Are home warranties worth the money?: Home warranties have gone up in price. They are now around $425 if i is purchased when you are buying a property. Then there is a $75 or $100 deductible for each time they send someone out for a repair. If you renew the price goes up to around $550 with $75 or $100 deductible. If you buy one for a home you already own or one you are buying there is a 2-4 week period (depending on the company) before they will cover anything in the home. Covered components are heating, cooling, electrical, plumbing, and appliances. For the most part, the repair of any of those items would normally be less that $500. Therefore, it would only be worth paying for a home warranty if there are more than 2-3 issues in a year. Another thing to consider is that they insist you use their contractors. Sometimes those contractors are booked for days out and it is a large inconvenience to have to wait. For example, the AC company that they normally use is out of Jacksonville and they only come to Tallahassee twice per week. They normally want to do the repair 2-3 days after we contact them. If you are without AC or hot water for that amount of time you are most likely not going to be happy. All of the vendors we use on our own can normally get out the same day. Also, there are sometimes "uncovered costs" that you will have to pay out of pocket even after paying the deductible. They will only replace a component if they absolutely have to. Until it gets to that point they will keep throwing parts at it.
When you are purchasing a home we can ask for a seller to pay for the home warranty for a year as part of the contract. A home warranty may be a good thing to have in your first year of home ownership to help budget for repairs. After that, it will be up to you to run numbers and decide if the cost is worth it.
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