Homeless and misrepresented

When we last left our hero, we were on the way to being homeless...but only for a short period of time.  A house was found, bid on, accepted, and final preparations were underway...until we had a boo boo with a holey oil tank that was being extracted, which killed the deal for us, immediately.  But let me explain...there is no time, let me sum up.

Said oil tank was conveniently left off the seller's disclosure.  And, paperwork regarding its whereabouts in the front yard wasn't discovered until after attorney review concluded.  Fishy, you say?  "Don't worry," they said, "we're willing (and legally responsible) to take it out.  Doing it ASAP," they said.  The tank, as it seems, was located adjacent to the foundation in the front of the house.  Now, during our inspection, the only structural question mark came when the inspector showed us a horizontal crack along the same wall indicating that there may (or may not) be an issue.  Now they're messing around on the opposite side of that wall during the tank extraction, exposing the foundation, and potentially doing more damage (if it was already damaged).  Also, the tank was potentially under some of the driveway and front walk.  Seller's realtor said, 3 weeks, tops.  No worries.  We'll get'er done!  Fun-ness!

IN ADDITION...Mr. Tanky had holes in him.  He didn't feel so good.  And, even though the tank was decommissioned a while ago (around 20 yrs), it still could have contaminated the soil around it; "could" being the operative word.  I called the tank removal company where the woman at the desk told me way too much information.  I'm a concerned party.  I'm not paying them to remove the tank. She's got no obligation to me.  Still, some of the things I was able to confirm was that a) Mr. Tanky left a smell and residue on the soil where he was sitting all these years; and b) the owners of the house were likely going to have to pay out of pocket for this project because it wasn't impacting a 3rd party (i.e. neighbors/water source).  The nice lady at the company said that they were likely going to have to take a minimum of 6 core samples of the soil, test them, and, if they're negative, generate a report finding that no further action would be necessary to the Department of Environmental Protection where they're inundated with the review of these types of reports because, hey, this is Jersey.  Don't worry, she said, this won't take more than 6-weeks, tops.  No worries.  We'll get'er done! ...(unless there's contamination, then that's closer to a couple months, four tops.  Don't worry!)

Rizzzz.

So we bailed.  The owners already requested that the closing date be pushed back to August 27/28 from the original date of the 18th.  And, we couldn't imagine that, after spending nearly $10,000 for this effort, that they were going to be willing to fork over another $5,000-$7,000 for the necessary asbestos removal and basement re-carpeting (read: cat pee/mold/rabbit shit on carpet, stink/funk).

My guess is that, when this family bought this house in 2007, they were given a credit or seller's concession to remove the tank.  Instead, they pocketed the payola and let it ride for the 7 years they were in the house.  Then, rather than scare potential buyers away, they hid the tank (illegally) from perspective buyers by not disclosing it as they're required to do.  I feel badly for that family as the dude was transferred to an office in Tennessee and he, obviously, wants to get his kids in school there ASAP.  They're now in the middle of a messy situation with the house still off the market, a major project underway, and responsibilities 12 hrs away.

Oh, and we're still homeless.  But, family and friends have been HUGE in taking us in/letting us use their houses for a bit until we can find either a rental or new house to buy and get on with our lives.  A big shout-out to my parents and in-laws, and especially the Linton/Whitten family who have let us invade their personal space for the last 2 weeks.  Oh, and my beagle wants to thank my parents personally, by allowing them to pick up after her.  She keeps leaving them presents and they keep throwing them out.  Go figure.  I guess, in this case, the gift really is (only) in the giving!

(P.S.  We're fine, have a bid on another house and a really nice rental lined up should we have issues with that.  Just not as dramatic a post if I wrote that everything is awesome...unless I'm describing the action scenes in the Lego Movie...but I digress.)