Thank goodness for my Home Warranty!

Often times when I am working with both sellers and buyers, I have to explain the reasoning behind either offering a Home Warranty (if working with a  seller) and purchasing a home warranty (when working with the buyer).  More times than naught, it is the seller that doesn't truly see the added value of Home Warranties with many commenting..."if the buyer wants it, let them purchase it".

When the Shane Steely Group places a home for sale, we explain to the seller that by offering a Home Warranty to the buyer, they are protecting the buyer from most ordinary flaws and breakdowns for at least the first year of occupancy by the buyer.  In essence, they are assuring the buyer that by buying their home, they can have peace of mind knowing the major covered components of their new home will be repaired if necessary.  This is a strong selling point, especially in the Kansas City Metro area where for the most part, we have a higher inventory of older homes in comparison to newly built.

For the newly built homes, the builder usually offers some sort of full or limited warranty on things such as quality of design, materials, and workmanship.  These warranties are usually for a period of one to two years from the purchase of the home.

Now keep in mind, even with a warranty, a buyer should ALWAYS have the home carefully inspected prior to the purchase!

Some might ask, what is the chance that something will go wrong w/in the first year if after a home inspection, everything is working great and is expected to have a long lifespan?  Well, the reason I write this is because last week I was reminded why.  I was standing on my stairwell leading to the basement, watching a nice "pond" of sewage form from one of the drains.  And yes, my home inspection results were better than most I have seen.

Lucky for me, the basement isn't finished, but still, it was pretty gross.  And yet again, lucky for me that I personally purchased a Home Warranty when I bought my home 7 months ago, even though the seller would not buy it for me.  I knew the added value of having one and sure enough, it has paid itself off.  Not 2 months after purchasing my home, my son's bathtub started to clog.  No matter how much "de-clogger" I poured down the drain; no matter how much "plunging" I did, I could not get the clog to release.  I contacted my home warranty knowing that was a covered service and the next day the plumber showed up.  Come to find out, my son's bathtub fixtures were fairly old and a piece within the drain component had inadvertently caused the stoppage.  It was replaced and it drained beautifully.  My cost; $50.  The warranty company picked up the remaining $100.  But anyway, back to basement which was slowly turning into a gigantic "septic tank".  I contacted my home warranty company and the next morning, the plumbers came.  I had a blocked sewer line from the house to the road.  They pulled out the rotor rooter and started to work (I understand why plumbers charge so much having watched them work in the filth down there).  Again, $50 later and the home warranty covering $350, everything drained and they were out the door!

So right now, I'm $60 ahead by having a home warranty (I purchased mine for $390 for 15 months).  With still have about 8 months left on my home warranty and with my home being 55 years old, I'm sure I haven't seen the last of one of their vendors they work with.  Oh, and unfortunately, plumbers DO NOT clean up the remnants from a septic back-up...too bad there's not a vendor for that!!!!