Hot Environmental Topics

Environmental consultants can be like good bartenders; people view us as impartial and as a shoulder to cry on.   Over 20 years in business with tens of thousands of projects relating to real estate transactions we get an earful from buyers, sellers, realtors, inspectors, mortgage companies, attorneys, etc. Here are some tidbits of knowledge from the environmental fly on the wall during the real estate transaction.

Technically every real estate transaction starts as an "as is" transaction.  The seller is selling the property "as is", as they are not offering to do anything to the property when it is first listed for sale to prospective buyers. That is the foundation of the real estate listed for sale. Of course, some properties have "as is" listed in the sales description.   These "as is" sites are typically bank-owned, estate sales, or owned by entities that did not maintain the dwelling for various reasons. They want it known that repairs should not be anticipated, nor negotiated. 

Due Diligence. 

A property will fall out of the "as is" category shortly after it goes under contract and the buyer completes their due diligence. Due diligence is comprised of the many experts the buyer retains to evaluate the property for issues (Home Inspector, Environmental Engineer for structure, radon, mold, septic, roofing, tank sweep, etc.).   A typical buyer anticipates a property being livable and in good repair, this is akin to owning a car, when your car has something broken it is noticeable and gets addressed. In a home, if an outlet or hose bib not working you will likely just work around it.

Cracks in a foundation, mold in the crawlspace, a basement that gets water on occasion, an exhaust fan that blows moist air in the attic, you can still live in the home so why, as a seller would you bother spending money to fix it? It does not affect your (the seller's) quality of life. Curren often sees this common seller's point of view.    The rub is a buyer who does not see it through rose-colored glasses and is not looking to live with these issues when they evaluate a property. They are looking for the appropriate number of bedrooms, storage space, yard, kitchen, neighborhood, school system, etc.,  many things that just go along with the location of the home and features that they want to check off on their "want" list. Buyers, and rightfully so, view the list of repair items as adding to their overall cost of buying the home (assuming they undertake the repairs) which is not appealing. Long story short, sellers should expect a list of repair items even if the property is being sold "as is", but often sellers do not as they likely came down off their original sales price for the buyer.

Going Under Contract of Sale

Going under contract of sale is a short-term high-stress relationship between buyers and sellers with a high dollar asset one party does not want to overpay for and one doesn’t want to sell below market value. As with any relationship, things can sour so how and what you expect to happen needs to be understood and palatable to both parties, compromise is a good thing.

Management of expectations, buyers, and sellers

Buyer- A buyer is buying a home at an agreed-upon price until inspections reveal repair items and deficiencies in a home. Any repair adds to their purchase price unless the buyer factored in money for repairs when making their offer for the property. In short, the buyer is highly likely to have a list of repairs for the seller after inspections.   

What about an"As Is" Sale?

Much to the chagrin of a seller with an As Is Sale, buyers do not agree with taking it or leaving it. Buyers will ask for concessions after the buyer finds repair items. Depending on the contract of sale, the two parties can negotiate monies for repairs or call off the transaction, with each party walking away. The seller is walking away with knowledge of deficiencies that they and their realtor, attorney have an obligation to disclose to future sellers. The seller will also understand that these deficiencies may be requested to be addressed by another buyer. Often you will find these properties sitting for lengths of time, incurring costs and frustration for the sellers. Not 100% of the time, but more times than you would expect, eventually sellers will concede something for known issues as doing nothing has their costs.

New Home Purchase

Completing inspections on a new home gets you the most bang for your buck because it is a safe bet that you will get your entire to-do list completed as the home is under warranty. Even in new construction the builder and subs may miss something, that is why you get a warranty.   So, inspect away and get your repairs made.

Preexisting Home Sale

Now you are buying a nonnew home, call it a previously owned, used, preexisting home, whatever the term, you are not buying new, so expect the home to not be 100% tip-top shape. Your realtor should prep you that the older home with charm on the mature tree-lined street will have items funded from inspections, maybe 20 items.   Do not expect these 20 items to be enthusiastically addressed by the seller when presented. Some the owner may be aware of and has deferred repair to previously, some may be new, and not all will be fixed for sure. The owner knows their home is habitable (roof does not leak, toilets flush,) so asking for repairs or monies for repairs may seem out of line for the seller. Bear in mind the seller is not moving because the dwelling is falling apart, they have other driving motivations for the sale.   So, when the owner gets a 65-page report with a list of 20 issues with their home, well expect the seller to be a little taken back, slightly offended, etc.   Of course, the home inspection whammy is something sellers should be prepared for by their realtor but rarely are prepared for. I have seen sellers take equal offense from a 16-page report as a 60-page report, the bottom line no one likes criticism.

 Tip on requesting home repairs in a real estate transaction aka Where do buyers fail in buying a home?

Home buying due diligence will invariably find items requiring correction. Inspectors will find multiple issues with the home you are buying. The buyer sees dollar signs over and above the long-term loan commitment they are signing to purchase the home. Understand as a buyer, the longer the repair list you find the more likely the owner did not know about every issue detected. So, when you think about what you want repaired, think of yourself as the seller. At what point would you start getting frustrated with the requests requested? Remember you are buying a used home (read older home) you should be aware that there will be issues, what you are willing to accept is part of the negotiation and will affect how smoothly the transaction progresses.

 Where do sellers fail in selling a home?

First having an experienced realtor is priceless, even more so for an attorney in the real estate transaction. So, selling a home means you need a professional team backing you up.   Regardless of how many homes you have bought and sold, it has to pale in comparison to the number that professionals deal with day in and day out. My point is you have to listen to professional advice. Invariably the professional (unbiased) advice you receive will be better than your advice simply because you do not buy and sell homes for a living.

The most common home sales fail

• As a seller you are not prepared for criticism ahem advice on how to market your home. Family photos, clutter, weeds, and anything visually unappealing is a negative.
• Your home is not perfect, understand that.
• Deferred maintenance is a common term that means neglect occurred regarding the upkeep of the home. COVID-19 has created a home improvement bonanza, with people trapped in their houses, repairs, and improvements moved up into the bucket list. When selling your home think about what repairs you undertook, both recent and old. That roof you replaced 15 years ago?   You may have a 25-year life expectancy left on it.   Even a water heater you replaced shows you made improvements. The bottom line you want to be in the category of well-maintained homeowner, not deferred maintenance.
• Buyers will do inspections, expect repair requests, and expect to be scrambling when these requests are made to get estimates and work done before closing. Some of the smoothest tractions we see are ones where the sellers have a pre-home inspection performed before listing the home. This affords the seller leisurely time to assess issues that a home inspection might find and repair common examples are as follows:
•  Outlets that are not GFI, not working, not grounded, in short, minor electrical issues will be found by a home inspector.   Finding these issues before you list them is inexpensive and repairable in a few hours by a qualified electrician.
• Clogged gutters?   Again, a cheap repair.
• Cracks in a sidewalk?   Live with it unless it is a tripping hazard.
• 20-year-old hot water heater, that works? Maybe offer ½ the cost (if they ask for it after inspection) of a new water heater typical new installation is around $1,000.00.
• Exhaust fan venting to an attic?   Redirect it outside and be prepared to address the mold that the fan caused.
• Speaking of mold, if mold is found, you are best served to remediate, people will pull out of a transaction for mold
• Lead paint?   Yep, almost any home before 1977. The same goes for asbestos, Lead paint and asbestos were the green building products of their day. Don’t want either, well buy a home built after 1979.
• In-use oil tank? New oil tanks today have a 20-year warranty on average, older tanks don’t’ If you have a heating oil UST that is abandoned or in use, you need to remove and replace or remove and test. Bottom line buyers do not want an oil tank that could leak and they want assurances no oil contamination exists from past or current tanks. Oil tank remediation can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
• Garbage disposal not working. Remove it or replace it.
• Worn carpet? Likely going to be replaced by new sellers.
• Water leaks?   These will likely have to be fixed, plumbers are 1.5 times cheaper when they do non-emergency work.

This is just a sample summary, just do not be naive that the buyer is not doing an inspection of your home and the inspection is not going to find anything, be realistic. Go through the report from when you bought the home, what did you repair? What didn’t you repair? Also, be brutally honest, share your current home inspection report with repairs you undertook with receipts of work, and list what you are not repairing, as it is built into the purchase price.   Tough to ask for a repair for an item that the buyer knew about when they went under contract.

In the United States people would initially heat their homes with wood up until the early 1900's. Then the use of coal became popular from 1920 to 1940,  and then oil heat was king post WWII. Natural gas came into play in the 1990s  and finally natural gas (1990's).   Homes built pre-1990 have a high probability that oil was a fuel source at one time.  After World War II oil was plentiful and cheap,  the United States was a steel-making machine.      Cheap oil and industry-dominating steel production = heating oil tanks, buried and above ground for commercial and residential properties.

As of today, oil has been replaced largely by natural gas that is piped into homes which removes the need for calling for oil delivery to fill up a tank.  When neighborhoods that originally never had natural gas were piped for gas homeowners slowly upgraded as their heaters needed replacement.  What happened to the oil tanks? For the most part, they were abandoned, disconnected from the heater, and left where they were buried in the ground or in a dark corner of the basement up to about the mid to late 1980s.   In the 1990s some tanks were removed, some were abandoned in place by filling with an inert material like sand, concrete or foam and some were simply left where they were.

This brings us to today why should anyone be concerned about an oil tank, oil comes from the ground.   Well, New Jersey has no past or present drilled oil wells, we are not an oil-rich state, simply put oil is not naturally present in the ground in New Jersey.   What we are burdened with are regulations.   Yes, there are regulations governing oil tanks.  The most broad-reaching regulation is the Spill Act from the 1970s which says any release of a contaminant to the environment is reportable to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).   On top of this law are regulations that dictate what amount of oil is permissible and what is not.  Levels above what is permissible require what is known as remediation.   Other laws are construction defining what you must do to a tank when you remove it from service (either remove it or clean and abandon it in place).   You are also burdened with the definition of a Responsible Party (RP).  An RP is kind of like a store policy that says you break it you buy it.  In terms of an oil tank that leaks and requires remediation, well if you own a property or buy a property with an oil tank that leaks, well you are responsible for addressing it, hence the Responsible Party term.  This is why home buyers are wary of oil tanks.  This is why homeowners selling a property with an oil tank have problems, nobody wants to have the financial burden of cleaning up an oil tank leak.   Let me add another layer to this, banks, and mortgage companies are wary of providing financing for a home purchase if an oil tank was or may present.  Oil contamination can and has devalued homes, somewhere it makes sense for homeowners to walk away from the mortgage, leaving the bank with the problem.  

No, auto repair, auto sales, car dealerships, and repair shops do not fall under ISRA regulations.   It is a common misconception that auto repair is an ISRA-regulated industry, perhaps because you are generating waste liquids and at one time in the past waste oil had a hazardous classification in New Jersey.  I say this because I have been asked this question going on 25 years.

Now a facility that performed auto repair and now operates as an ISRA-applicable business, can hold environmental liability for the ISRA-applicable business. You see operations of auto repair can have an environmental impact.   Inground lifts, ASTs, USTs, slop sinks, parts washing stations with solvents, floor drains, waste oil, etc. all are AOCs (Areas of Concern) for auto repair shops.  The USTs are generally covered under their regulations.  The other AOCs are things to be looked into for an ISRA evaluation.   NO matter what the current ISRA applicable business is, the ISRA will evaluate for the historical use of the property, which is taken under consideration when evaluating for AOCs. So, a solvent parts washing station used 30 years ago may end up being investigated under an ISRA, even though the current operations never used it, because the site did.

Compressor areas, which auto repair facilities have, and AST storage areas can also be an AOC, sometimes the AOC will require investigation, and other times visual assessment of these AOCs can remove the need for testing.

What businesses are most likely subject to ISRA?

ISRA is meant to hold certain businesses (manufacturers of anything typically) accountable for contamination caused to properties.  However, the law held companies accountable not just for anything they did but for whatever else happened on the site, even if it happened prior to their operation at the site.

The ISRA regulations base applicability on the business classification (NAICS Code).    But a business can be misclassified.  Say the business makes circuit boards (a regulated industry), but their NACIS code is tied to design.   NJDEP will view what the primary business is and trigger ISRA. 

The first step in the ISRA process is hiring an LSRP (Licensed Site Remediation Professional) to perform a Preliminary Assessment or PA.   The PA completes an audit of the property and allows the LSRP to assess the environmental issues of the property and ultimately provide an RAO (Remedial Action Outcome).  An RAO is the result of the ISRA process.

ISRA Experts

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ISRA Questions?

ISRA Process Explained

Buyer Beware when it Comes to Mold & Oil Tank

If you are buying a home, it may be your first or may be your third.  Either way the internet has no doubt made you a sharper consumer. You can assess the property online by evaluating photos, sometimes 3D tours of the home, school districts, past sale prices for the property and the neighborhood, property taxes, the list goes on.  No doubt you know how to google information. So you find the home, make an offer, it goes under contract and now your due diligence happens.  A home inspection, etc.  You are a savvy buyer so you look into other inspections you can do, Roof?, Mold? Oil Tank Sweep?  Yep, you do them all but guess what the seller has access to the internet as well, they may even be buying another home so they have concerns with inspections of their own.  But since they are selling they are also concerned with what you might find and the cost.

Be fair, if you had a buried tank at a home you were selling and you googled oil tank leak and the following photo popped up, how forthcoming would you be about the tank?  

True statements:

Sellers don't want to have to spend money to sell their homes.

Buyers, don't want to spend money on unexpected repairs, mold and oil tanks are top of the list. 

Both items are not covered by a home inspection, so while a home inspector may flag that the hot water heater needs to be replaced, they are not going to point out a $4,000.00 mold remediation.

The best advice we can provide is to be aware of what inspections are prudent during the home buying process.  

Regarding tank sweeps, they can be a lifesaver.  Tank Sweeps

Tank Nightmare aka property listed again with no mention of the oil tank

The contract of sale falls apart due to the oil tank.

The story goes that the owner selling their home finds that their old unused oil tank is not a selling feature so they decide not to mention it on the listing information.  Home goes under contract and out of guilt, sellers admit to an oil tank when asked.   Curren quotes the removal and the seller wants to know what happens if the tank leaks.    The seller decides not to remove the oil tank, this killed the deal.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the property is relisted, again with no discussion of an oil tank.    So now a seller is flat out forgetting a tank was known to exist (I don't say lie) and we get a call from a new buyer for the home and they want us to do a tank sweep.

Really, must we be the only straight-talking people?  Hey, this situation is easy to resolve, we remove the tank.

But how about the person who buys the house with a tank that was not disclosed (we found it for another buyer) and they get transferred with their job in a year and have to sell the home?

The anger, the lawsuits, heck the only happy people are the attorneys.   Happens again and again. Realtors if you are reading and if you know the listing has a tank and the buyers are not disclosing, you better disclose, I have a few realtors getting sued for this.  Email can be forever, people talk, buyers share bad news (ever hear of social media?), I am not going to say how each attorney researches facts,  to trace how someone knew something and didn’t disclose it or blankly fabricated an untruth, but it's much easier than you think.

Now to be fair we have been around for over 20 years, we touch thousands of sites a year and every so often we get a boomerang.  What is a boomerang?  A project we were involved with stopped dead in its tracks, Curren finds a tank, finds mold, finds contamination, the deal falls through, owner cancels the contract for tank removal/mold.  Ok it happens, we aren’t pushy, if the owner changes their mind they have our number.

Why talk about this, because buyer beware, I would rather consult for a buyer to interest BEFORE they buy a problem.

Why are we happy when we find a tank, find mold, or contamination for a buyer?   Because our client doesn't own the property yet, we did our job we found a problem and now this problem can be presented to the seller for correction.  Surely the seller doesn’t want to sell you an environmental problem costing thousands of dollars?    Sadly there is a % of people that will, many step up, but some sellers do not, hence you need for proper due diligence.  

When buying a home a home do your due diligence.

Tank sweeps?  Click here  Tank Sweeps

Mold Inspection Click here  Mold Inspections

Expert advice you can rely upon, that Curren Environmental.

How to read mold testing results.

A Mold Survey involves mold sampling for the presence or type of mold. Mold sampling is completed in two ways, mold surface sampling and mold air sampling. Mold surface sampling is completed on a surface that is suspected to contain a mold-like substance, this type of sampling can be completed by performing acquiring a mold tape lift sample or a mold swab sample. Both methods involve acquiring a sample of the mold-like substance and having the sample analyzed by a laboratory. Your results should determine the type and quantity of mold. The interpretation of sample results pertaining to mold concentration has to be evaluated objectively when the analysis finds mold as you are sampling an area that has a mold-like substance, which can typically represent the suspected highest concentration (worst area), otherwise, why would you sample that particular area. The other type of mold sampling is mold air sampling. Mold air sampling is accomplished by running air through a laboratory containing that that captures microscopic airborne particles (fungi). The sample container is then analyzed by a laboratory for mold type and mold quantity. The analysis can be studied for both viable molds, meaning the sample is studied to see if the mold spores grow or by non-viable meaning, it what is the overall type and quantity of mold found. Mold non-viable air sampling is more common as it has been established that mold spores alive or dead can be an irritant.

Once you have the laboratory analysis completed, you now have to discuss the results and what they mean. Unlike soil and groundwater samples where all states have specific government-established standards, with mold there are No Federal or State Agency established concentration standards (Maximum Exposure Limits- MEL) or threshold level values for airborne indoor mold or for surface sample analysis of mold. Therefore, if you suspect there is a mold problem and have air testing or surface sampling performed, there is no regulatory standard to compare your results against. Without government standards, there is no common industry standards standard. The reason that there are no standards is that setting exposure limits or MELs would be difficult for a variety of technical reasons, which include limitations in both mold surface sampling and mold air sampling techniques, individual variability in sensitivity to microbial exposure among the human population, the occurrence of different types of biological and chemical pollutants in the indoor environment and limited data on the exposure-response relationship in humans. In essence, it is difficult to say who will be affected by mold spores and at what concentrations it would take to affect different people.

Due to the lack of set government standards, the environmental consulting industry follows general principles when evaluating mold test results. On a basic level when evaluating mold air sampling data, the mold levels should be higher outside than inside. The idea behind this approach is that there are always more molds outside in the soil, mulch, plants, decomposition of organic matter, etc. outside. Aside from an indoor and outdoor comparative evaluation, you evaluate the test results for specific types of mold. This evaluation includes looking for common outdoor molds as well as molds that are more commonly found on moist building materials. Evaluation of these molds goes a step deeper by looking for so-called opportunistic molds (marker fungi), which are frequently found on long-term water damaged building materials. The presence of these molds can point to a long-term moisture issue. These opportunistic fungi include Aspergillus and Penicillium species, Acremonium spp., Sporobolomyces spp., Stachybotrys, chartarum, Memnoniella echinata, Tritirachium oryzae, Ulocladium botrytis, U. chartarum, Cladosporium spp., and Chaetomium spp. These are molds that are not typically recovered in the outside air, so when they are found outside, they are in generally low levels. Conversely, when they are found indoors these molds typically point to an indoor water issue. The higher the indoor concentration of these fungi the more likely a long-term water issue is present.

In summary mold testing and the interpretation of the analytical results involves the evaluation of individual types of mold you find and determining why they are present.

Finding the type of mold, while interesting it does not explain why it is present. Therefore, every mold survey and mold inspection should not just confirm the presence of mold but also why the mold present is, and what created the environment for the mold to grow. The backend of the mold testing and mold sampling project includes an inspection for the physical presence of mold as well as for water damage.

More common mold questions and answers can be found at: /Mold-Frequently-Asked-Questions

A 1031 exchange gets its name from Section 1031 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, which allows you to avoid paying capital gains taxes when you sell an investment property and reinvest the proceeds from the sale within certain time limits in a property or properties like kind and equal or greater value.

Not dissimilar to the photo below showing the progress of the famous tower, a 1030 Exchange can allow an investor to keep building up a real estate portfolio.   Unfortunately, skilling environmental due diligence on a commercial site can be a costly mistake when remediation is needed.

As a  real estate investor, a 1031 Exchange can allow you to leverage your investment in real estate.  In the environmental due diligence world, we find that 1031 Exchanges tend to skip over environmental due diligence, which places the parties involved at risk.     People need to understand, that the owner of the property =  the RP.  (RP = Responsible Party).  Even in situations where the seller agrees to perform the remediation, we have seen RP's disappear and regulatory agencies will also look toward the owner of the real estate. 

Generally speaking A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment should be performed for all commercial real estate transitions, including 1030 exchanges.    Learn About Phase I

Let's start with the appeal of the 1031 Exchange

First, it allows an investor to pick a new property that allows a greater ROI or diversify the portfolio of properties.

You can use the exchange to consolidate several properties into one asset or vice versa acquiring more properties in exchange for one more valuable one, possible for estate planning.

On an accounting basis, you can reboot the depreciation clock. Meaning rather than simply selling one property and buying another one the 1031 exchange allows you to defer capital gains tax, thus freeing more capital for investment in the replacement property.

That all sounds great right?  Well, the environmental rub is there are time frames for 1030 to execute and we are finding many people have skipped over doing environmental due diligence including Phase I, II & III.   The rub is all Phase I studies follow an outline established by ASTM.  ASTM updates the standard every 8 years.  Generally speaking, when a change occurs Phase I becomes more inclusive.    a Phase I from 20 years ago would be a faster read than one today.  So you can expect that today's Phase I will be more thorough.  

The oil that leaked from this previously sealed pit is now the owner's responsibility to address.

How do you protect yourself with a 1030 Exchange?

Real estate transactions are complicated and 1031 Exchanges add a short window to identify properties, which makes people cut corners.

1. Be savvy and have your environmental consultant evaluate the potential sites.  You can start with a cursory environmental evaluation to find any red flags, you don't always have to do a Phase I.  You can do a Records Search with Risk Assessment (RSRA): Which is where an environmental professional obtains, reviews, and summarizes an ASTM 1527-21 compliant database for the noted property and the surrounding one (1) mile. The review will focus on any pertinent listing for the Subject Property as well as any surrounding properties which could pose a potential Recognized Environmental Concern (REC). The environmental professional will also perform a reconnaissance of the Subject Property. (Access to interior building areas must be granted.).   RSRA's can be converted to Phase I after the decision is made to pursue the property.  RSRA's are helpful if you are evaluating multiple sites but only plan on acquiring one of them.  Now an RSRA is not a substitute for Phase I but rather a way for an investor to evaluate multiple properties without fully committing to Phase I.
2. Of course, you can also perform a Phase I for the target property.   Savvy investors will get the target property owner to share the cost of the Phase I which will allow both buyer and seller to retain rights and use of the report, in case the 1031 Exchange does not go through.
3. You can also have the owner perform the Phase I as a condition of your acquisition.   Hey to be fair, the property is going to need to have a Phase I for any buyer and many sellers contract for the Phase I to help expedite sales, even before the property is listed for sale.   Realtors take note, properties with a completed current Phase I go to settlement faster.  Buyers can always have the Phase I peer reviewed by an environmental professional.  Curren Environmental peer reviews a few hundred Phase I reports every month, so this is not uncommon.
4.  
5. At this point we hope you have a bit more knowledge about Environmental and 1031 Exchanges.  Want to know more?  Call an environmental professional.
   

Pro Tip:  Curren Environmental has been doing Due Diligence for close to three decades (Yea we are old).    When you need a Phase II, well we just pivot and come back to the site with some of our equipment. 90% of other companies call a subcontractor which adds cost and time.

What  happens when a home inspection finds a possible underground oil tank?

A common request our office receives regarding a tank sweeps.

1. The property owner is unclear how the suspect tank was found.  Was it found with a Metal detector, or  Ground Penetrating Radar or both? (both GPR and a metal detector would be best) The solution would be having the owner receive a copy of the Tank Sweep Report so they would have a baseline regarding what they found and where. Yes, every professional service should come with a report, no report, then question how professional the service was.
2. The property is over 70 years old, so while the owner has no knowledge that there was an oil tank, they also have no documentation that there was not an oil tank. A 70 year old property most likely had oil heat at one point in time as oil was very popular in the past and other fuel sources such as natural gas was not commonly available or financially appealing until the 1970's.
3. The tank scan found a buried object, presumably metal. If only a metal detector was utilized, you can't say 100% if the metal found is a tank as metal detectors detect metal and properties have all sort of buried metal. Metal can be in the soil naturally, you could have buried debris, buried metal pipes or surface metal (like a fence) that distracted the metal detector and have a false buried metallic signature reading. Happens all the time. A metal detector on a sandy beach is great it will find buried metal, likely a bottle cap, but people hope for coins or expensive jewelry. People paying a couple hundred dollars for someone to use an $800 metal detector to find a tank are also helpful.

The guy in shorts, is using a $900.00 metal detector and found a suspect tank in the front yard.

When you scan for a tank, the more expensive the equipment the better.   GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) costs tens of thousands of dollars because it has the technology to do the job.

 Effective Oil Tank Scan or Oil Tank Sweeps like on commercial sites would use GPR as it will                            provide a signal (image) of buried objects.

The signal above shows the underground oil tank. 

Purchasers of commercial properties are more aware of the liability associated with leaking USTs (Hundreds of thousands of dollars) compared to a residential home buyers (Homeowners think a few thousand dollars is a lot.) So on the commercial side of real estate tank sweeps are completed with GPR, not metal detectors. Most environmental consultants that perform tanks weeps will use GPR and discount the cost for residential sites. Nobody wants to see someone buy a house and find a $50,0000 cleanup is required.

What if a buyer finds a suspect tank?

This is a really hard question because it relies so much on the quality of the tank sweep.    If they used GPR, if the property is likely to have had an oil tank (older the home, the more likely) and if the buried anomaly has the signature of a tank.  Well then you have to excavate and confirm that object is an oil tank.

Who pays for the oil tank removal?

Owner will pay 98% of the time as finding a hidden oil tank is a defect that needs to be addressed.

Do they have buried oil tanks at the beach (shore)?

If the home wanted heat, then yes homes along the coast and on islands had buried oil tanks.  Oil was king up until the late 1970's in New Jersey.  The photo below is of a home we scanned on a barrier island.  Many older beach houses eventually converted to natural gas, as gas could also  fuel the stove, dryer,  hot water heater etc.   After conversion to gas, it was not uncommon that the tank was just left in the ground.  So short answer beach houses had oil tanks.

What if a suspect tank is found and we don't believe its a tank?

Short answer prove your opinion right and dig it up and verify its not a tank.

What is the best tank sweep?

Using Ground Penetrating Radar is the best technology for finding buried tanks at properties, period.  Can you use a metal detector to verify a GPR signal that identified a tank?  Sure, always verify the object is metal.  GPR can't penetrate metal so when a GPR sweep pings a tank, it means the radar can't penetrate the object (likely a metal tank) but there are buried concrete tanks.  Metal detectors can verify an object is metal, but a metal detector  should not be used to be your sole technology

The recession of 2008 can still be felt today in the form of foreclosed properties that have been flipped.    These flipped homes look nothing like the home when it was bank owned.   Flipped homes certainly hold appeal for homeowners who want move in conditions homes.  The photo below shows a house that went through renovations.

This is a photo of the same home same area pre renovation.   Note the mold on the wood furniture on the left hand side of the photo.

Bank owned houses due to no occupancy, have wildly ranging temperatures and humidity fluctuations.  In short, the house gets hot and humid in warmer months, which allows mold to grow.  We have done homes where we come across mold on walls, trim, furniture, attics, basements and crawl spaces due to the house not being heated and cooled.  These homes also may be like this for years.  This certainly makes for homes that are in desperate need of rehabilitation, the question you have to ask is was the mold addressed?

Almost certainly mold in attics and crawl spaces are typically not addressed as these are not areas where the flipper will get bang for their buck or even look for repairs.

Basements typically get partially redone because it creates a living space that was not present before.  The problem is mold that has grown during the foreclosure process gets covered over by clean sheetrock, concealing the mold.  We have seen cracks in foundation walls covered by fresh sheetrock.

Basements in bank owned homes typically will have some levels of mold growth.  Again, when these homes are not occupied, there is a high possibility of mold growth.  

Why Mold Test a Flipped Home?

Many house flippers tend to look over the mold growth in basements, one because they are not aware it is mold growth and two, they are unaware of any water issues.  It is Curren's recommendation to always do  Mold Testing in basements of those homes that are being flipped, especially if they were once not occupied and a Foreclosure, sheriff sale, tax sale or bank sale property. There are times when basements are finished or re-finished and the mold growth is covered up, but not specifically remediated.  Meaning, mold will continue to grow and fester in these areas and will not just disappear.  

Attics are yet another area that are not in the realm of a house flipper.  When an house is not occupied for a period of time, humidity and moisture builds up, especially in an area that has no air flow.  Non-occupied homes do  not always have electricity and whole house attic fans, attic fans and humidistat attic fans will not turn on when necessary.  These situations lead to mold growth in attics.

Curren Environmental suggests Mold Inspections and testing in homes that have not been occupied for a period of time.  Mold growth will occur within 72 hours in the right environment.  Its not to say that home flippers are hiding the mold, they may just be missing that what they see is mold growth.  They are not mold experts.

Questions?

or email at info@currenenvironmental.com

Should I buy a house with a buried oil tank?

Buying a house with an oil tank is one of the biggest financial liabilities a home buyer can assume.  Buried oil tanks and Aboveground Storage Tanks (ASTs)  leak over time, and the oil pollutes subsurface soil and leaches into underground water.  Bottom line, oil tank leaks are expensive and owners of contaminated sites are responsible to clean up these leaks.

Environmental regulations dictate what is permissible amounts of oil that can remain in the ground. If oil levels are above permissible limits you have to remediate, remove contaminated soils to clean up the oil. The owner of the property is the responsible party. Small oil tank leak cleanups will cost around $10,000.00 and large soil remediation projects can exceed $50,000.00 even up to  $100,000.00. At that point, sellers are motivated not to make a big deal about an oil tank and buyers have to be cautious about buying a house with an oil tank.

Oil tanks are confusing for those involved, as these oil tanks and leaking oil tanks have laws, regulations and liability    Oil tanks have liability like that of driving your car, risk is everywhere, but to understand the risk with oil tanks you have to look at the tank on a molecular level.

First 98% of oil tanks are made of steel. Steel rusts.  During the life-span of a tank it will eventually leak.  

The home below was built in 1968, tank was removed in 2019 = 51 year old tank.

90% of tanks have exceeded their designed life expectancy.

New tanks today, on average, have of 10, 20, 25 and 30 year warranties, depending on what tank you buy.  Clearly the more expensive tank has the longer warranty.  The tank on the left has a 30 year warranty, the tank on the right if bought today with a basic warranty would have a 10 year warranty.

Think about buying anything, how focused are you on the warranty?  can you remember how long the warranty is on your car, dishwasher, hot water heater?

Calculating back from the year 2020, the following would be the age of a tank from the home you are buying.  Rarely EVER do people replace USTs with a new UST. Think about the following:

• Home Built in 1940 has a 80 year old tank
• Home Built in 1950 has a 70 year old tank
• Home Built in 1960 has a 60 year old tank
• Home Built in 1970 has a 50 year old tank
• Home Built in 1980 has a 40 year old tank

Is buying a home with an oil tank a good idea?   Well if the oil tank has been replaced and you have a warranty, then you have a good baseline regarding when the tank will need replacement.  This unicorn and rainbow scenario is likely three percent of transactions where an oil tank is present. The norm is the seller will say "I bought the house with the tank and so should you".

Mortgage companies and insurance companies are well acquainted with the liability of oil tanks.  Residential buried oil tanks consistently cause trouble for home sellers and home buyers.  Sellers do not want the liability and many want to sell the home "as is" with the underground oil tank.   Buyers, are more informed than ever and they don't want to buy a leaky tank.   Add in mortgage lenders who are wary of  buried oil tanks and may refuse to provide loans to purchase homes having them. Insurance companies may not want to write a policy for a property with an oil tank.  

If you are buying a home with an oil tank, the best advice is to ask the owner to remove and replace the oil tank.  The reason being, the tank is most likely well past a reasonable life span, and when it leaks you will not know, it's not a roof where leaks are obvious.  It is also not always worth testing the tank due to the age, regardless of if you get a passing tank test, there will be a recommendation to remove the tank due to take age. 

If your trying to sell a home with an old oil tank, read the paragraph above.  No one wants to buy an old tank, which by all standards (common sense included) is old and should be replaced.  If you are the last person holding the straw and are responsible for removing the tank, I am sorry, I would give you the same advice if you were buying a house with an oil tank.

Will finding mold growth hurt my chances of selling my home?   This is a common question we are asked when a home buyer finds mold during a real estate transaction.   Mold is a known health hazard, from inhalation of mold spores to the generation of MVOC and mycotoxins, which are generated by mold growing can adversely affects human health. And although you may be living with the mold without incident, you can guarantee that the new owner will not want mold in their new home

In states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware where the housing stock is older, building materials have had more time to degrade which allows mold to grow.  Heck a 50 year old home has had plenty of time to have plumbing issues.  If purchasing an older home, expect mold during a sale.

Finding mold and having to remediate mold is not driven by laws like a leaking oil tank would dictate remediation. Rather remediating a mold problem is going to be on the top of the buyers "To Do List" prior to purchase. Buyers can overlook the worn carpet, older windows and out-dated bathroom, but buyers can not overlook mold that tends to have buyers draw a line in the sand.  For one, buyers have plans for new paint, replacing the windows and carpet but not having to cleanup a mold problem.

Clearly visible mold is not a desirable feature of a home, we have never seen someone promote the presence of mold to sell a home. Sure we see homes that are being sold as is, which is a clear indication the owner knows there are defects in the home somewhere. But to say you have large walk in closets, newer kitchen and mold in the basement, yep we don't ever come across that statement.

Fretting over the type of mold and hazards associated with mold are a mute point, you won't see someone allergic to nuts try and differentiate the dangers between a peanut, walnut or cashew. 

Level heads prevail when managing a mold issue, you have to address mold on a molecular level.   You have mold growth in a home because the environment was conducive for the mold to grow.   Arguing that only a little water seeps into the basement after a heavy rain will not get a buyer to stop crowing about wanting the mold fixed. 

A competent mold company that is looking out for everyone's best interest is harder to find than you would expect, this is directly related to the fact that there are no mold regulations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Delaware.  Without mold regulations, you have no licensing, without mold licensing you have no competence hurdle for someone to perform mold work.   Any "Chuck in a Truck" will proclaim to be your mold expert.

At Curren we have completed 1000's of mold inspections and remediation and while each one is similar (they have mold) there are nuances to the project.  See the photo below, mold was caused by a disconnected dryer vent which exhausted moist air in the ceiling.  

We have seen a few things when it comes to mold.  We have a team of experienced inspectors and our crews are trained from the top down to do your mold job right.  This starts with finding the cause, fixing the sources and removing the mold.