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Oil tank help?

9supratt4

9supratt4

Anyone on here do work on in ground oil tanks?

I an looking at a house up here in North Jersey. It is well within my price range, has a nice size piece of land for north Jersey and the entire inside has been remodeled.

Found out today that is was under contract but the buyers pulled out when the home inspection found the oil tank to be leaking.

So...does anyone here do this type of work? I need to know 2 things.

1-What is involved and what is a low to high range cost to get this fixed?

2-What is a low to high range cost to convert to Natural gas?

I have no problem telling the seller that I will take care of everything and offer him $40,000 less than what he is asking. And I'm nor in a rush to buy so if it is going to be a 6 month project....whatever.

So any help would be awesome!
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

With a leaking oil tank you are involving the DEP (department of environmental protection). The 40 thousand is ambiguous because you have no idea as to how far or extensive the contamination is. To buy this house with a 40 grand less purchase price is in my opinion foolish. The DEP will hold YOU accountable for ALL remediation. Currently there is no idea of the extent of the leakage.... Way too risky for me. Have the seller remediate first, then buy!

Just my opinion,
Pete
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Walk away.

As Zippy pointed out, you don’t know what they will find.

I consulted in environmental engineering for a couple years, and UST’s were one of the common jobs I’d get. For a clean tank (no spillage), you’re in the 1200 to 1500 price range for the permits and having it pulled. If it is a leaker, it’s “dug” until they are no longer finding contaminated soil. There are exceptions to this and other “oxidizing” ways to get around it, but you’re still talking about an unknown amount of cash to remediate.

The only way I’d stay in the game is if the current homeowner would pay for and totally remediate the property.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Walk away. I have had two clients who went through it. The end numbers where closer to a million than 40k.
 
grink

grink

NJRC Member
WE had friends where the whole house had to be raised and all the earth beneath it removed. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Walk away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
iTzJu

iTzJu

Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
as everyone had already stated, walk away. the remediation cost is one thing the other is finding an insurance carrier to take you. you're looking at surplus carriers, which will mean very high premiums.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

My first thought was to walk away. But what is making it hard is a gorgeous house on .75 acres in North Jersey for $199,000. That is unheard of in Passaic County. And to offer $145,000 would be stealing it!

I have a friend of mine doing a title search for me, but the guy just bought this house about 3 years ago. There was no leakage then.

I am hoping to get a copy of the inspection report. I have someone who can excavate everything for almost no money. I would have a contractor come in and do core samples of the surrounding area to see how far out the contamination goes.

It's really hard to walk away too because once fixed the value will go directly to about $400,000. Do you all see my dilemma?

Itzju....I'm an insurance agent lol...so I know exactly what would happen there lol.
 
D

dougc

A diner operator I know bought the building he was renting with a $50,000 cleanup commitment from the seller. A legal nightmare and costs are now over $200,000.

I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Current owner will have to remediate before selling unless he can find a sucker. Don't be that sucker!

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
 
Baxreefs

Baxreefs

9supratt4 said:
Anyone on here do work on in ground oil tanks?

I an looking at a house up here in North Jersey. It is well within my price range, has a nice size piece of land for north Jersey and the entire inside has been remodeled.

Found out today that is was under contract but the buyers pulled out when the home inspection found the oil tank to be leaking.

So...does anyone here do this type of work? I need to know 2 things.

1-What is involved and what is a low to high range cost to get this fixed?

2-What is a low to high range cost to convert to Natural gas?

I have no problem telling the seller that I will take care of everything and offer him $40,000 less than what he is asking. And I'm nor in a rush to buy so if it is going to be a 6 month project....whatever.

So any help would be awesome!
Click to expand...

That's my buisness, give me call I'll PM you my cell phone.

Baxter
 
Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
9supratt4 said:
My first thought was to walk away. But what is making it hard is a gorgeous house on .75 acres in North Jersey for $199,000. That is unheard of in Passaic County. And to offer $145,000 would be stealing it!

I have a friend of mine doing a title search for me, but the guy just bought this house about 3 years ago. There was no leakage then.

I am hoping to get a copy of the inspection report. I have someone who can excavate everything for almost no money. I would have a contractor come in and do core samples of the surrounding area to see how far out the contamination goes.

It's really hard to walk away too because once fixed the value will go directly to about $400,000. Do you all see my dilemma?

Itzju....I'm an insurance agent lol...so I know exactly what would happen there lol.
Click to expand...

I'd say go with your first instinct. It is where everyone else here is also! There is a reason it is a steal, it is not done from the kindness of their heart. I don't see it as a dilemma, but a major gamble. I too know someone who would excavate for nothing if I needed, but get caught doing it wrong or moving dirt and you could be in some major trouble. I've seen it happen.

dougc said:
I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Current owner will have to remediate before selling unless he can find a sucker. Don't be that sucker!

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Once it's labeled, it's labeled, it will not disappear. I'm sure Bax can help you out with advice. Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

Thanks everyone!! I found out that the owner walked away from the property. It is currently in default.

The plot continues to thicken, but I will talk to Bax tomorrow to get his advice. The bank doesn't want to foreclose, if they do it's their problem and they don't want that. I may be able to get it even cheaper!
 
adesimone1

adesimone1

I do that kind of work and it is a nightmare working with the state and DEP. 400,000 is nothing. Every piece of dirt that is contaminated will be put in a barrel then shipped away to be burnt. You could be digging for a year if the leak is extensive. Walk away and don't look back. I'm surprised it hasn't already been turned into DEP and the state
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Steve, I see your reasons for wanting to pursue this. With the situation the bank is in, you can probably get it at a great price since they're desperate.

I'm suprised that the home inspection actually found the leak. I'd try to find out who the home inspector was and contact them for as many details as you can. Even still, the home inspector was probably not equipped to know the full extent of the leak/damage that needs to be repaired so don't take his word as gospel.

Unless Bax can figure out a fixed price for the remediation and then you were able to at least get that amount (or more to be safe) deducted from the current price... I'd agree to have the homeowner/bank fix it before signing on the dotted line. The DEP is not forgiving and they don't care that you're inheriting someone elses problem. They don't give breaks and will make you do it the "right way" which is usually very costly.

Bottom line, don't make the deal if there is any doubt whatsoever on how much it will cost you. It may cost more than the house is worth to fix it!
 
adesimone1

adesimone1

George there is no fixed price when it comes leaking oil tank the more they dig the more it would cost you and not dollars but thousands of dollars.
 
M

Mike S

I'm in consulting and although we don't deal with residential tanks I've dealt with plenty of leaking USTs. As others have said it could be very costly to deal with. What info do they have about the situation? Without doing some investigation work up front it would be hard to say how much soil you would have to deal with and what he cost would be. Is the house on well water or is it on public water?

Your best bet would be on get in contact with a few local tank removal companies and give them what info you have. They MAY be able to give you a best and worst case scenario if some specifics that they can work off of.
 
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