What Is A Home Warranty And Do I Need One?

We talk to a lot of buyers and sellers each year and the home warranty discussion often comes up. Do you need or want a home warranty on your house? Is this a good use of funds as a seller?
As a buyer?
Great question!
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Let’s talk sellers first. As a seller, if you do a mental scan of your home, especially the major mechanicals and appliances, and you are thinking, “you know, my mechanicals and appliances are starting to get old, yet I don’t think they necessarily need to be replaced yet,” you might like to add a home warranty to the marketing of your listing. This can help buyers to overlook the older systems, as they are assured tat if anything fails in the first year, they are not all on their own to replace these high ticket items.

What about buyers? As a buyer, you may want to wait until your inspection is complete to make this determination. If it seems that one or more appliance is on its “last leg,” or the furnace is pretty old and you would like to avoid handling the entire cost of repair or replacement in your first year of ownership, you might consider adding a home warranty or having us negotiate for the seller to purchase one.

Home warranties can take a lot of the anxiety out of the transfer of a property to a new owner (for both buyer and seller), yet you will want to be sure you choose the company that is right for you and the coverage that fits your home’s needs. Also, note that many of them do not cover every issue that each system or appliance may have and most do not cover preexisting conditions. If you would like to discuss home warranties in further detail, we are happy to help and can point you to a few companies our clients have used in the past!

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