there is none. I am already reviewing my alternate projects. I figure on hitting one or two good ones this summer.

 

[lastleg]

Are you saying you have spent 15K researching this yarn? That's a lot of bologna in one sack.

 

[tagman52]

Who knows, the landowner, or someone he knows, might even be following, or perhaps stumble upon, this thread? Now there's an interesting thought/possibility to maul over. I mean, you make him an offer, he jumps online to investigate treasure hunting.....and WHOOP! THERE IT IS! Talk about a potential huge loose end............

I agree with you bigscoop. If you hired someone to find the present owner because you came to a dead-end, what is stopping present owner for going back and searching the records to see who the past owners were. Once he finds who the old owners are, he researches them, if you have access to information is it possible that he would. I think this thread is more about posts than idea for “the offer”. By the way, I am a new hobbyist not a professional like you I would not post my prospect on the internet. Easy to track down your location and other thing from your posts, do not have to be Sherlock Homes to figure out.

 

[Frankn]

Last leg, You have to follow the thread to understand it. The $15k is only due if target is found. Now go eat your bologna sandwitch.

Tagman, Yes, I can see that you are new to TH. The reason for the post is to help others with the offer and to let the members know how the other members value there time and effort. The answer to that last reason has surely surprised me. It seams some members don't think their time is worth much and they would sell out cheap to get a few bucks in their pocket, and even sell out their partner. Kind of makes me wonder!

 

[ppratt]

I think its a crappy offer. take the 50/50 9 acres is nothing. If you found it on the computer then he/she can too. If you say its impossible for him to find now. Then that makes me believe the time you had on his ground, you found it and moved it. Also I think you should have approached him first with the idea and offer that way your not out of anything but a simple offer. Right now I see it as greed. He owns 100% of something you have 100% of nothing. You mentioned economy, maybe you should think about the economy, and take 50% that's 50% more than you have now.

 

[Frankn]

ppratt, You have pulled assumptions out of the air that are not realistic. If I had gone in there and found it, would I be making an offer? Did you bother to read the thread? I have not seen his property except on maps and platts. The research was necessary to find the property and owner in order to make an offer. His land might hold 100% of the cache, but I hold 100% of the research required to find it.

 

[ppratt]

I have read most of the thread and most say 50/50 is good if u didnt touch it then it is possible for him to find the same info u did

 

[TooManyHobbies]

Frankn, it's been two months since your first post on the subject. I think you're thinking about it a WHOLE LOT more than the landowner is. I don't think he's looking for it either, I think he just dismissed you as a whackjob. But, I'm curious so I'll keep following the thread to see what happens.

 

[lastleg]

I've never heard of a serious cache hunter not even visiting the location of a multi-million dollar plant for a look around. Why
I've driven hundreds of miles and back to look at mine.

 

[bigscoop]

I've never heard of a serious cache hunter not even visiting the location of a multi-million dollar plant for a look around. Why
I've driven hundreds of miles and back to look at mine.

And I've even had a cooler full of soda and a few bologna sandwitchs!

 

[Frankn]

I haven't had a bologna sandwitch in about 15 years. Use to fry it and pop it on toast.
My partner and myself actually drove hundreds of miles looking for the cache site, but it is on private property so we haven't gone there yet. I am thinking about driving up there to talk to the land owner with my partner. We are talking it over now.