Oil tanks

[Naseera Mohamed]

My husband is in the process of buying a house (our first very own ) -a short sale we located, in NJ -seemed a really good deal at 250K in a neighborhood where any house worth buying would be in the mid 300K range. We figured we cd do some fix-ups at 330-50K and it would be well worth it. Unfortunately we found there is a buried oil tank in the yard. The seller has been living there for the past 20yrs and says they decommissioned it when they moved in , but they are unable to bring up the records. The town hall had records of a permit applied to decommission it, but they could not find the actual permission granted or work done, as records were not well kept. Some oil tank companies we called say that a typical clean up in case of oil spills in residences wd be in the 8-10K range. Seller refuses a soil test to be done. My husband is ready to buy it and take on the oil tank issue. Is this a good idea even assuming seller does not reduce price further? Please give me your 2 cents !

[Mark Langdon]

Don't do it unless you take samples and all the paperwork is in order. I had a foreclosure once that the bank took over as an REO where everything was running on natural gas. I hired a firm on my own to look for a oil tank just in case to protect myself . Well guess what, they found one and they took samples and found oil. I agreed to buy this foreclosed home contingent only if the bank took care of all oil issues. I made the bank remove the oil tank with the piping and contaminated soil along with getting all the permits and NJDEP paperwork. Once it was cleared and clean I closed on the property and it's now a great cash flow property. I talked to the oil tank removal firm on my own and they said by the time they were done it was going to cost the bank $ 20,000 - $ 30,000.Make the sale contingent on them removing the tank with clean samples and you have the paperwork. I take lots of risks in real estate but never with an oil tank even if it's abandoned.