American Home Shield; Good Deal or Waste of Money?

So we got our final counteroffer on the house, and think we will accept. They came down another $2k on the house, but dropped the home warranty. Had us worried, but the more I am looking at the warranty (American Home Shield by Farmer's Insurance), I am not very impressed.

Basically, from what I get, you pay $400 upfront, and should anything serviceable or an appliance break in your home, they will charge you a $60 deductible and assess the situation. If it's repairable they fix it, otherwise they replace it. However, it can take up to 2 weeks for them to complete this.

The house currently has NO appliances. My thought is when we buy them, we will get a 1 year manufacturer's warranty, and an optional 2 year warranty from the store. This takes care of all that. That pretty much leaving plumbing and HVAC to deal with. The air unit looks bad, but it works. May need to be replaced eventually, but my uncle owns his own Heating/Air Conditioning business, and can get us great deals, probably a better unit than they would replace mine with.

Does anyone else have any experience with home warranties? When my parents built their home 6 years ago they got a warranty and never used it a single time in 2 years. After that was when shit started happening.

Open to any opinions. This is my first go-round with this, so I am open to ideas.

I have owned 2 houses, both came with a warranty. The first house the hot water tank went out, paid 60 bucks and it was replaced. Went from a 30 year old unit to a brand new one for $60.

Just moved in to a 6 year old house and just got done getting a whole new outside a/c unit, again cost me $60 and a few hundred outside expenses. Still better than $1800-2400.

I had AHS last time and old republic this time. Old republic has gone above and beyond to help me in the last 4 weeks getting my a/c running correctly. They have hired 4 different companies to make me happy. That is their job! The problem is in the service industry. Its not the warranty companies, its the contractors they have to deal with. If i hadnt had a warranty i would be flat broke right now or living without a/c. Its just 360-400 dollars, i believe it is worth it. Anything at all goes wrong, they fix it. And i will be renewing when my 1 year warranty goes out.

I really like how old republic handled my situation, so i would gladly reccomend them over AHS.

It's a roll of the dice. However, if you don't have money to fix a major appliance or Heat and Air unit, it could save your ass. For me, I don't do them and take the chance. Never been bitten.

Ask yourself this: During this past heat wave, if your AC wen out, could you have afforded (comfortably) to pay to get it fixed correctly (Not duct taped together Lee)? If the answer is no, then get the warranty.

If it's in the area I'm thinking, it's an older house. Guessing 30ish years old. Also, since it's a foreclosure, chances are it has not been maintained very well. (If someone can't pay the mortage, they normally don't reapir broken shit). You might wanna get it...

I'm also guessing your loan will be FHA. While they have more stringent inspections than a conventional loan... the stuff just has to be in good working order. That doesn't mean it won't roll over and eat dirt the next day.

And why do you want to lower my property value by moving to BA? Stay in Owasso! :)

That's a easy ? If you buy it you will never need it and if you don't things will hit the fan the next day.

BMMC1 wrote:It's a roll of the dice. However, if you don't have money to fix a major appliance or Heat and Air unit, it could save your ass. For me, I don't do them and take the chance. Never been bitten.

Ask yourself this: During this past heat wave, if your AC wen out, could you have afforded (comfortably) to pay to get it fixed correctly (Not duct taped together Lee)? If the answer is no, then get the warranty.

If it's in the area I'm thinking, it's an older house. Guessing 30ish years old. Also, since it's a foreclosure, chances are it has not been maintained very well. (If someone can't pay the mortage, they normally don't reapir broken shit). You might wanna get it...

I'm also guessing your loan will be FHA. While they have more stringent inspections than a conventional loan... the stuff just has to be in good working order. That doesn't mean it won't roll over and eat dirt the next day.

And why do you want to lower my property value by moving to BA? Stay in Owasso! :)

Duct tape? I don't think I even own a roll of duct tape...

House was built in 97. I would definitely like to get a warranty, was more getting an idea if anyone has used AHS as opposed to someone else. It's our choice who to go with, I was just wondering who had been used.

Lower your value? I'll raise it because I will actually PAY my mortgage unlike the people that lived here before me.

House is actually in really good shape minus a little bit of erosion on the back of the house because of a giant overgrown oak tree that killed all the grass.

I had an AHS warranty on the last house I had in Owasso, and the one before that in Louisiana. The Louisiana home I used the hell out of it. A/C went out ($2500 repair) (my deduct was $100) then a water line broke in the house ($900), then a f-ing mole at through my sprinkler system ($3500, they paid to have the WHOLE THING replaced). It payed for its self 10 fold my man.

In Owasso I bought an even better, more expensive warranty, being that the last one worked so well and all be damned if I didn't use it one time.

So, honestly if it's only 2 grand spread over 30 years what is that a month like $5-%10 bucks?!?!

Personally I'd go for it.

Yea, the A/C unit would be my main concern. When it went out, did they repair it or replace it? Why type of unit did they put in it's place?

My uncle owns his own Heating and A/C biz, so we get really good deals through him already.

Most of the things on the list of stuff covered I don't see us even claiming.

Dunno, will have to read in to them some more to make a decision.

Thanks for the input guys!

I had a home warranty on a house years ago. The AC took a dump and they not only replaced it with a new one but did the Furnace too because after the AC went the heat and air company inspected it and it needed replaced as well. The orig home inspection missed it. I'd say it's worth the money if you don't have 10K sitting in the bank for emergency.

amentowasso wrote:Yea, the A/C unit would be my main concern. When it went out, did they repair it or replace it? Why type of unit did they put in it's place?

My uncle owns his own Heating and A/C biz, so we get really good deals through him already.

Most of the things on the list of stuff covered I don't see us even claiming.

Dunno, will have to read in to them some more to make a decision.

Thanks for the input guys!

Lee they replaced mine, and decided that the one there was actually undersized for the home. They replaced it with a Carrier unit that was the correct size for the house.

And is your uncles "really good deal" going to be $60.....or more like $800+ ??

That's why I asked how extensive it was going to be. If they told out the dead unit and put in the $99 unit from Atwood's, it wouldn't be worth it.

If they actually cover replacement with brand-name products, then yea, it's worth it. Being a foreclosed home that hasn't been lived in 2 years, I think we will go ahead and get it.

Now to just figure out which one to go with.

Murphy's Law

For sure