Home Warranty???

Spartan

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I am buying a house.
It is a classic brick home built in 1947.

the seller is providing a $700 home warranty.
SCHOOL ME !

Which companies are good, which are awful?
 
It's paid for. That said they are not that good after you've been paying for 10 years and nothing happened. They don't cover much other than the core unit. Drywall, ducting, etc are not covered.

It's a selling advantage. A better house with newer equipment might be a better deal. Decide upon the house first then try to get the home warranty added to seal the deal.
 
I’ve had them on a few houses, they will use bailing wire and duct tape to keep things mostly running forever.
 
Generally no good. We had one for a couple of years because we had a 20+ year old HVAC system. They did come fix it once which was decent. We used them for a plumbing issue and I had to UnF*&% what the clueless, incompetent, moronic excuse for a plumber they sent out. They hire the CHEAPEST (read can't get work the honest way) contractors possible. It did work out in my favor when I called them and told them I had to fix my own plumbing issue. I got PAID to fix my own plumbing and essentially recovered the deductible, parts and some labor. Take the warranty from the seller and then begin banking the cost of a warranty and you will be ahead.
 
from my experience you would be better off with $700 cash instead. Home warranty companies are a rip off...

My experience as well. It’s a marketing tool for the seller. Negotiate for a check of $700 at closing to be paid directly to you in lieu of the warranty.

I can’t be for certain but but after buying several properties over the past 5 years with three different agents I suspect they might get a kickback for “selling” the seller on the idea that it makes their home a buy.


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As a homeowner, I've never seen a warranty company pay out to fix or replace what I would have interpreted to be a "covered" system.
As a seller, it has helped me sweeten the pot just enough to seal the deal and get to closing.

I agree with the others that if it's already included in the offer, you can reject it and take cash, then create your own "warranty" savings account. You can reject it because it isn't paid for until closing.

Good luck.
 
They are useless and even when useful their coverage is verrry limited. Accept it and apply for a refund immediately, you’ll get a check for $700.

I got one with my then 5yo home through American Home Shield that was included with the purchase so free to me. It was a $600 plan. I tried to use it when my AC went out in late June and 5 days before I was having family come visit. They couldn’t get someone out there until 10 days! I began reading the details of the contract and found that they will only cover wholesale price for most repairs, meaning you’re stuck with the balance. Ex if I needed refrigerant, they would only cover like $35/lb yet it sells for double that.

I googled and spoke to some people, troubleshot it, and was able to fix it for under $10. It’s been great for the past 4yr. I promptly requested a refund and put that money in my savings account. BTW AHS was terrible to work with.
 
Never got one when we bought our house, I saw it as a waste of money.

If my water heater dies, ill go get one and install. I'm not sitting around waiting for a "tech" to come out to diag/quote/order a new one/come back to install. Same with stove/ac/etc and if I do have to "call the man" I'll be choosing who comes to my home rather than dealing with an approved list of contractors.
 
I wouldn't pay for one myself but the first house we bought came with one purchased by the sellers. The house had a 1940's GE stove in it and the switch went bad. Cost me $10 for the repair deductible and the policy covered the rest.
 
I am buying a house.
It is a classic brick home built in 1947.

the seller is providing a $700 home warranty.
SCHOOL ME !

Which companies are good, which are awful?
I have had great service from American Home Shield.
Coverage is worth having. A lesson learned the hard way.
When we sold a house in 2014, the upstairs HVAC unit went, two weeks after listing the house.
Downstairs unit went two weeks before closing.
$10k.
Would have been only a couple hundred with a home warranty.
Current home has AC and furnace Units a decade old. Upstairs furnace will need replacing soon. Warranty will cover it.

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I don't buy them but I can repair or replace on my own.
My neighbor sold her house and the water heater leaked, she provided a warranty for the buyer and it was covered,
they replaced the no name builder unit with a similar no name private label water heater.

Next door neighbor had warranty with the house from the seller, A/C would not work.
System was a two year old Carrier, they replaced all of it with a Goodman unit.
He always has problems with it when the seller warranty expired. His electric bills are high
compared to other homes on our block with same sq ft.

I can see the advantage for the buyer to have one if the seller pays for it.
So many homes flipped fast vs one or two owners long term.
One home on my block was rented after the family had the new home built, 6,000 sq ft.
He was one of the cheapest guys on the planet. Would never fix anything the right way.
When he sold it the new owner had to spend lots of money getting everything that was
patched up with caulk and paint fixed the right way.
 
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I am buying a house.
It is a classic brick home built in 1947.

the seller is providing a $700 home warranty.
SCHOOL ME !

Which companies are good, which are awful?
Send me the $700. I'll go piss it away I'll have more fun doing it
That's about all it's worth

The ex an I bought a house The seller included it. It was $900 or some such. In the fine print , they would only pay up to the amount of purchase
 
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Home warranties are garbage. They hire incompetent companies to do repairs and service people know what they will give them so they only make it temporarily work so they can make a minor profit.

They may come thru in the first claim but they will drop you like a hot potato if they see no return on the premium. They hound me to do work for them. Dirty non paying bastards. All of them are the same.
 
Never got one when we bought our house, I saw it as a waste of money.

If my water heater dies, ill go get one and install. I'm not sitting around waiting for a "tech" to come out to diag/quote/order a new one/come back to install. Same with stove/ac/etc and if I do have to "call the man" I'll be choosing who comes to my home rather than dealing with an approved list of contractors.

The number of people that can't do simple repairs is astounding
 
Seems to be a standard thing when selling a home now-a-days to provide one - a realtor told me a year or 2 ago they run in the $500-700/year. I bought a house many years ago that when I went to look at it the first time the home warranty literature was sitting on the counter. Went to look at it a second time before putting in my offer (got it) and on the counter was a work order and receipt for a new air conditioner compressor, capacitor, and various other bits of work done on it and all paid for by the home warranty policy. Even having seen that I've never bought one. I do think it's a nice thing to have when buying a home as a just in case and if needed hope for the best. Better than not having it and it's paid for by seller but I agree with others that I wouldn't buy one.
 
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I've used American Home Shield for several years & had good luck. The only time it took longer than 2 days to have a tech come out, was the water heater crapping the bed on Thanksgiving day. Covered systems are fixed or replaced, period & the only cap is on what they'll pay for freon, or whatever they're calling it these days. This is the 3rd year we've carried them on this house (built Aug '08) & the warranty's paid for itself every year.

Also used 'em every year for my old place in the 'Ville from '98-'08 (built in '92). Seller paid 1st year & I just kept renewing it. Didn't get quite the use out of it that I have here, but when I was renting the house out for 3 years while I was in Germany it was sure nice to have when the heat pump went down.

YMMV, but IMO American Home Shield is GTG. I don't do electricity, so fixing electric water heaters or troubleshooting & fixing the heat pump for $75/event is worth it to me.
 
I sold heating and air for over 10 years. I've NEVER seen a Home Warranty company replace a HVAC unit. They will patch it and patch it again all the while collecting the deductible or as some call it a service fee. One of our installers also worked for a couple of Home Warranty companies on the side and they always told him to get it running the cheapest way possible even if he told them it would be a temporary fix. No experience with any other type of claims, but for HVAC, in my opinion Home Warranties are terrible.
 
I have had great service from American Home Shield.
Coverage is worth having. A lesson learned the hard way.
When we sold a house in 2014, the upstairs HVAC unit went, two weeks after listing the house.
Downstairs unit went two weeks before closing.
$10k.
Would have been only a couple hundred with a home warranty.
Current home has AC and furnace Units a decade old. Upstairs furnace will need replacing soon. Warranty will cover it.

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That is funny AHS is the warranty folks I had nothing but horrible problems with..... Read up on the fine print and do not expect AHS to replace the whole unit and it to not cost you almost exactly what a new one would from a reputable contractor. A quick google search for e
american home shield problems will reveal loads and loads of problems with those shiesters.
 
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Really a service company should scam those a-holes like they do the homeowners and repair company. Get it to work a month, go back next month, and the next, and the next.

I had a guy call me to work with the warranty company on the repair. He had been without air condition for 6 weeks waiting on the warranty company to find a provider. The bill was $1100. Warranty company gave him $525.00. He had to pay the rest out of pocket.
 
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