As for the fracking issue, the sellers do have to disclose if they have reserved their mineral rights.

Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2014 08:28:11 -0500
From: Linda Boyd
Subject: Re: fracking/Chatham Park

Sherry,

I would highly recommend Clawson Jernigan or Forest Kennedy of Jernigan and Associates. They charge a little more than some other inspectors but they are worth every penny – very thorough.

As for the fracking issue, the sellers do have to disclose if they have reserved their mineral rights. Your family member should get a sellers disclosure form that discloses any known defects in the home as well as information about the surrounding area. Fracking is done in areas with a high shale content so you might want to investigate that in the area where the home is located. The problem with fracking is that they don’t just disrupt the ground in the immediate area where they frack, but they go down a certain depth into the ground and then could possibly travel underground with the equipment to find the pockets of gas they are looking for. So, even if they are not fracking right near the home, it could impact the surrounding area. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this map but you can see the general areas of fracking here http://rafiusa.org/issues/landowner-rights-and-fracking/fracking-map-in-nc/

If you google Chatham Park you will see maps of the park that are color coded to show you where they plan to build residential or industrial development in relation to where the house is located. There is an interactive map found at this website
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/01/3953957/chatham-park-development.html

Best wishes to your family member in purchasing a new home,
Linda Boyd
Go Realty
919-943-1873