“It’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it, but not have it.” Your home warranty is like an insurance policy. The home warranty company will send a repairman to fix things when they break, so you do not have to pay out of pocket with a lot of cash. A home warranty will keep unexpected bills low, and help keep your monthly expenses predictable and manageable.
Just remember Murphy’s Law: If you have the home warranty, you probably will not need it, but if you do not have a home warranty, that is when something will break!
Read your home warranty
If you followed our recommendation, you received a free home warranty at the close of escrow courtesy of the seller. Be sure to read the policy thoroughly. It covers most things, but not everything.
You can continue renewing the policy each year if you like the service. Since it is a 1 year policy, plan to pay for the next year’s policy before it expires.
Put the phone number to the warranty company on the fridge
Keep your policy information and phone number handy by sticking it to the side of your refrigerator. “Who you gonna call?” they say in the movies. One call to your home warranty company does it all. They already have a rolodex of screened, licensed contractors who are ready to fix your leaky pipe or the refrigerator that just stopped working.
Remember there is a small co-payment
Home warranty co-payments range may be approximately $60 for a service call. That is much more affordable than coughing up $3,000 for a new furnace in the middle of a cold winter, isn’t it?
Read more in our book, "Buy Your First Home", http://tinyurl.com/dy2wjx4.
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