Home Warranty - worth it?

[Anonymous]

Is it worth it? this is for a 20yr old condo with an HOA. inspection revealed nothing serious.

TIA!

[Anonymous]

We got a home warranty for a SFH. The two times we had issues, they were completely unhelpful.

You really have to battle with them to get them to cover anything, and there is a LOT of fine print.

Basically, only expect it to cover appliances. And even then, they rarely replace them. They'll send out someone to "repair" it, charge you $100, and then eventually it breaks down again.

Also, they explicitly say that they will not cover stuff that was broken before you bought the house. So if you have something break the first day or week you live there, they're going to resist covering it.

I would instead ask for a credit for the same amount. Or if there are broken appliances, request the seller to either replace them or give you a credit to replace them.

[Anonymous]

plus you have to use their repair guys

[Anonymous]

We just bought one for the person who bought our condo (at the buyer's request). To be honest, I didn't do a ton of research but to me it didn't seem to make much sense for living in a condo. Your HOA and/or neighbors will likely be able to recommend plumbers, electricians, appliance repair services which they know and like--at least that has been the case for us.
We have rarely paid to have anything repaired and when we do the cost is usually around $150 (which is just a tiny bit more than you'll pay per service call with a warranty). This has been for the occasional leaky faucet or blown outlet. Many of our appliances are newer and under warranty anyway. I don't think a home warranty would be worth it to me personally.

[Anonymous]

For the first year, yes. We got several things replaced in our older home. After that, no. The downside is that everything as a fight to get it fixed/covered.

[Anonymous]

No. They will be extinct in near future.

Realtors used to get a portion of the premium, maybe $125 or so.

Realtors got sued, now no kickbacks. No incentive to peddle them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:plus you have to use their repair guys

who may not come in a timely manner.

AC goes out on a 90 degree day? you won't see their guys for another 5 or 6 days, and then they'll only slap a bandaid on it.

[Anonymous]

I think they are a big scam. We had one on our house (sellers offered it as part of the deal so we took it). We had 2 things break and had to deal with the warranty company. I ended up reporting the BBB because they were so difficult. They finally cut us a check for a portion of the cost to replace the dishwasher when my husband told them that we understood this whole thing was a scam, that they continually deny things and send horrible repairmen in the hopes that people will give up, etc.

[Anonymous]

This makes me worried now! We just bought a house and were told by the realtor to keep it until the furnace/ac unit breaks since it will be on the warranty company and not out of our pocket!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Wow, you guys have totally enlightened me! We were going to purchase one, forget about it now. its interesting that when I researched it on one of Zillow's forums, the only people who had positive things to say about it were realtors !

thanks for saving us $350

[Anonymous]

We have an older SFH with 10yo appliances and it was definitely worth it for us. So far they've replaced the washer, which was fine for the first two months. And completed a few other small repairs. We were lucky and had great, responsive servicemen. One stayed for hours to recreate the intermittent washer issue - so it could be replaced. We hired the plumber ourselves for a new work (adding something) because he was so good - competent and professional.

Not 100% sure we will renew for a second year, but it was really helpful the first year.

[Anonymous]

Our agent purchased ours as a gift. Older, as is SFH. Ok experiences so far. Yes, you do have to fight them and use their repair people. At the same time, they have repaired some things that needed it.

[Anonymous]

a warranty came with our townhome when we bought. it helped on a couple of ocassions, but i understand why the house came with the warranty: everything was OLD. we've ended up replacing the most expensive items. oh, such naive first-time homebuyers we were!

[Anonymous]

I had my ax unit fixed through it- still holding a year later.

Also had garage door opener replaced (would have cost $350-450)

Some other smaller appliance issues were also fixed.

I opted not to renew it for second year since prices went up to about $750 for same coverage + $75 fee every time somebody comes. Will put that $ in home repair fund instead. I was glad I had it for the first year though. (I used AHS and was pretty happy)

[Anonymous]

Used AHS before and like other postered said they are a scam, like all other home insurance companies.
Actually just think about it. How can they make money by charging you only $800 a year if they were to honestly fulfill their obligations. This is not like running an insurance company where the possibility of incurring a claim is much much lower.