Home Warranties on 15 year old SFH's

[Jared Smith]

Do you recommend getting a home warranty? 14 months for $420 and covers HVAC/Appliances etc. $75 per service call. Thoughts? 1433 sq ft already fixed the AC but the frig is on the way out.

[Nathan Gesner]

The home warranty company is in it to make money. You may get lucky and have a good experience, but most do not. When something breaks, you have to file a claim and wait for them to schedule one of their "approved" providers. That's a fancy way of saying they will hire someone cheap. For example, warranty repair on a refrigerator probably pays half what an appliance tech typically charges, so they're losing money working on your warranty item. You also have to pay a service call fee. So you pay for warranty, then you pay for the service call, then you get a less-qualified, less-than-enthusiastic vendor to make repair on your appliance.

Many Property Managers will not even manage a property with a warranty because they are too problematic.