You could even say that depending how successful a deal is judged by its ability to become and remain a passive investment.Even Cuban, who is only looking at deals that require his attention, has people underneath him, branches if you will of the Cuban tree, that he had to hire, or hired a subordinate, who then hired other subordinates.

@Jimmy NguyenIMO earthwork and subgrade work consistently rank as the biggest impact to changes due to unforeseen conditions or not enough soils investigation.

The lot is 14,000sq/ft, so I'd imagine that would be a big to-do, unless only the soil under the house footprint would need replaced. 

The bank also said they know it's there and will not address it. my offer would reflect the cost of having to rip up the driveway and have the tank removed and possibly the cost of having contaminated soil removed.

Not necessarily a nightmare story but a example of an issue with our properties, on our second project which which was literally a hundred feet from our first we ran into soil issues and had to have an engineered footing which ended up doubling our foundation cost on our first duplex on the property.  

Just because you can see perforated vinyl or aluminium soffit under your eaves does not mean there is not a solid soffit, or mis-installed vapour barrier underneath (especially on an older home which may have originally been built with wood (solid) soffits);make certain your roof is vented at the top (either with a ridge vent {preferred} or several roof vents such as pagotas or ventilators {acceptable}).  

@Jonathan Gilkeson  absolute last place I would buy   buy and hold I small properties Is TEXASyou do not benefit from no state income tax.. property taxs are off the charts and soil conditions almost always assure you of major repairs in a given 5 to 10 year holdMany many other markets that are comparibale.. and do not have these inpediments I see Texas as a locals market so they can take advantage of no state income tax.

I know how frustrating it is to have a great deal under contract just to have it all pulled out from underneath you. 

I havent heard of one in WI that requires more frequent pumping. yes no disposal, and advisable to have a filter on the washing machine discharge as well, and good idea to have them drop enzyme tabs monthly as well, but in all honesty, a good working system will work  20-40 years (average life expectancy) or longer with out any issues. around here a 3 bedroom system replacement (tank and drain field) runs around $5-$6K but a mound with clay soil can easily exceed $20K so lots of variables. 

I tore the wallpaper down and there was brown paneling underneath.