Home warranty for self managed properties?

[Adrianne G.]

We have three self managed properties. We are considering purchasing a home warranty for one property to assist when appliances and systems fail (to reduce my time and my husband’s time). Do others have experience with this? Any companies to recommend or stay away from?

My thinking is: let’s say the dishwasher in one unit fails. It will be up to my busy husband to drive over, evaluate if a fix is possible, go to the hardware store, etc., or purchase and pick up a replacement (delivery not likely in the area) and possibly install it himself (or hire a plumber). To preserve my husband’s time and my management of various contractors, I’m interested in hiring a warranty company to either fix the issue or install the replacement.

I’m evaluating American Home Shield or American Choice Warranty.

We are not interested in hiring a property management company at this time, just want to reduce visits addressing appliance or systems related issues. Thanks!

[Cassi Justiz]

One thing to remember about a home warranty company is that they are in the business to make money. Not only will you pay the yearly premium ($500-$700), you'll also have to pay the service call fee each time they go to the property (in my area this is typically $75) regardless of whether they repair or replace the item that is having an issue. It's not uncommon to have to go through multiple repairs on an appliance before a replacement will be authorized.

You also to remember that when dealing with third party vendors, you are working on their time line and not on yours. You will still have contractor coordination with the home warranty company, but now there is just a middle man involved. You put in the service request, they send it to their approved contractor (that may not have availability), the contractor reaches out to you, you schedule the service call.  You could bypass the husband and warranty part of the equation and just send an appliance repair person out from the beginning.

I would CONSIDER a home warranty if you know you have several high expense systems (AC, Furnace, Water heater) at the end of their lives, but I wouldn't consider it for general maintenance or repairs. I have several units with systems at the end of their live spans. Instead of a warranty, I'm just saving extra cash for cap-ex expenses knowing that I'm going to need it sooner rather than later. I like being able to text my HVAC repair guy and know that I can have a unit replaced within 24 hours if necessary.