1. Test the soil around the oil tank - Hire Simple Tank Services to test the soil around the oil tank to determine if their is a leak or not. Once this test is done, Simple Tank can give you a fixed price for the removal and clean up project. Now you can take this number and negotiate the terms with the seller knowing that your quote will not change after you close on the property.

2. Have the seller remove the oil tank before you buy - If the seller is willing to remove the oil tank before you purchase the property, you can save yourself the headache of dealing with the project after you close. If the tank is found to be leaking, the seller will be held responsible since they still own the property.

3. Sweep the property for any unknown oil tanks - Simple Tank Services recommends having any property you buy in the state of NJ swept for underground oil tanks. Even if you have documentation that their was an oil tank in the basement and it was removed. A lot of the times, when the underground oil tank started to malfunction, homeowners would cover the underground tank up and place a new above ground tank on the property somewhere.