Home Warranty?

[osupride97]

I just sold my home in Rockwall, buying a home in Dallas. I guess the new thing (or new to me) is home warranty policies (seller purchases the first year.)

Anyone know of a good one for me? My buyer will get his own, but now I need to find one for my new place.

Thanks in advance!

[bleedorange]

If it was me, I'd spend some money up front on a good home inspection, and know what you have going in.

If everything is in reasonable shape, I'd save all that money you're going to blow...er spend on the warranty, and buy margaritas with it on your next cruise.

I'm not a big fan of warranties in general, and the home warranty trend strikes me as just another money-maker for the policy dealers. Over the long haul, more homeowners will LOSE on that policy than win.

[jakeman]

If it was me, I'd spend some money up front on a good home inspection, and know what you have going in.

If everything is in reasonable shape, I'd save all that money you're going to blow...er spend on the warranty, and buy margaritas with it on your next cruise.

I'm not a big fan of warranties in general, and the home warranty trend strikes me as just another money-maker for the policy dealers. Over the long haul, more homeowners will LOSE on that policy than win.

Ditto. If you are buying a home in good shape, and it's passed inspection, take the seller's first year policy and then let it expire. Put the money you would have spent on insurance in a savings account of some kind, and leave it alone, then when and if you have any repair issues, go get it.

I'll qualify. I'm not an extended warranty buyer either, and I mean never, but that's just me.

[bleedorange]

I'll qualify. I'm not an extended warranty buyer either, and I mean never, but that's just me.

I find it saves a lot of time in financial dealings. When the schmuck puts on his warranty sales hat at the end of EVERY FRICKING loan deal, computer purchase, car deal, I tell him to save breath and let's skip to closing. It's really a time saver. :D

The funny part is the quandry it puts them in. They basically have to convince you that what they are selling you is a short-lived piece of crap and you need a backup plan.

[osupride97]

I tend to agree w/ you both. I didn't like the idea of purchasing it for my buyer, but I signed the contract, so it's a done deal. I decided to go ahead and add that same option into my contract w/ the sellers. They will pay for the first year, then I'll let it expire. Never, ever do I buy those extended warranty policies.

I was just curious if anyone could give me a name of a warranty company.

This selling / buying sucks though, my realtor is calling for money for this, money for that. Will be glad when it's all over.


I like the idea of the margaritas on a cruise. :food-smiley-004:

[Poke John I]

I have had several of them when buying houses and they are usually pretty good. They only run about $500 added into the deal and guarantee many things, including appliances for one year. If one appliance goes out, it has more that paid for itself. I had one that replaced an A/C.

In another house I had the hot water heater go out. They sent their estimator out and found the hot water heater was up on concrete blocks and not a steel stand. They estimated the new cost with all the latest safety requirements, steel stand, strapping to wall, etc. and it still would have cost us about the same as just buying a new hot water heater without the warranty. We complained to our realtor who had recommended the warranty. She got them to waive all the safety stuff a we ended up paying about $50 for a $600-700 hot water heater. In this deal it still worked but there was an agonizing process involved.

[osupsycho]

Well I would agree in most cases about extended warranties but there are exceptions. Depending on the condition of the home a home warranty is one. When I bought my current home they did the one year warranty thing and then I had the option to keep it going and after a little math I decided to do it. For me it was the fact that they will replace the 15 year old AC, Heater, older Water heater or any of the other various items that are older. The other nice thing is service calls are only $50. So far I have almost made up the cost of the warranty in service call savings alone. It also changes my mindset to hoping that things might break....lol. The warranty was less than $400 if memory serves me but I will have to look up the company when I get home.

[Verb]

I have had several of them when buying houses and they are usually pretty good. They only run about $500 added into the deal and guarantee many things, including appliances for one year. If one appliance goes out, it has more that paid for itself. I had one that replaced an A/C.

In another house I had the hot water heater go out. They sent their estimator out and found the hot water heater was up on concrete blocks and not a steel stand. They estimated the new cost with all the latest safety requirements, steel stand, strapping to wall, etc. and it still would have cost us about the same as just buying a new hot water heater without the warranty. We complained to our realtor who had recommended the warranty. She got them to waive all the safety stuff a we ended up paying about $50 for a $600-700 hot water heater. In this deal it still worked but there was an agonizing process involved.

We also had an AC replaced by one of these policies, so I was mighty glad to have it. (However, we did not continue it once our free year was up. We figure that with all the money we haven't spent buying extended warranties through the decades, we can afford to repair or replace quite a LOT of appliances.)

[WAHOOS14]

Those things are worth every penny and then some. I think there are only one or two major home warranty providers out there. Ours was First American and it is supposedly more user friendly than Home Shield but I don't have the experience to back that up.

Had I not just bought a brand new house with the home builders warranty I would have gotten it again. I'm telling ya, that's the easiest $500/yr you can spend.

We have really hard water down here so you tend to go through water-related appliances fairly quickly.

[OrangeCat]

Just be careful that you get one that covers something. I had one. I thought my heater had a problem and found out it was the humidifier. The heater was covered, the humidifier wasn't. The refrigerator that went out wasn't covered. When I got down the the REALLY FINE print, I found out that very little really was covered. I won't have one again.