If you’ve spent any time researching tax sale properties you’ve probably come across an old gas station or industrial site. In this video we discuss how these properties could possibly be contaminated and the ramifications you could face!
Transcript:
Hey there! Casey Denman here with TaxSaleAcademy.com. In this video, we’re talking about contaminated properties.
Now, it’s very possible you’re looking at a tax sale list and you’ll see an old gas station or an old factory or an old garage of some sort and it pops in your head, “Hey, I know exactly where that piece of property is. Maybe I can buy it and return it to its old, beautiful, original glory.”
Well, you have to be careful here because these properties could be contaminated. Any property that leaks gasoline or paint or oil or some sort of foreign liquid into the ground is very likely to be a contaminated property.
Now, there’s two major risks here when it comes to buying contaminated property. The first one is your Cleanup Risk. Suppose you buy a gas station that has a tank in the ground that’s leaking. Now, to get that tank out of the ground, you’re going to be the person that has to pay for it. Not the person that installed it or not the property owner that happened to own the property whenever the tank started leaking. You’re the person that owns it now so you’re now responsible for it.
The second one is called the Damage Risk. Suppose that tank had 500 gallons of gasoline in it and it leaked down to the aquifer or it ruined the soil. Now, not only are you responsible for cleaning it up, but you’re also responsible for ruining that aquifer or that soil. And the neighbors when they go to sue somebody, they’re going to sue you, regardless of who put the tank in the ground. So you have your Cleanup Risk and your Damage Risk.
So, how can you determine if a piece of property is contaminated? Well, you can search the DEP’s website or the DEQ’s website to see if it’s listed under a site of contaminated properties or you can also use some sort of common sense. If it’s an old factory and they produce some sort of engine parts there, it’s likely they use a lot of oil and it’s likely something got into the ground, or if it’s an old paint shop or an old gasoline station. Again, just use common sense here.
A lot of people have been successful purchasing contaminated properties, but you really have to know what you’re doing here. You have to get things like a BEA or a Baseline Environmental Assessment. And then again, you just have to know what you’re doing if you try to purchase contaminated properties.
My advice is to just steer clear if there’s any indication whatsoever that a piece of property could be contaminated because after all, there are thousands and thousands of other properties out there for you to choose from. So just steer clear.
For more information on the very lucrative tax sale business, head on over to my website at TaxSaleAcademy.com. That’s TaxSaleAcademy.com. Take care, folks! Bye-bye.