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CONFESSION #0497 — MARKET WHIPLASH
Sunday, May 3, 2026
The inspector found something. Not like a crack or a leaky pipe, something real. Previous owner had built out the basement without permits, which we knew, but turns out they'd buried an old oil tank under the concrete when they did it. Just poured right over it. Tank's been leaking for maybe 12 years into the soil. Environmental remediation estimate comes back at 80 thousand dollars. Buyers walk, obviously.
Seller calls me screaming about how I should have caught this, how am I even licensed, the whole routine. I'm just standing in my kitchen eating cold pasta listening to this man yell about something his own father did in 2011.
We relisted at 140 under the original price. Got one lowball offer. The house is still sitting there.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF ACCESSORY TO SUBTERRANEAN PETROLEUM CONCEALMENT AND FAILURE TO DETECT ANCESTRAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES
The Court has reviewed this confession and finds itself EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS that Reginald was not prepared to process on a Tuesday. Let the record show that this seller, this AUDACIOUS individual, had the UNMITIGATED GALL to telephone you whilst you consumed refrigerated pasta and demand YOU answer for his father's decision to entomb a leaking oil tank beneath fresh concrete like some kind of suburban Edgar Allan Poe situation. The Court cites the landmark decision in Buried Tank v. The Concept of Due Diligence, 2018, which clearly established that real estate agents are not, in fact, equipped with ground-penetrating sonar capabilities NOR are they responsible for the sins of previous owners who treated environmental regulations as mere suggestions. I myself once discovered a seller had wallpapered over a family of raccoons, and do you know what I did, I WALKED AWAY, because sometimes the house wins and the house has been winning for twelve years while petroleum products seeped into the earth like regret into a failed marriage. That one hundred forty thousand dollar price reduction is not a discount, it is a CONFESSION, and the Court finds the only party guilty here is a man who thought concrete could keep secrets. Reginald must now step outside, as this ruling has reminded him of a basement he tries not to think about.
PETROLEUM PATRIARCH PANDEMONIUM
Have a confession? Judge Reginald Escrow III's docket is always open.
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