Home Warranties for STR

[Trent Reeve]

Discussion with partner on Home warranty. Some of the biggest complaints i see are that you have to use specific contractors and it may take awhile before they can come out. Obviously a problem if say you have a guest that says the AC is bad and no one can come for a week. Does anyone have any experience relying on home warranties to help cover appliances, etc?

[Ken Boone]

Don't do it. Not worth it. It always takes time. If you have a guest and the fridge goes out, the stove goes out, the AC goes out - whatever it is, has to be done ASAP. The warranties always take a lot of time, and you will either end up filing a warranty to find that it is going to take too long and then purchasing something else the same day, or you will end up giving refunds back to guests while you wait on the warranty to be handled.

I learned this the hard way when I first got in to rentals. Relying on a home warranty = bad customer service to your guests.  No way around it.