re: PS: Did the alien species make the same choice?
ER's scenario falls apart if you look too close. Assuming a level of star travel that allows one to go to another solar system for resources, there are enough solar systems filled with resources and no life that you could bypass our Solar System as easily as one could bypass a single small island filled with natives among millions of uninhabited islands.
And hey, you wouldn't have to PAY anybody either! Why deal with the nuisance? Pass Sol, and head for the next place.
If aliens come here to exploit us, it will be to exploit US. Something humans can offer them that they can't get somewhere else. Therein lies a lot of further speculation.