Should I get an ENVIRONMENTAL SITE ASSESSMENT on a .2 acre vacant Industrial Land?

[Flying_Tortoise]

I'm trying to buy a ~0.2 acre industrial vacant land in California and my commercial real estate agent is recommending me to get a PHASE I ENVIRONMENTAL SITE ASSESSMENT as part of my due diligence while it's in escrow, which will run me about $2,400, which is a big chunk considering the purchase price is only about 80K. I talked to one of the neighbors and they said that at one time it was a salvage yard, but they took out all the cars. Recently dirt was added to the land to fill it in and make it level. The phase I which costs $2,400 is just for them to do background research on the property. To do the phase II and actually take a core sample they indicated it could cost as much as $10,000. I am just planning on using the property for my own personal use and store my cars, trucks, RV's, etc.

Is it is worth it to pay this high price to do the survey?

If they do find some spilled oil, coolant, etc can I still go ahead and buy the property without fear that someone is going to force me to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean it up?

Since the survey would prove that the contamination was there before I purchased the property, would that protect me from being financially liable for any forced clean up.

In what situation would someone be able to force me to clean it up (or pay to have it cleaned)?

Can I do the survey myself? After all it sounds like all the do is look up free public information or is it more complicated than that?

 

[dee_dub]

Is it is worth it to pay this high price to do the survey?

Impossible to say.

Since the survey would prove that the contamination was there before I purchased the property, would that protect me from being financially liable for any forced clean up.

Probably not. I don't know California's laws specifically. In many jurisdictions the principle behind environmental liability is "polluter pays", but this can easily morph into "current owner pays" if the polluter is impecunious or can't be found or the purchaser failed to do due diligence. I would strongly recommend you get at least the Phase I assessment, and I don't know if I'd recommend you do it yourself.