Home Warranties

After all my bitching and moaning about home warranties and how I would never want one again and would rather just have the cold hard cash in my grubby greedy little hands....

The seller's agents gave us a home warranty as a "gift." Maybe for putting up with their seller and overlooking some things she should have fixed?

Kind of gauche to ask for the cash now, isn't it?

I told my agent that it was really nice of them to do that but I had some problems with AHS before when our furnace went out. He told me that was typical but the thing to do is call the realtor and have them contact the local sales rep. Apparently the sales rep in our area gets things fixed. Good to know!

So if you do have problems with AHS being less than helpful, go back to the agent.

Re: Home Warranties

The seller's agents gave us a home warranty as a "gift."

Out of the kindness of their little hearts? Yeah, right. Ask for whatever money you want, and try to make your agent get it (if anyone can do it, it will be you!).

Really...I'm kind of stumped as to why they did it. You know I didn't ask for it.

Probably a nice way for a buyer to remember them for future referrals? :huh: That or it was our seller. There are some things she really should have fixed but was a PITA about. It's not a huge deal. Things like two of the burners on the gas range not lighting. We asked for the range to be repaired she responded that it works just fine when she lights them with a match. Sure, I'll bet that is how they sell them at the appliance store.

As of 1pm today the house (and the mortgage ) is ours so no more money adjustments can be made. Since it is a gift, I will take it as one.

Congratulations friend!

[rainbabies]

whoohoo! great news, nellie! when do you move?

[planet]

Enjoy your NEW HOUSE!!

I called DH to tell him and he said "oh ****, what do they know about the house that we don't?"

[medpedspouse]

We also have the warranty for a year from our seller. I thought it was standard - our realtor assured me that we would have it. We also have AHS (American Home Shield??). So, is it not good? Please tell because we were considering adding our appliances for an additional fee of course.

[DCJenn]

My experience is that 90% of the time the inspector will declare that the problems are the result of 'normal wear' and won't cover the appliances.

and they refused to cover the heater this winter because it wasn't professionally installed. (which is true- it was basically duct taped together)

Jenn

Are your appliances not covered? I think the fridge is an "extra" policy here but the dishwasher, stove, disposal (?) are all covered. How old are the appliances?

Personally, I wouldn't add anything and I won't be extending the warranty. You still have to pay $55 for the service call so keep that in mind. And you are much more likely to get a repair than a replacement. They gave us close to $300 for our dishwasher only because the parts and labor would have been that amount. I think they present it as more of a replacement than a repair program but it is the other way around.

I may be in the minority here, but we got a home warranty with our house a little more than a year ago and it nearly paid for itself a couple of times over. We ended up using it for a plumbing problem, which we noticed within days of being in the house, an electrical outlet problem and the biggest of all, especially in Arizona, the air conditioner. Even with the deductible or whatever you want to call it for the visits, I bet it saved us $300 or $400. It was enough to get us to re-up when it expired. If you think about it, that $400 or so you pay for it would be long spent on something else at the end of the year, but it could save you a buttload of money, especially that first year in a house. But I do understand that not all home warranties are created equal.

The owners of the old house we're renting have a home warranty on it. The warranty company would not repair the toilet because some of the parts were not the originals. (Why would they be--in a 50 years+ old toilet?) But on the other hand, they did fix a leaky front yard faucet, and at least tried to find a leak in the laundry room.

We have some of our own appliances covered by Sears.