When you purchase a home, it often will come with a home warranty that will be active for twelve months. This is done to make the buyer feel secure with their purchase. If any major item should break during the first year of ownership it should be covered under the home warranty. It covers those major items like the furnace, central air, appliances, hot water heater and more. Keep in mind for those first twelve months you are not paying for the warranty. In most cases the seller pays for it. Again, just something to encourage you to buy the house and maybe forgo the inspection. After the twelve months are up you can buy a warranty and make monthly payments. I am going to use myself as an example. I have been in my current house for 18 years. It came with a home warranty. After the warranty expired, I started feeling uncomfortable without it. I kept saying to myself what if something breaks. I kept going back and forth in mind “to buy or not to buy another warranty.” I asked a friend at work what he thought he said to me “I don’t have a warranty, just save a certain amount of money each month and if something needs to be repaired use that money.” Instead of taking his advice I bought the warranty. In the more than a dozen years that I have had it and making monthly payments of $79 a month very little has broken. During a very cold winter my furnace stopped working on a Friday. I called the warranty company, and they informed me that they do not come out on the weekend. I called a 24-hour service company and they came out. So, the warranty did me no good. Also, I forgot to tell you there is a fee on top of the monthly payment for them to come out. So after thousands of dollars, I cancelled the warranty last week. If you are considering one, read the fine print and consider saving the cash each month or just use a credit card for your repairs. However, a warranty is good for the first year after buying a new home.
Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com
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