Underground Oil Tanks
The following is a quick guide on how to deal with underground oils tanks "before giving a deposit" on a property.
1- The day you see a deal looks like it's a deal for you, order an oil tank sweep (which in north jersey costs around $200). Should be able to get it done within a day or so.
2- If there is no tank good. If there is an underground oil tank, you will need to address it by either # 4 or 5, if you don't have luck with # 3.
3- Check in the local building department if the previous owner took out permits to properly decommission the oil tank. If yes get the paperwork from them. You will give these docs to the lender and to the future buyer.
4- Order Soil Borings and testing. (In north jersey It costs around $550) it takes about a week to get the results back from lab. If results are clean great. If not, do not touch the deal. No one can predict how much it will cost to remediate the soil.
5- Have the oil tank removed. Preferably have the current owner agree to have it removed before closing (the "lender requirement" excuse usually works well). You might wanna offer to pay up to a few thousand dollars to pay for the tank removal. Bank owned properties usually don't agree to this so in order to do this you will need to be creative...
If while removing tank you discover contamination walk away from the deal. If it's clean go ahead.
This is based on my experience. I would love to hear if anyone has any comments or suggestions.
Moshe