Water heaters are expensive and  I don't want to void warranty or have it installed incorrectly.

Montgomery (Montgomery County) uses the lot-and-block survey system, although I would imagine for really old properties you might still see metes-and-bounds being used.So, for example, an example of a valid legal description in Montgomery would be "Lot 15, in Block F, according to the Plat of Haardt Estates Part 'B', as the same appears of record in the Office of the Judge of Probate of Montgomery County, Alabama, in Plat Book 11, at Page 42."

Also- read the warranty policy.

Use home warranty to cover small and big ticket items and use Zelle to make it easy for tenants to pay rent.

They don’t know how to solve the littlest problems.The other comments listed the pros well and they are valid, but want you to know what you are getting into. 

Due to some personal decisions I bought a new home in round rock at the begining of 2020 about 7 miles further north of my current place and I'm moving there in a couple of months.I was initially planning on selling my Pville home right after the move but now I'm thinking I may keep it for a few years, perhaps for another 5 years or so while the original builder warranty is still active, and keep it as a rental.

Any suggestions on home warranties as well as tips on maintenance/repair strategies?

As brie mentioned those rules havnt been valid in our area since 2015 and arent a definition of a good or bad deal.

I don't see why it can't be done, but some language of course will need to be built in to state that it will be paid off of course so that a warranty deed can be transferred. 

You can still do comparables to see if the rent numbers are valid.