What a buyer's attorney does when an oil tank turns up
Two things have to hold for a listed sale to reach closing: the buyer's nerve and the buyer's lender. A buried oil tank has a habit of taking out both.
The buyer imagines a worst case, because nobody has given them a better one. The lender sees an environmental question against the property it is about to secure a mortgage on and wants it resolved before funding. Either one alone ends the contract, and the house goes back on the Patchogue market with more days on it and a story attached to the oil tank.
How we help Patchogue owners with a buried oil tank
We buy houses with buried oil tanks regularly, which means we already know who does this work properly and roughly what it runs. That is the practical difference between us and a buyer meeting the problem for the first time.
We have environmental contractors and tank companies we have used for years, and we bring them in on our own account after closing rather than asking you to line anything up first. You do not test, you do not excavate, you do not chase a decades-old permit. And if it turns out you would come out ahead removing the oil tank and listing the house on the open market, we will say so and hand you the contractor we would call ourselves.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A four-bedroom on Waverly Avenue. A four-bedroom on Camille Lane. A house on South Ocean Avenue. All of them in Patchogue, all bought by us.
Patchogue is roughly 12,408 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11772, and the housing stock is mostly colonial, cape cod, victorian. Around Main Street and the Patchogue Theatre, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Patchogue stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We know which of these streets take water, where the older systems fail first, and what the Patchogue-Medford School District does to a resale price.
Save your money on the oil tank test
Sellers spend real money testing an oil tank because they assume a buyer will demand it. We do not ask for a test and we do not ask for removal.
There is a version of this where you pay for the testing, the result raises a further question, and you end up funding the answer to that as well, on a house you are leaving. We would rather price the oil tank from what we can see and from what these jobs generally cost, and give you a number that holds.
The difference between an oil tank and an oil tank that leaked
Signs that an oil tank leaked are sometimes obvious and sometimes not. A smell in the basement after heavy rain, staining, a neighbor who remembers work being done. Often there is nothing at all to see.
If you suspect it leaked, an environmental contractor is the person who can actually answer that, and there are reporting considerations in New York your attorney should walk you through. We are not asking you to resolve any of it before selling. We are telling you what the road looks like so you can decide with your eyes open.
What the two paths cost in Patchogue
These are the two routes open to you with a house with a buried oil tank, priced against what Patchogue houses actually sell for.
Work it against Patchogue's own numbers. The median sale here is $605,000. A 5% commission on that is $30,250, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $12,100. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $42,350 gone before anyone counts the repairs it took to get the house listable.
There are two waits in a listed sale and people usually only count the first. In Patchogue the median house takes about 33 days to go from listed to a signed contract. Then it waits again, typically 45 to 60 days, while the buyer's lender orders an appraisal and underwrites the loan. Call it 78 to 93 days from sign to keys, assuming nothing goes wrong.
The part worth understanding is what a signed contract actually guarantees, which is less than most sellers assume. A retail buyer with a mortgage contingency can walk away right up to the end. If they do not qualify, if the appraisal comes in under the price, if they change their mind and let the financing lapse. A share of deals die exactly there, after months of waiting, and the house goes back on the market with time on it. We are not borrowing anything, so there is no lender to satisfy, no appraisal to come in low and no contingency to exercise.
| Listing with an agent | Selling to us | |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $605,000 (Patchogue median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$30,250 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$12,100 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 33 days (Patchogue median, once listable) | 24 hours to a written offer |
| Contract to closing | 45 to 60 days (waiting on the buyer's lender) | A date you choose |
| Total wait | 78 to 93 days if nothing falls through | Yours to set |
| Can the buyer walk? | Yes (mortgage contingency runs to the end) | No financing to fall through |
| Before repairs and carrying | $562,650 | The number we put in writing |
The agent column uses a 5% commission and about 2% of seller closing costs, which are typical rather than fixed. It leaves out repairs and holding costs because no two houses are alike there. Where a house is in good condition, listing with a capable agent can beat our number, and we will be upfront if that is the case.
No lender to satisfy, and no oil tank condition to clear
On a financed sale the seller is usually the one asked to pay for the oil tank work up front, on a house they are leaving, for a buyer who can still walk away afterward. That is an impossible position, and plenty of people accept it anyway because they believe there is no alternative.
There is. We buy with the oil tank in place, at our cost and our risk, and the money stays in your pocket instead of going into the yard.
What you do not pay when you sell a house with a buried oil tank
Listing a house with a buried oil tank the usual way brings each of these costs with it. Selling to us brings none of them.
- Agent commission
- $30,250 at 5% of the Patchogue median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $12,100 on a $605,000 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- Whatever it takes to make it listable, paid in advance none
- Cleanout and removal
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 78 to 93 days a listing takes to sell and close none
What to do next about the oil tank at your Patchogue house
The next step is short. Tell us what you know about the oil tank, we come and look once, and you have a written number within a day.
No test, no excavation, no cleanout, and no sign on the lawn in Patchogue. If what we see suggests you would do better pulling the oil tank and listing the house properly, we will tell you that instead, and point you at the contractor we use ourselves.
Common questions
Do I have to remove the oil tank before you buy a Patchogue house?
Not at all. No removal, no test, no soil work. The oil tank is priced into the offer, and the offer does not move afterward.
How do I know whether there is still an oil tank buried in my yard?
Houses built in the oil era and later converted to gas are the usual candidates. If you are not sure, we can tell a good deal from a walk around the property, and a sweep by a tank contractor answers it either way.
What if the oil tank leaked?
Then the job is bigger, because the soil is involved as well as the steel. It changes our number rather than our willingness. We have bought houses in exactly that situation and closed them.
A buyer walked away over the oil tank. Does that hurt my chances with you?
Not in the slightest, and it is a common way people arrive at this conversation. A retail buyer walking over an oil tank tells us something about that buyer, not about your house.
Does the oil tank change what you can pay?
Yes, in the way any repair does. Because we use contractors we have worked with for years, the deduction is usually smaller than the quotes homeowners are handed when they call around Patchogue themselves.