San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Was with a home warranty program for years. A few years ago I had a problem with my fridge which they related to my 'lack of maintenance' - I disagreed & said I'd like 2nd opinion to which they agreed; however, they then refused my calls re: follow-up appt.

I made my own appt. for 2nd opinion & they agreed that issue was not due to my 'lack of maintenance'.

Anyway, I took home warranty co. to small claims & was awarded my fees & $850.

I've not had home warranty since - annual cost is prohibitive; $$ fee to have person come to home & must read SMALL PRINT of contract b/c they will try to jimmy out.

Saw flyer which stated firm wanted $55 for service calls. Then they replace washers, etc instead of replacing faucet, they try to get out of replacing parts. Buy only if you have 20 year old water heater(cost for WH is now over $700) or other major appliance that is way past shelf life.

How about this?
House is 2 years old and you are the 2nd buyer.
Will the builder 2-10 wattanty cover structurak repairs say to roof etc?

It probably does but you need the builder to stay in business. That's why it is key to buy from builder with long history in San Diego. Can someone provide a list of builders (not shell companies that exist in name only) that were around in 80's and survived the crash of the 90's and still around today? Possibily Shea?

California Homeowners

Ten Things Your Home Builder Wont Tell You

......

1. "I'll build your house on marshmallow."
2. "I'll not only cut corners I'll sever them."
3. "I am barely regulated."
4. "Public inspectors won't catch my shoddy work."
5. "Your warranty may be worthless."
6. "You'll never see me once you move in."
7. "Good luck suing me."
8. "Your home won't look like the ones we toured."
9. "I haven't budgeted enough for decent light fixtures."
10. "You may wind up seeing double."

http://www.hadd.com/billofrights.php

Warranty co's and home builders top list of complaints

The nation’s home warranty companies have earned the dubious distinction as the most complained-about service in 2007. Thirty-eight percent of the reports for home warranty companies were “F” grade

Angie’s List Top 10 worst grade earners:

1. Warranty companies
2. Home builders
3. Furniture sales
4. Internet service providers
5. Architects
6. Structural engineering
7. Solar panels
8. Taxi/Shuttle service
9. Entertainment/party services
10. Mattresses

Each time we bought a place we had the seller buy a 1 year home warranty plan as part of the purchase contract. The costs varied from about 100.00 for a condo in 1999 to 350.00 for a mcmansion in 2004.

All three times (one condo and two houses) we had small things that went wrong. A remote control fan stopped working, a toilet leaked (bad wax seal thingy), dishwasher died, A/C unit had a fit, all within that magical 1st year. All these things were promptly fixed by the warranty company and cost us a $10-15 "co-pay".

We had all our places inspected by very good home inspectors but the warranty was just an added layer of security. Inspectors would never have been able to catch the things that went wrong with our places, they were just due to age and could have gone at any time.

After the seller purchased, first year was up we never renewed. It always seemed like they'd send us a renewal for 3 times the amount the original plan had cost the seller. For me to pay a 900.00 premium for a 1 year service plan was nuts. My dishwasher, oven and microwave would all have to blow up for the cost to break even!

FWIW, the provider we used in the last two homes was Old Republic and they did do good repairs in a timely manner. I can't remember who we used for the condo in '99.

Hope this helps,
Doublewide

doublewide - same experience here.

The seller purchased the home warranty and we kept it open for two years after the purchase, then let it die.

We used it to get the oven repaired and that was it.

I was glad to have it, but didn't see any value after the first year or two.

ddm,

When we bought our home in 2004, a homeowner's warranty was included for a year. Nothing happened in the first year, and because of the deductibles, exceptions,etc, we decided not to continue the policy in thereafter.

The only real things that "broke" was a water heater recently. All the other appliances and stuff still works, though we are replacing them because either they smell or we want something quieter,etc, so it wouldn't have been covered by warranty policies anyway. Also, I'm pretty handy, so repairing appliances doesn't usually cost me that much (parts are cheap, labor isn't).

A few things about appliances/etc

1)Waterheaters: supposedly out here in san diego, they will last about 8-10 years (shorter if you run a water softener), Most home warranty policies prorate the cost of replacement, similar to your car battery, making this useless.

2)Fixtures: home warranties cover leaks and functional failures..They do not cover cosmetic things, such as tarnishing, chipping, peeling,etc.... However, most major brand fixtures offer no questions asked lifetime guarentee anyway. Rather than spending $$$$ on brand new fixtures, just call the manufacturer. If things are chipped, dinged, corroded,etc they will send you parts of the fixtures, repair kits, or a brand new faucet (if your part requests are too many, they just send you a brand new faucet) free of charge. I replaced about 8 fixtures that retailed for about $200 without having to spend a dime. And mostly, the replacements were done for cosmetic reasons (things were tarnished,etc.

3)Appliances. In my experience, when your appliance gets to a condition that they need to be "repaired", it's more cost effective just to get a new one. A dishwasher for example might not be "cleaning enough" anymore, but good luck getting a warranty company to "fix" that.

Often times, home warranty don't pay for replacement, just repair. The only exception might be built in fridges. I wouldn't know though, because I don't have one.

I have been dealing with this issue on a house I just sold. This is what I learned about home warranties. Most (if not all) do not cover pre-existing conditions. The warranty company will do everything in their power to prove that whatever piece of equipment breaks, it was due to a pre-existing condition. You may be able to take them to court and win because many times it was not due to a pre-existing condition, but how much is your time worth?