Recently I have become a big fan of Home Warrantys and especially the American Home Shield Home Warranty. There are several reasons that a home warranty is a good idea regardless of weather you are a buyer or a seller.
If you are a seller…
If you have your home listed to sell you can obtain a home warranty from American Home Shield, and during the listing period it is FREE. Basically, how it works is that you call and set up the home warranty when you put your home on the market and you don’t pay for it until you sell your home. Furthermore, the seller and buyer can negociate who will actually pay for the warranty once you have the home under contract. Another benefit of having a home warranty during the listing period, is that if anything breaks while you are trying to sell your home American Home Shield will cover it and replace or repair the item for only the service fee. Also American Home Shield does not require that there be an inspecton prior to having the home warranty in place.
I have started recommending this to all my sellers because this can potentially save them thousands of precious dollars. Lastly, if you have a home warranty in place during the listing period and there are items on an inspection that need repair often times American Home Shield will take care of it for you which can keep you from loosing your buyer if there are expensive repair items.
If you are a buyer…
If you are a buyer that is in search for a new home I strongly recommend asking the seller to include a home warranty with the home at closing if they are not already including one. If they refuse to pay for one I recommend that you pony up the cash and pay for it your self or ask your REALTOR to pay for it for you as a closing gift. My favorite home warranty company is American Home Shield because they don’t have pre-existing issues. As long as the appliance is in working condition when the warranty is purchased they will cover it. If you decide to buy a different company’s home warranty then I suggest you making sure everything will be covered and that they won’t exclude certain items that came up as issues on your inspection.
I hope that after reading this blog post you will make sure the the next home you buy or sell has a home warranty in place.
Click on the Link here to visit American Home Shield’s Website
American Home Shield Q & A
Northern Colorado Real Esate Specialist
Leslie Leis