The truth is, if the Feds want to do something to make housing affordable for more people, they would cut regulations and stop all the mindless approvals of environmental laws that do nothing except drive up the cost of housing for everyone, take land away from developers and make it impossible to develop for the sake of a bug, etc.

And hopefully you're throwing in a bunch of design, energy and environmental positives to show that the proposal is small foot print for so many more people.  

It wasn't me, as I was the broker in a commercial transaction, but hard contract for over 3 years.Sold an old car dealership to a national retailer that took forever due to town permits and environmental issues. 

There are a lot of factors that impact total billed amount outside of the PA--environmental, title, difficult other party, etc. 

I would move to a phase 2 environmental before with a tank locate or a clause that if there are tanks- that the contract can be terminated or the seller would cover the costs.    

It may help to get say, an environmental report to ease any concerns zoning or the community may have but usually isn't the case with a smaller project. 

The tax code is set up to encourage commerce/transactions and the exponential economic and tax impact on the sales agents, appraisers, mortgage brokers, sellers, property inspectors, contractors, cost segregation firms, attorneys, title companies, environmental inspectors...the list goes on...is huge.

Here is a Env Hazard search map by CA.Cal MyHazards - Environmental Hazards Search.

Owner is claiming that he had the power on since the electrical room went under.Not to mention the building is from 1960 and if the transformers are that old, they could be an environmental liability.How can I put a number on this place with such a huge unknown factor?

That might be ehh ok, CA has too many fees on environmental.