Undisclosed underground oil tank!

[Vonetta Booker]

…and so the fun begins. :-/

I just had a formal inspection done today on what's supposed to be my first rehab, a Fannie Mae REO.Lo & behold, the inspector found evidence of a buried oil tank underneath the deck (the only indication was the short pipe sticking out of the ground).Mind you, there was no mention of one in the listing (which stated gas heat and "n/a" next to "oil tank"), nor anything on the disclosure—so I thought everything was cool.

I went back and told the LA that I wouldn’t be closing unless the bank took care of testing, removal & any remediation.(As the owners, aren’t they responsible for this, especially if they didn’t disclose?They claim they were unaware, but don’t they have people checking these things out?)

Any thoughts, guys?I could try renegotiating w/ the bank & getting the price further down to offset any of my UOT expenses (seems the average is $650-700 for soil testing only, $1200-$1500 to remove & test; of course they also have to rip up the deck to get to it, lol)…but then again, as this is my first rehab, I also don’t want to get in over my head & I’m really thinking of just saying, “Next!” (Luckily I always put “oil tank” as one of the inspection contingencies on my offer!)

[Jon Holdman]

When buying REOs DO NOT rely on the seller disclosure.  You usually don't even get one, of get one that says "unknown" for everything.

For that matter, never trust any seller disclosure.  Always do you own due diligence on the property.