Real Estate Investing #8: Home Warranties
February 9, 2015
Bah, I knew that I’d have to renew the home warranty but that crept up on me really fast. Part of a warranty did come with the purchase of the house so that was an unexpected boon but I’m still not happy to part with a big chunk of money.
The alternative, though…!
My property manager recommended picking up a basic, plus 7-star plan, plus washer/dryer/fridge, to cover all the bases from the company they consider the best: Home Security of America evidently actually covers claims and uses reputable contractors.
Not to be confused with American Home Shield, the previous warranty company, and reputed to be an absolutely horrible company according to both my prop manager and Steph. That report is not hard to believe, incidentally. AHS was called to complete some minor repairs two months ago and they’re still dragging their feet. Boy, am I glad I changed away from them before we had anything serious happen.
HSA offers either a monthly or annual billing plan. I’d normally just do the billing plan to spread out the costs but chose to pay the full year in one go. I honestly don’t remember why but let’s pretend it was a good reason.
HSA even recently set up an online claims site. I much prefer to do everything online, especially so there is an easily accessible record and so I don’t have to talk to people for routine tasks, so that’s another point for HSA. Their price is a bit higher but I’d rather pay an insignificantly higher cost for assured better service. I’ve come a long way in my journey from being a tightwad to making wiser long term choices!
Interesting to hear that at least one of those outfits is reputable. I guess if you own a rental property, you need it. But on the other hand, you probably wouldn’t be inclined to install anything other than basic appliances, plumbing and the like, which is about the best you’ll get from a home warranty outfit.
Both times that I’ve bought a house on my own, a home warranty was part of the seller’s blandishment. Total, total waste of money. When I reported a leaking refrigerator, they called it a “pre-existing condition” and refused to fix it. When I reported a problem with a toilet, the guy wanted to take out an expensive, fully functional john and replace it with a piece of HD junk — ejected him and called a real plumber, who repaired it in ten minutes at a modest cost. Another guy wanted to pull out all the kitchen cabinets and the kitchen counter to fix a minor pipe leak.
They’re scam artists, in my experience.
Some of them can be scammers. Interestingly I’m hearing that even this company in other states is actually quite good. So YMMV!