All Forum Posts by: Gerry M.

Hi Nathan, thanks for the feedback. Yeah I understand what you're saying and perhaps that's true in some cases but for me, say in the case of the AC's alone, the home warranty has more than paid for itself. It costs me $105/mo for one 4-plex apartment unit and in 5 years I've had 3 AC's replaced. And like I said, that's just the AC's, I've had tons of other little stuff done like a toilet or drain clogged, etc. If you hire a plumber directly it's around $150 just to come to the apartment, plus anything else they find. For those types of smaller items I've never paid more than the $75 deductible. 

I'm probably in the minority buying a home warranty for my rental properties, but I do like the convenience of being able to call in a service request and at least get someone out there relatively quickly for my tenants. Having said that, I have a love/hate relationship with them because while they do usually end up covering most of what I believe should be covered, it's getting increasingly difficult to do so and I often have to fight with them. I was thinking it would be useful for landlords to have a forum to post their experiences with these home warranty companies in order to get an idea of what kinds of things are covered, how much you paid out of pocket, which home warranty company, etc. If a forum like this exists anywhere already please let me know, I haven’t been able to find one.

Here's an example.

I had my 3rd AC unit replaced a few months ago and while it's definitely worth it (a new 2ton roof mounted package unit will cost me about $4,200 from a local AC company and I end up paying between $700-900 in uncovered costs through the home warranty company).

Know that they will use every angle they can in order to squeeze out what they can. For example, they will often add $500 for duct work, $200 for a new stand, etc. in uncovered costs and from best I can tell, this is a bone the home warranty companies throw to the contractors doing the work in an effort to get away with what they can, or what the property owner (me) will pay for and let me tell you from experience they are very slippery with this “uncovered” work.

My experience has been that the home warranty company calls and says we'll cover the AC (after 3 or 4 times of repairing it) but you have $900 in uncovered costs, do you want to proceed with the repair. Now they'll break down the costs for you if you ask them but they'll never put anything in writing, nor will the contractor actually doing the work.

I've had 3 units replaced and not one has they done the uncovered work they said they were going to do, even on the last one I was prepared for, they basically said they are not allowed (by the home warranty company) to put it in writing and they say that the itemization would have to come from the home warranty company. When I call the home warranty company, they said this is a transaction is between me and the contractor not the home warranty company! LOL It's such a racket, but at the end of the day I pay it and move on because I'm paying about $1000 for replacement vs. over $4000 if I have to hire an AC company directly. If they would just call it a co-pay, I'd have less of a problem with it. That’s just one example, I have several others (e.g., water heaters, refrigerators, etc.).

I'm buying a short sale that has an existing laundry room lease that I'm told I must assume. Is it common to receive a lump sump similar to your decoration allowance even for small 4plexes? Trying to figure out if it's possible to get out of this lease somehow, if I decide I want to operate them myself. Also, is there a rule of thumb for how much these units make based on number of units?

Hi Edita, I am in a similar situation with a 4plex I'm about to buy and I'm also in Vegas. However, I have an existing lease I'm considering re-negotiating or cancelling altogether. I interested to know about your experiences with these companies?

I am purchasing a 4 plex that has a laundry room for all 4 units. It's a short sale but the previous owner signed a 30 year lease with a washer company that splits the revenues 60%(owner)/40% and in return they are supposed to maintain the laundry room/machines.

Anyone have any experience with these companies? It doesn't look like I can easily get out of the lease and not even sure I want to because not sure who I would get in their place to maintain the machines/laundry room?

Thanks!