Home Warranties?

Beaners · #1 06/20/08, 11:16 AM

Is there any reason not to get a home warranty if you don't have to pay for it?

They usually cover stuff like your electric wiring, furnace, water heater, dishwasher, etc. If something breaks, you call the warranty place, they call a local repair place, you set up a time, and only pay a small fee for the labor. Kind of like a copay on your medical insurance.

If the seller is paying for it, and it isn't a bargaining point, is there any reason not to get it?

Kayleigh

whiterabbit454 · #2 06/20/08, 11:40 AM

i would say go for it how long is the warrenty for?

wy_white_wolf · #3 06/20/08, 12:11 PM

You are paying for it by an inflated home price. Why finance a warranty for 30 years when it only covers the house for 1 or 2 years? I would decline it if I also got a reduction in price of the house.

Wanderer0101 · #4 06/20/08, 12:29 PM

I've found that they're quite handy for the first two years of ownership, there are always unknowns and if something crops up you don't take a financial hit. Not worth extending after that.

homesteadforty · #5 06/20/08, 12:42 PM

I don't know about all areas of the country but in the areas I do know, a warranty is not financed. They are outright purchases for a set number of years, then you must extend them if you want continued coverage.

They also do not usually affect the price of the house. They are generally an addition to make the home more attractive to buyers... I've never seen anybody raise or lower the asking price of a house for the couple of hundred dollars that a warranty costs.

A warranty is general a good deal even if you pay for ... if the seller is paying for it, it becomes a great deal.

Callieslamb · #6 06/20/08, 01:16 PM

We added on to the last house we sold just to make it more appealing to buyers. We bought it outright and hoped it would help them not be as worried about an older home- though we had also put in new everything - from furnace to appliances. It is just a bit of insurance. When we bought that home, the seller paid for 1/2 of the home warranty - it was a good thing to have, since the range had some problems as did the AC system a few months after we moved in. It worked out well for us.

Beaners · #7 06/20/08, 01:21 PM

I believe it is a one year warranty, depending on how things go after the first year we might extend it for the following year. Wy_white_wolf...it isn't a bargaining point really, it isn't like I could tell the seller "don't buy the warranty but leave me the washer and dryer" or have any amount taken off the home cost for it.

We were thinking that because this is an older home, it would be nice to have this just in case something happens. After two years we will (hopefully) have updated everything that we are worried about. I just wasn't sure if there were any loopholes I should know about, like if we had the water heater replaced and it failed afterwards the warranty didn't apply?

Kayleigh

Togg Lovers · #8 06/20/08, 01:54 PM

We used ours and wouldn't buy another home without it. Had trouble with the septic after we moved in and it saved us a couple thousand.

Danaus29 · #9 06/20/08, 03:30 PM

The one we had on this house didn't cover anything. Sure the furnace (the house has baseboard heat), the sewer lines but not if the home had a septic system, the water lines unless it was serviced by a private well, the appliances providing they had been serviced by their company (um, they were my appliances, none came with the house), can't remember what else because by the time we were half way done reading the warranty we were sick of seeing what a waste it was.

Wolf mom · #10 06/21/08, 03:08 PM

WhenI was selling RE, I would buy one for the seller & have it extended to the buyer.
Seemed to really help sell properties as the seller would be able to get things fixed rather than let it go. ie: hot water tank comes to mind.

Don't know if it's possible to do that anymore.