Walk. It's not worth it. A better house exists for you.

You mentioned that you were late getting offers in on other houses that you liked... so ask your Realtor to carry Purchase Agreements with her so you can write and sign offers inside the house for sale right there and then.

we didn't get those offers in because our house hadn't sold yet...

we are giving them one last chance to work with us. i also did confirm that our home owners would charge us a yearly surcharge just for a tank being underground. and other insurance companies are no longer insuring at all unless they are removed. i explained that to them & if is still pissing & moaning about it, we're done.

I wanted to post an update-I spoke to the town inspector. He is stating that they do not consider the home we are buying to be a 5 bedroom since the septic is 3 bedroom. He said they do not get into comparing bedrooms vs septic certification, do not care about it at all & that his own home is a 3 bedroom that is only 2 bedroom certified. He also said that for tax purposes, the town still only considers it a 3 bedroom since that's what the septic is. He basically calls the other 2 rooms bonus rooms & states that technically, the only impact to us is that we shouldn't ever market it as a 5 bedroom, since it's only a 3 bedroom home. (that was this seller's agent big mistake-but it was priced more as a 3 bedroom at least)

He said that this has been the way the town does business for a long time & he wouldn't see any reason why that would ever change.

The seller has agreed to remove the tank & test the soil underneath next week. As soon as that comes back, we will do a septic inspection & home inspection.

Incidentally, I called my home owners insurance company & they don't insure if there is a tank remaining underground. They don't care if it was abandoned properly or not. And the other leading insurer I checked with charges a $100/year surcharge if there is a tank or partial tank underground.

In Virginia, buyer and seller must AGREE on dual agency. If they can't agree, buyer can get an agent from a different company. How commission is split would be beyond me - that would be for a remediation board. When both agents are under the same broker, there certainly is a greater "push" to get the home sold by both agents.

If the seller isn't working with you on getting a happy ending, you probably should walk away.

In Virginia, if it ain't in writing and it ain't in the contract - it is not enforceable, not matter how many oral promises a seller makes.

Another thing we have in VA that must be agreed to is representation by designated representitives. That is a fancy way of saying list agent and sales agent are working under the same broker. Since the broker owns the listings, technically it is a type of dual representation and must be agreed to (in writing) by all parties.

Did I get that right VAbroker?

Here's my nickles worth.
I sell foreclosures. We had a 20 gallon oil spill on a cement basement floor. Another agent noticed it just after it happened and called the fire department. The FD called the DEP/EPA. We're at 30,000 and counting. It seems they found some other oil contamination in the soil and now a good chunk of the yard needs to be trucked out. Once the DEP is involved they determine what's to be done and will lien the property for cleanup costs.
If my daughters/granddaughters were involved in this, my advice would be to walk away. I would also request from the broker owner of the RE company for reimbursement of any expenses associated with this purchase. The next call would be to the NJ consumer protection bureau, and/or the licensing commission. Both are free investigations. I find it hard to believe that an owner "forgot" they had the "Love Canal" (okay an exageration) under their bedroom window.
Just my nickles worth.

I am a realtor in FL. With your dual agency, you do not have someone wholey on your side. I would never accept a realtor's "opinion" about what you should do (re "get over it" comment) as they are not inspectors and not professionals on the subject of underground tanks.

Always get inspections by any AND ALL inspectors (third party, not part of the transaction, you pay them inspectors) you feel you need to make your final decision. It's flattering you're asking people on a message board, but the real people to ask are the professionals in your area who can do something about it. (In Florida we don't have many things underground, so I don't even know what the industry is for inspecting such.)

Disbelieving the sellers who have already lied (at least by omitting the facts) is a good thing. But loss of that trust doesn't mean you should drop the house purchase; it means you should be MORE DILIGENT in your inspections.

I hope this helps.

"I am burnt on this & ready to walk. I just hate the fact that someone out in the world will hate me now."


Okay, it's time to walk already. listen to yourself.

Jersey agents, do they usually remove the tank in NJ? Where I am on LI, the tank is just filled and abandoned. I've never had anyone remove it.

If the EPA comes in to do the cleanup, the owner gets the bill. You don't know how much the bill will be in advance. I had a spill from a mobile home fuel tank above ground many years ago now. First I knew about it was I had a call from the EPA stating they had dug a hole about 8x8x8 and removed all the soil. I think the bill was 8K. I've seen a couple other instances of oil spill cleanups...one bankrupted the property owner. Having gone through that once I would never buy a home where I knew there had been an oil spill. My two cents.

New Jersey has some specific remediation requirements, make sure they all have been followed and documented.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/srp/unregulatedtanks/