Newbies BEWARE of what you can not see in the ground - Oil Tanks

For those of you that have been in the trenches for a number of years this is NOT a new suggestion BUT for those of you Newbies please save yourself many sleepless nights.  BEFORE you purcahse and close on a property no matter how simple and easy a deal looks please get an Oil Tank Sweep done of the property.

I have experienced the dreadful feeling of contamination and the expense of needing to rid one's property of the same.

So not to try to scare you but how does this feel......you buy the rehab project for dirt cheap, a real deal and after you close you then learn about the leaking oil tank.  Then you are forced to bear the cost of tank removal and all that goes along or potentially goes along with it.  If you are lucky and all goes well you will only blow a few thousand dollars on the testing.  If it goes poorly and all testing shows contamination you could be looking at a low range of $40,000+.

If you are not so lucky and soil contamination is found it is TOO LATE you or your company is already on the chain of title.  Now you have real exposure for environmental issues.  These cleanups can often run in to the tens of thousnads of dollars or more, so be careful, file all paperwork and work with you contractor.

Please spend the money upfront to know if you are going to have a significant issue or shortly down the road.  DO NOT SAVE MONEY on this aspect of your "deal".  No hard money lender worth their collective soul can lend even a dollar to a scenrio like you explained.

Remember due diligence is one of the main Keys to the success on your business.

I wish everyone a tremendous 2012!

Kindest regards,

Joel