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A cesspool in itself isn’t a major concern, especially if it’s been updated or not 50 year old block construction. I upgraded mine from block to a septic tank and reinforced concrete overflow cesspools and I paid something like $7000 around 10 years ago. But it’s a potential expense to be aware of.
Buried oil tanks, especially metal ones, are an EPA disaster waiting to happen. When I sold my home I still had a buried fiberglass tank that the buying company wanted inspected (the inspection guy wanted to pressure test the tank too...luckily I shot that down). One of the benefits of having the tank in the basement instead of outside or buried is that the oil stays warmer in the winter, and you also don’t get water or other debris in the tank.
I never had bears rummage through my garbage but those raccoons get pretty big...
In reference to oil tank, is it actually better to have it next to (right on the side of the) home outside, or in the basement/garage (attached). I am worried about fumes from these tanks especially during and few days after refill, but then when it's outside it's facing all the nature's elements, heat, cold, snow, freezing, etc.. I saw a few houses with tank right outside the kitchen window, is that allowed?
I've lived in 3 houses where the oil tank was in the basement and never had an issue with fumes/smell ... and I have a super sensitive sniffer, so trust me: If there were any, I'd have smelled it, LOL. As long as the burner's flame is adjusted properly for an accurate burn (this is where the annual tuneup comes into play) basement tank is fine. That said... IF an in-basement tank is old or corroded and thus has a possibility of developing a leak, the replacement process WILL stink up the house for at least a day, perhaps more. If the basement has an outside entrance the process will be easier but if not, they have to drain the oil from the tank and then cut it up with a SawzAll and bring the pieces out. I needed to have that done in one of the three basement-tank houses but I knew going in that the tank had already been patched and thus was a gamble on needing replacement whilst I owned that house.
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Regarding cesspoool, would that be after accepted offer or during negotiations if we offer X and they come back X+10k, can we just say "let me inspect your cesspool" how willing would owners be in general to this? Is there a risk to them like inspection messing up something etc?
If the house has a cesspool but the seller can't prove whether it is an old block one or a newer precast one, your offer should be contingent on the results of a home inspection AND a cesspool inspection. If you try to bring it up after the haggling has started, it will look as if you only did so in order to lower the price.
If a seller refuses to allow a cesspool inspection I would personally assume that they either (a) know it's an old block one and/or (b) are aware of issues with the cesspool that they don't want discovered. So I'd consider a refusal as a red flag, just as if the seller were to refuse to allow a home inspection. It's not as if the buyer is asking the seller to pay for it, after all.
There's no risk to a cesspool inspection. All they do is locate the cap on top of the main pool's dome (it'll be somewhere in the yard, usually in a direct line from wherever the vent (round perforated metal thing somewhere in one foundation wall) is located, then snake down a camera to take a look at the construction (block or precast) and general condition. I paid $175 for mine in 2013.
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If it costs $200 to inspect, why can't they just do it and promote the home with inspection certificate? Honestly at that point I would rather assume it's in bad condition or really old if they say "no idea".
Because sellers operate on the "if they don't ask, don't tell" principle. Now, if I were selling a house with a cesspool that I know for a fact is precast, I would either produce the bill from the cesspool company (if I installed it) or the results of a cesspool inspection, as you say. But most sellers will either never think of it, or don't care, or will hope nobody asks. As far as the cost of a regular home inspection (which will never include the cesspool) you're talking in the $600 range and so most normal-priced sellers won't invest in that. They assume the buyer will get their own inspection.
And because in NY sellers have the Get Out of Jail Free card ($500 credit at closing in lieu of the "required" disclosure form which nobody ever provides) and the home inspections always have the fine-print disclaimers ("We cannot guarantee that all issues have been discovered" and "This report should not be relied upon as the basis for purchasing a home") it is all more or less a cr@psh00t anyway, LOL
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considering moving from NYC to Suffolk county myself, and the cesspool, pool equipment and lack of in ground sprinkler system are my biggest worries because I hear landscaping, yard maintenance and pool problems could be biggest headaches when getting houses out in Suffolk/even Nassau.
You don't NEED an in-ground sprinkler system as long as you don't mind dealing with garden hoses. I've owned five houses and only had ingrounds in two of them. I actually stopped using the sprinklers in one of those houses because I'd gotten into xeriscaping and didn't really need them. My current house came with a system which I had ripped out (mostly; whereever the lines were in the way, which was a lot of places) because I don't want the hassle and expense. They waste a ton of water anyway.
As for yard maintenance, unless you want to cut and edge the lawn yourself, plan on anywhere from $30 to $60 per week depending on the size of the property and what prices you get from the half dozen or so different lawn companies that'll be working the neighborhood. I'm paying $30/week for a half acre which is a pretty good price; last two companies were charging $35 and $40 respectively, and when we lived in West Islip the best price I could get for the half acre there was $50. That's to mow and edge, nothing else. You need to ask around if it's not something you want to bother with doing yourself.
Some parts of southwestern Suffolk are on sewers which eliminates the cesspool situation entirely, BUT your property taxes will be higher there because the Southwest Sewer District is one of the items included in it. Towns that are on that sewer system include all of West Islip, parts (maybe all) of Babylon and/or West Babylon, and some other parts of the Town of Islip; realtors and sellers will know, because having sewers is a selling point in those areas.
Last edited by BBCjunkie; 07-10-2019 at 05:11 PM..
A cesspool in itself isn’t a major concern, especially if it’s been updated or not 50 year old block construction. I upgraded mine from block to a septic tank and reinforced concrete overflow cesspools and I paid something like $7000 around 10 years ago. But it’s a potential expense to be aware of.
Mark, I went the cesspool-to-cesspool route because I didn't want the additional landscape destruction that going to a septic system would have entailed; also, the relatively light usage wouldn't warrant it anyhow. I made sure to get it done ahead of last year's new "reporting" regulations and this year's new "nitrogen system" requirement.
After selling my TOH home in 2017, the new buyer's school taxes went up $1,200. His tax bills were being rerouted to me 2K miles away, and this continued for 10 months or so (until I badgered the tax collector's office to fix the error), so I knew exactly what he's paying.
Don't know if any of the other taxes rose, which would include town and village. But a $1,2000 rise was quite a shocker, and this was before the reassessments. As far as I know, nothing was changed in the house that would explain this tax rise, and I wasn't receiving any special STAR deductions either.
If by ToH you mean Town of Hempstead, Nassau County property taxes work differently than Suffolk's in several respects. I've heard some horror stories about Nassau's system for years (decades actually.) The OP mentioned wanting to buy in Holbrook, which is Suffolk.
Mark, I went the cesspool-to-cesspool route because I didn't want the additional landscape destruction that going to a septic system would have entailed; also, the relatively light usage wouldn't warrant it anyhow. I made sure to get it done ahead of last year's new "reporting" regulations and this year's new "nitrogen system" requirement.
I can see for you why you stayed the same where you moved it. In my case I just kept it inline about 15 feet “upstream” the main waste pipe and it wasn’t too bad at all. I ended up putting a playground over the old filled-in cesspools (with a couple of tons of river rock that filled in any settling).
The advantage of septic is that you get additional settlement time. I had it opened up a couple of years later to check and there was only a few inches of sludge and the overflows were clean.
Where I live now I’m back on septic but it’s a huge system - 2000 gallon plus 1000 overflow septic that then goes to a drain field.
Yes, you had pretty much the ideal situation there. I'll never understand why ANY builder in his right mind would ever locate a cesspool in the backyard rather than the front, but I've seen it now and again in houses other than this one. Basically I had a choice between destroying the front yard versus the back plus the side yard as well (because backhoe could not have gotten to the backyard otherwise), and chose the front. At least the new pool is now easily accessible.
One upside to having to redo the house waste line(s) was that one section was not optimally pitched (former owners added a bathroom and did a weird job of tying it in) but now with all new PVC and traps it's a more effective setup. I also - contrary to conventional wisdom - had the clothes washer drain line removed from a drywell and tied in to the new waste line instead. I did this because there was absolutely no way to determine the conditon of the drywell which some idiot later owner constructed a cement-slab-base Cambridge Paver patio directly over the top of. So if the drywell ever got clogged and backed up, I'd have had to re-route the washer drain anyhow. As long as the plumber was running all new lines for the cesspool job, it made sense to do the drain line switch at the same time.
Btw, I didn't realize that the house the OP is looking at has sewers, that is a definite plus because it means no cesspool issues. But there are still many MANY more houses in Suffolk (or even in other parts of Holbrook, possibly) that are on cesspools so maybe this info will be useful to others. :-)
Yes, you had pretty much the ideal situation there. I'll never understand why ANY builder in his right mind would ever locate a cesspool in the backyard rather than the front, but I've seen it now and again in houses other than this one. Basically I had a choice between destroying the front yard versus the back plus the side yard as well (because backhoe could not have gotten to the backyard otherwise), and chose the front. At least the new pool is now easily accessible.
One upside to having to redo the house waste line(s) was that one section was not optimally pitched (former owners added a bathroom and did a weird job of tying it in) but now with all new PVC and traps it's a more effective setup. I also - contrary to conventional wisdom - had the clothes washer drain line removed from a drywell and tied in to the new waste line instead. I did this because there was absolutely no way to determine the conditon of the drywell which some idiot later owner constructed a cement-slab-base Cambridge Paver patio directly over the top of. So if the drywell ever got clogged and backed up, I'd have had to re-route the washer drain anyhow. As long as the plumber was running all new lines for the cesspool job, it made sense to do the drain line switch at the same time.
Btw, I didn't realize that the house the OP is looking at has sewers, that is a definite plus because it means no cesspool issues. But there are still many MANY more houses in Suffolk (or even in other parts of Holbrook, possibly) that are on cesspools so maybe this info will be useful to others. :-)
It was a mid to late-50's thing. Apparently in my area you could tell the age of the home based upon the fact if the cesspools were in the back (earlier) vs. front (later).
The biggest mess I had was two tracks sunken into the yard from the street to the back, and one sprinkler line had to be repaired. Very little damage otherwise which was pleasant.
That's a great idea, and thanks for the information in your post, very educational.
I was mainly worried about keeping large flat backyards green and I figured it required scheduled watering, hence the need for in ground sprinkler, I guess we can achieve the same with hoses and those self rotating watering sprays, like you said just a bit of hassle moving them around vs leaving them out (potential cracking etc). How often do you have to water in order to keep the yard green if there is no rain?
Regarding rest of your comments, it makes total sense, plus if it's home inspection must buyers would probably not trust the sellers inspection and do their own, but I was strictly talking about cesspool paperwork, which you also covered as well. I don't want to hijack Op's thread with more questions any more than we already have
The answer to the OP’s question is YES, and vontinue to do so every year, for as long as you live there.
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