Home Warranty Companies~ Any good experiences ?

[HLS]

There are a number of companies offering these plans, not just at time of home purchase.

I was curious about different plans and started looking… The companies that are most well known have poor reviews but there are several with high satisfaction ratings that I have never heard of.

Any great experiences with any of these Home Warranty companies ?

[FlyerInHi]

I never renewed at $600/year. I think that you’re better off setting aside $600/yr.

Upon purchase, you can get your Realtor to purchase you a policy for about $400 (cheaper the first time when closing). Oftentimes the buyer will buy you a policy as it usually is a requirement that buyer can check-off on the Real Estate Purchase Agreement.

I always went with American Home Shield. They have repaired 2 water heaters for me and 1 capacitor on an AC unit. Some AC companies charge $600 for capacitor repair, but if you know what you’re doing, you can get the part for less than the $75 or $100 deductible. Same thing for water heater control.

I felt like I only got a discount on an AC repair because they fixed the leak but charged a lot to refill the refrigerant (Puron).

The one deal I got was when they fixed the fancy electronic controls of a water heater. The parts were expensive and had to be ordered.

Most appliances are not worth repairing. Just replace them.

[spdrun]

Why not just ask for a discount on the purchase price rather than having the seller pay some parasites for a “warranty”?

And yeah, motor capacitors are about $25 if you’re unlucky and take less than an hour to replace. Charging $600 is pure sodomy.

[terracap]

[quote=HLS]There are a number of companies offering these plans, not just at time of home purchase.

I was curious about different plans and started looking… The companies that are most well known have poor reviews but there are several with high satisfaction ratings that I have never heard of.

Any great experiences with any of these Home Warranty companies ?[/quote]

I flip homes . When I am selling my own home I build a $500 home warranty plan into the deal . This stops a lot of problems and prevents the buyer from hassling the seller after close of escrow . It’s a buffer because if something happens the company is good in either repairing or replacing the appliance . Old republic is great . In my own home they replaced an air conditioning unit one year and the garage door motor the next year and the central vacuum the 2nd year.

[HLS]

American Home Shield has some of the best reviews,
Old Republic some of the worst.

I don’t look at them as parasites,
but for those of you that are experts at everything in life and can’t imagine paying anybody to do anything, you don’t need
any coverage.

Policies are available as low as $300 +/- a yr
that cover a lot of things. There is still a deductible per service call.
They say that the age of the items doesn’t matter.

[FlyerInHi]

I was talking to my neighbor about watching the Price is Right as a child. The appliance giveaways elicited oohhs and aahhs. Nobody cares anymore. Just replace the appliances when they break.

When you buy a house, it’s good idea to have a home warranty that will cover plumbing leaks, etc… You never know what you encounter when you move in. The policy is cheap when ordered through agent/escrow, and most of time the seller pays.

I wouldn’t recommend renewing the policy yearly though.

[poorgradstudent]

They are annoying to deal with and will look for any backdoor to avoid paying.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=FlyerInHi]I was talking to my neighbor about watching the Price is Right as a child. The appliance giveaways elicited oohhs and aahhs. Nobody cares anymore. Just replace the appliances when they break.

When you buy a house, it’s good idea to have a home warranty that will cover plumbing leaks, etc… You never know what you encounter when you move in. The policy is cheap when ordered through agent/escrow, and most of time the seller pays.

I wouldn’t recommend renewing the policy yearly though.[/quote]

i just bought a vintage mint condition IBM slectric. not sure how old it is..probably 40plus years…my kids were enchanted. they were unfamiliar with the “return” key. it’s got a type ball that punches the hell out fo the paper.

someone’s gramma died and didn’t want it. it even comes with a vintage perfect condition plastic cover. so beautiful…so olive ina color…

i am going to type some serious shit on that.

engineer student kid was loving the build quality. interesting difference in tolerances in construction, from say, an ipad… weighs a ton…hums like a washing machine

also, the thing can be heard throughout the house.

[spdrun]

I don’t look at them as parasites,
but for those of you that are experts at everything in life and can’t imagine paying anybody to do anything, you don’t need
any coverage.

Anything mechanical comes naturally to me and doing it is generally fun. Watching other workers do it for me is boring, and I wouldn’t trust ’em to do a good job without supervision.

[FlyerInHi]

spd, you’re the perfect guy to own rentals.

I can do many things, but when it comes to machines, I know the concepts but don’t have the inclination to repair. Luckily, there’s a replacement cycle and appliances in the home are cheap enough to replace with new, if not Craigslist used items.

[EconProf]

Home warranties buy you some peace of mind, but at a high price. Their fine print shows there are a lot of things they don’t cover, so the odds of your filing a claim are fairly small. Like extended warranties on cars and other big purchases, they are highly profitable to the companies, but not a good deal for the consumer. The best indicator of this is something called the payout ratio, which is the share of premiums collected that an insurance company pays out in claims. It’s pretty small for home warranties–perhaps 50 percent or so. That said, it’s so common and expected in home purchases, the buyer can still demand the seller pay it.
As for renewing it after one year, that really makes no sense.

[svelte]

[quote=scaredyclassic]
engineer student kid was loving the build quality. interesting difference in tolerances in construction, from say, an ipad… weighs a ton…hums like a washing machine

also, the thing can be heard throughout the house.[/quote]

When I was a kid we didn’t have a typewriter, but we would sometimes borrow one from friends. The electrics with a ball head were my favorite.

Whenever one was in the house, I’d spend hours typing things – anything – I was so enamored with it.

I had no clue that I was preparing myself for my career attached to a keyboard. 🙂

[svelte]

PS – I have a friend who is closing on a home in about 3 weeks and, since he’s come to me for advice through the entire process, I’m pretty sure he’ll be asking for a home warranty company recommendation soon.

So I’m following this thread closely. 🙂

[FlyerInHi]

Like econ prof said, home warranties are now part of the standard real estate purchase agreement. Sellers and buyers often don’t even realize that they are get one until close of escrow.

Be sure to shop for homeowners insurance. Don’t let the agents choose for you.
Wawanesa is really good and cheap. But they don’t cover all areas.
By doing your own shopping you could save $500 per year or more depending on the house.

[spdrun]

Like econ prof said, home warranties are now part of the standard real estate purchase agreement.

Out of three properties I’ve bought, zero have had a warranty attached. I’d have told the seller to take their warranty, shove it where the sun don’t shine, and give me the correct discount if any seller would have tried that waste-of-money crapola.

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