Hi
Buying s house. Here is scenario.
Above ground oil heat has serviced the house for 50 years but It is forced air and has central a/c
There is gas at the street but no gas in the house
?'s- sure I'm researching but curious of anyone's specific experience
1. Tying the existing gas line from the street to the house? $?
2. What's cost to removal of a/ground oil tank and install of a gas furnace and gas service for cooking to the house. 2k? 5k? 10k?
The cost of a conversion is not going to be cheap. I would definitely try to get the seller to make a price concession or give back on the closing costs to offset the conversion. A new furnace alone will probably be north of $5,000. All in I'd say it will be closer to the $10,000 than $5,000
And like Crispino said, definitely check into the possibility of an underground tank. Could be major money to resolve if they find a leaky one. That cost my sister's inlaws about 25K as the tank was under the driveway and had leaked. And this was 15-20 years ago. EPA is a mother on this stuff.
Buying a house always seems to cost more money than expected. If the oil burner is good, this can be an expense for the future. It's good to get the costs involved but you may want to hold off until you've found any other ailments the house may have. Just a thought. Good luck!
If I were the seller, barring some new discovery (like the underground tank if it wasn't disclosed) I wouldn't budge, it's not as if the oil boiler was a surprise.
Oil tanks, buried or otherwise, are full disclosure in NJ. It's not something they can lie about or mislead you on and your real estate agent should have all the information on that and your closing attorney will also make sure that all is above board.
10K sounds like a reasonable cap if there are no surprises.
Good luck.
Where in central NJ?
There are ways a scan can be done to check this out. Buyer beware.
That study should reveal if the current tank is leaking, has leaked or if there was once an underground tank.
This stipulation of the contract saved me 250K in clean up costs on a property I currently own. The phase 1 study showed possible contamination and the seller had to remediate before I took ownership.
There was an undisclosed underground gas tank, an area where they had dumped motor oil and another area where they had stored hydraulic oil barrels and they had rusted and leaked.
I do fully intend to have the property wanted for underground tanks
We are looking at Westchester houses and a lot of the older ones still use underground oil tanks
I appreciate the info about the exact cost
As far as below ground oil tanks, for me personally, it's a non-starter and I wouldn't buy a house with that
The fact that this house has central AC and is above ground makes it ok w me!
This is very helpful for me specifically. Thanks again
n comment 12205919 bigblue1914 said:
We are looking at Westchester houses and a lot of the older ones still use underground oil tanks
I think your biggest issue underground is leaking, I guess a pressure test would let you know if that is going on. Soil remediation can be a costly endeavor if you have to get into that.