Home warranty (water heater, contractors, price)

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by Erin1264

I've found home warranties to be pretty useless. They only cover a limited number of things and if you want someone to come and look at a problem, it costs you $100 for them to just walk through the door.

Our microwave broke after we moved in, and it would have been covered, but for $100 I could buy a new one and avoid the hassle.

Our roof leaked also after we moved in and the home warranty definitely didn't cover that!

Only appliances and some electrical systems for our policy.

You can buy roof coverage for most warranties.
And every policy has a coverage brochure explaining what is covered, not covered, and the limits and conditions. It is definitely not "bumper-to-bumper" coverage.
ORHP has this information on their website, and I suppose some of the others do to.
Your agent can give you these brochures as the warranty company representatives keep forms and brochures stocked in real estate offices.

The benefits I see to home warranties are:
1. They can soften the blow of big ticket stuff in the first year after a Buyer has taken on a lot of financial obligations and may be just starting to save funds for maintenance and repairs.
2. A good warranty company has reliable contractors in place for service calls.

[valicon]

Originally Posted by sacredgrooves

A couple things with home warranties;

Keep all your maintenance records. If a system breaks down and is not maintained they will not cover it.

Warranty companies are not in business to pay out claims. If your home is only 5-6 years old, I wouldnt recommend one. If it is a dozen or more, and your systems are original, you will probably benefit from it. Keep in mind though, at $500 or so a year, after 4 or 5 years you have paid for a new HVAC unit etc. There is also a $50 or so service charge for each visit.

Thank you! I didn't have any idea about all that. Our house is 3 years old and we are the original owners. I am so worried about something major breaking down like the ac and having to spend a ton of money to fix it.

[valicon]

Originally Posted by lamishra

We had 2-10 and dropped them after a MAJOR air conditioner fiasco with them last year. It was a serious pain in the *you know what*. We'll probably never have another home warranty again unles it's part of a sales contract.

Thank you!

[valicon]

Originally Posted by Erin1264

I've found home warranties to be pretty useless. They only cover a limited number of things and if you want someone to come and look at a problem, it costs you $100 for them to just walk through the door.

Our microwave broke after we moved in, and it would have been covered, but for $100 I could buy a new one and avoid the hassle.

Our roof leaked also after we moved in and the home warranty definitely didn't cover that!

Only appliances and some electrical systems for our policy.

Erin - Thank you. That is really good info.

[valicon]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

The benefits I see to home warranties are:
1. They can soften the blow of big ticket stuff in the first year after a Buyer has taken on a lot of financial obligations and may be just starting to save funds for maintenance and repairs.
2. A good warranty company has reliable contractors in place for service calls.

I have all of my appliances with extended warranties. What I am worried about are big things like the roof, a/c, heater furnances, plubming, electrical...those type of things. What do you think? Thanks again.

[adlnc07]

Originally Posted by valicon

I have all of my appliances with extended warranties.

Salespeople must love you! I never buy extended warranties and have never needed one.

I think home warranties are a nice thing for sellers to add on to 'sweeten the deal' but I wouldn't recommend buying one for your own use.

[lamishra]

The thing with *some* HW companies is that they DO NOT LIKE REPLACING large ticket items like A/C, heating/plumbing systems. They're extremely cheap, use cheap parts for repairs and do NOT always use the best contractors.
They just keep "repairing" things that really SHOULD be replaced with cheap parts that continually break down again. They charge you for every call and so many times, you have to have the contractor come to your home multiple times and they charged us every time they came (which was 4 times for one problem) (once to diagnose, one to try and repair, didn't work, came back again twice). Also, you can ONLY use their contractor, even if you find someone else who will do it cheaper you must use their parts, even if you find them elsewhere cheaper, and you must play by their rules even if they make NO SENSE.

They did charge us for a very expensive part (so no, they do not fix things free of cost, there is a limit to how much they will pay) even though the AC person recommended replacement of the unit. We waited 4 weeks for the part to be delivered to the contractor (in JULY in NC, with no AC) even though my husband found the part online for a fraction of the cost that could have been delivered the next day. My husband was wiling to purchase the art on his own to lower the cost but that request was refused. They would not comp us the price for a new unit or anything. It took them 6 weeks to finally repair it(over the summer, no AC). I think we ended up paying a total of $700.00 for a REPAIR that broke again the next summer.

[valicon]

Originally Posted by adlnc07

Salespeople must love you! I never buy extended warranties and have never needed one.

No, not really. I didn't buy my extended warranties from the sales people that sold me the appliances. I bought my extended warranties after the manufacturer's warranties had expired from the manufacturers of the appliances and got very good discounts on them. I have actually used them so they are more than paying for themselves. I just had a repair on my refrigerator that would have cost me $300 if I didn't have a warranty. I am glad that you never needed one. They give me piece of mind and that is definitely worth it to me.

[needhalc]

I have had good luck with American Home Sheild...also had it in CA for 7 yrs. It has paid for itself every year, so we have kept it until it doesn't. Our home now is 12 yrs old, and last yr, our AC died and it was $1100...we paid $55. Now if my lame dishwasher would just die so they will pay me the replacement costs!

[valicon]

Originally Posted by needhalc

I have had good luck with American Home Sheild...also had it in CA for 7 yrs. It has paid for itself every year, so we have kept it until it doesn't. Our home now is 12 yrs old, and last yr, our AC died and it was $1100...we paid $55. Now if my lame dishwasher would just die so they will pay me the replacement costs!

Thank you! Too funny about your dishwasher.