Warning! This is a boring thread!

[smilesp]

So I’m interested in purchasing a home warranty for a rental property that I own. Does anyone have one? Can you recommend/not recommend a certain company? Tell me anything that might be helpful.

ETA I’m mainly interested in coverage for the HVAC system.

[itsmemeg]

I have Home Warranty Of America (HWA) for my house. I have the highest plan they offer. Never had to use it so can’t really tell you much about that but I think the price is decent for the package.

[Leaf 🌱]

Our realtor purchased one as a gift for us from Long and Foster. It basically paid for itself when our dishwasher stopped working and needed some repairs. We’ve decided to renew but are going to talk to USAA first. Our home’s previous owner thought he was a handyman so we’re concerned about “repairs” that may not last... we also just had friends pay $$$ out of pocket to redo their HVAC.

[tincupchalice]

We have American Home First or something like that. It's been convenient and perfectly adequate for the small things. The bigger things are a bit more of a pain to handle. They always want to take the cheapest stopgap solution and they hire the cheapest companies to do so.

[Deleted]

We had one that came with the house. AC went out so we did the process and they couldn't fix it more than a day or so. The local AC firm was a pita to deal with. I ended up getting a small but trustworthy firm to come out and they fixed it and I never dealt with the home warranty or ac again.

I don't think they work with the best firm's especially on AC stuff. Lots of complaints on BBB. We had American Home Shield. Might be better for a rental than a primary home though.

[chickie]

I recommend 2-10 Home Warranty to my clients. I don’t have any personal experience with them though.

[smilesp]

Apr 8, 2018 15:27:53 GMT -6 @kokopelli said:

We had one that came with the house. AC went out so we did the process and they couldn't fix it more than a day or so. The local AC firm was a pita to deal with. I ended up getting a small but trustworthy firm to come out and they fixed it and I never dealt with the home warranty or ac again.

I don't think they work with the best firm's especially on AC stuff. Lots of complaints on BBB. We had American Home Shield. Might be better for a rental than a primary home though.

It’s a rental that I’m currently trying to sell. Basically I’m trying to cover my ass in case the a/c goes out this summer so I don’t have to replace it out of pocket. I think they’re usually transferable too so it is a little incentive for a potential buyer.

[obscureference]

Home warranty of America is the worst company I have ever tried to work with in my life. Our dishwasher broke the first year we lived in our house and they never fixed it and never reimbursed us for the repair we had done ourselves. We were without a dishwasher for two months before I finally said forget this and stopped trying to get them to do it. They sent one repair company out that took the fee of $75 and then we never heard from them again. So yea, don’t use them!

[trueblue]

We had American Home Shield and it was super crappy. Each “claim” was about a $60 charge to send someone out and the few times we used them they didn’t actually fix the problem we called about, they just bandaided the problem. We did not renew, it was a huge waste for us

[leahcar]

My ILs use American Home Shield. For smaller things (microwave, dishwasher), they were really pleased. American Home Shield basically tried to bandaid their HVAC for waaaay longer than they should have though. I experienced similar when we used to rent and my landlord used them.

[blurnette989]

Apr 8, 2018 15:43:46 GMT -6 chickie said:

I recommend 2-10 Home Warranty to my clients. I don’t have any personal experience with them though.

I actually hate 2-10 home warranty and have changed companies for our former home that is now a rental.

We had an electric on demand water heater. They are not incredibly common, but 2-10 kept sending out plumbers and electricians who were not at all equipped to figure out the problem with the system. But because they wouldn't just replace the damn system withiut someone saying it can't be fixed (because they didn't know how to fix it) we ended up without hot water for 30+ days. It finally took me sobbing on the phone saying I had a 6 months old and a 2 year old and I was boiling water for rheirbathsfor someone to listen to me.

[honda]

When we bought our house it came with a warranty. We used it two weeks later to replace our water well pump. It was really an easy process. The company and the repairman did most of the communication. It was a good experience.

[spottedprincess]

Stay away from American Home Shield. When our a/c went out the technicians they sent out tried to tell us the return air vent in the home was too small and it would cost thousands for them to rip out the old and put in a bigger one. It was funny/frustrating when DH took the hose to the outside of the unit and washed away all the dirt and grass from the unit and we never had another problem out of it.

[potatocakes]

When we bought, our sellers paid for one through Old Republic Home Protection. In the first year of living in our house, we replaced the range (thermostat dead) and water heater (repaired, then replaced a few months later when the repair didn't hold). The service calls were reasonably priced, especially since the water heater went out over a holiday weekend, and they not only covered the repair or replacement, but also made sure we had necessary permits, etc. in place. We decided not to renew only because the HVAC and dishwasher are in good shape and would be the only other thing covered by it for us.