With oil heat you can call your supplier when the price is low and lock in a price at which you can fill your tank.
The problem you may have with having a oil tank is where it is located. If it's been around for awhile it may be underground and the bank may give you some grief about it. PA is EPA nuts. So if it does leak and is in the ground you're going to have lots of EPA involemnt as well as cost.

Now as for the shigles.....you know you have to pay to have them hauled away and disposed of and that is usually NOT included in most estimates you get from roofers.
The octagon shingles were at one time pretty common but like everything they've gone out of style. What you need to know is how many layers of shingles are on that roof. If it's just one stripping them off and havig them disposed of and then resheating the roof if needed isn't too bad. If there's more than one layer the weight of the shingels are going to make the expensive to dispose of, you're no longer disposing of one roof but two.
Most folks will tell you you can have upto three layers of shingles on your roof before you need to strip it down but since these shingles have probably been on a lot longer than recommended I'd strip it down to the wood and take care of any problems now when it's easier.

Thanks so much for the info, carol and tricia. Good point about the location of the tank. I don't know where the tank is but now I will certainly find out. I guess if I don't see a tank in the basement this will be a big clue (HA!).
The listing sheet says "new oil hot water heating system with summer/winter hookup (2006)," so I'd imagine whatever safety features/valves that are required are there, but again I will certainly find out. I have young kids so the thought of scalding hot water is definitely scary.

I've called our REA to ask her if she can find out if there's anything seriously wrong with the house. If not we will get an appointment to walk through it over the weekend.

If the roof is leaking or is that shot that it needs to be replaced, you may be able to get a new one or money towards the roof. Make sure you have the house inspected if you do put an offer in.

Too bad the heating system is new, if it wasn't and gas was available, I would suggest converting it to gas. The gas companies have good programs for low rate loans.

While the owner may not know if the house ever had an under ground tank, the inspector probably knows what to look for. Hubby & I killed a deal for property years ago because the owner wasn't cooperating with us trying to find out if there was an under ground tank at one time. I'm pretty familiar with the EPA and stories of people having their yards excavated due to old tanks and wanted nothing to do with it.

My DD bought a house that had oil heat. The tank was underground and they required the seller to remove the tank and do any EPA clean up, then DD paid for the gas line and new boiler.
Remember, if you are a fan of A/C, there are NO ducts to run it through, so to get A/C it is very expensive.
Kathy G in MI

Thanks, rose and kathy. I do wonder now if there isn't indeed an underground tank. The asking price (which has dropped) seems low for the size of the house and the neighborhood. However this could also be due to the roof and what I suspect must be an older kitchen (due to there being no kitchen pics on the listing). This house is listed with a big RE agency. There is another house for sale on the same street that's a FSBO for $180K more that's been completely remodeled, central AC'd, new kitchen with granite and new SS appliances, EP Henry patio, all high high end stuff everywhere. I suspect the one we're interested in will need some work...it's how much work that I don't know. But I guess we'll find out this weekend!

Central AC, BTW, is not a big deal to me. Our house now is from 1920 and we are used to the old fashioned window units! ;-)

We had the sellers of the house we purchased in NH remove an old underground oil tank. It made a mess but wasn't difficult nor expensive. That said, however, as a lender I've experienced EPA nightmares. So, yes...check.

/t

Regarding the roof. I've seen several roofs here in the NE that have octagon shingles, and they are slate and very, VERY old. Usually they are gray in my area though. They are also highly desirable to old-home lovers.

Have that roof thoroughly checked out and if it is slate, you could have a big $$ roofing job there.

We live in NE Ohio and have an oil boiler and baseboard heat. Our house was built in the 50's and we had the underground tank removed shortly after we moved in. The removal plus a new above ground tank were somewhere around $1000-1500, can't remember exactly.

Many people consider hot water baseboard heat to be an excellent heat source, because it's very efficient and uniform. Ours works great. I also like not having a water tank where energy is used to keep water hot whether you need it or not. With a boiler, it's on demand. The downside is that oil is a little more expensive to heat with, although I've read that it's a more efficient heat source then gas and certainly electricity.

We sign a contract each year with a "not to exceed" price per gallon. The company delivers the oil on a schedule so it's convenient. It's delivered about every 4-6 weeks in the winter depending on how cold it is, then not at all after spring until the fall.

Pompeii, you're right, the heat is great.

Thanks, rose and kathy. I do wonder now if there isn't indeed an underground tank. The asking price (which has dropped) seems low for the size of the house and the neighborhood. However this could also be due to the roof and what I suspect must be an older kitchen (due to there being no kitchen pics on the listing). This house is listed with a big RE agency. There is another house for sale on the same street that's a FSBO for $180K more that's been completely remodeled, central AC'd, new kitchen with granite and new SS appliances, EP Henry patio, all high high end stuff everywhere. I suspect the one we're interested in will need some work...it's how much work that I don't know. But I guess we'll find out this weekend!

Look at it this way, if the kitchen is usable, that's a plus. You can then redo it on your own schedule the way you want to. Depending on the size of the house, putting central air in isn't that expensive. We had it done on our rancher for under $4,000 IIRC. We did not tie the heat in though. For what you would save on the not updated house verses the one already done is a lot of money. If you do work yourself you'd have money left over.