Negotiating Home Inspection

[Carlos Rodrigues]

Good evening, my name is Carlos Rodrigues and I've been looking for a Multi-Family property for about a year now and I finally found a good deal. So I offered $250k for the three family and with multiple bids I ended up at $260k, the numbers still made sense for me.

I survived attorney review and am now under contract. Along with that I was able to get the commitment letter from the bank and passed the house appraised. In additional with that I received my home inspection and oil tank sweep reports. Theres minor fixes that are needed just as a small leak from the 3rd floor and it seems like theres might be a oil tank underground. I'm purchasing this property in Elizabeth NJ and its pretty common to have oil tanks underground. I told the seller that I need the leak fixed and the oil tank removed. He offered me a silly $3,000 credit, which I quickly declined. And now the seller wants to terminate the contract and he simply refuses to remove the oil tank. 

I'm not to sure on what to do, all I know is I'd like to purchase this property. How could I negotiate for him to remove the oil tank, so we can move forward?

Thank you kindly in advance.

[Mark Langdon]

You could take soil samples at the 4 corners and by the piping to see if you get anything assuming its not buried under concrete. If the samples come up clean then to take the tank out should only be $ 2000 or less. But even with the corner samples its never guaranteed there are no leaks as it could be directly underneath the tank but the chances go down. Qualified Tank offers a guarantee for a little more money I think if they take the samples and it comes up clean that they will then take it out even if they find a leak after the samples come back clean. Unfortunately everyone is stubborn now and make the buyer take it out as the sellers are more in control around here. So you can spend some money and hope for the best and its clean and then the $ 3000 will cover it but you would have to take the samples at your cost and be able to get out of the contract if the samples are bad unless the seller is willing to pay for it. Worst case is you pay for dirty samples that come up bad and then cancel the contract.