I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have a
better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay away
from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be
part of the deal).
Thanks!

Alexander SuperTramp wrote:

I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide)
just sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month
to include heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of
these companies have a better reputation than others? Are there any I
should just plain stay away from? ( we are considering another home
for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be part of the deal). Thanks!

They all have equally bad reputations.

I've never heard of a home warranty that was worth the money. My
opinion is that they're mostly useless.


* There is a long list of things that *aren't* covered, including all
the things you really want. For example, a leak in your water heater is
only covered if it is *not* the result of wear and tear and *not* the
result of an accident. What's left? (This is a made-up example.)

* You are required to use their technicians. These people are never
available because the warranty company pays so little that your job is
always at the bottom of their list.

Open a savings account and put $37 in every month. You'll come out
ahead.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:57:58 +0000 (UTC), "SteveB"
wrote Re "best" home warranty
company?:

Open a savings account and put $37 in every month. You'll come out
ahead.

Ditto on that.

On Jul 26, 8:30*am, Caesar Romano wrote:
On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:57:58 +0000 (UTC), "SteveB"
wrote Re "best" home warranty
company?:

Open a savings account and put $37 in every month. You'll come out
ahead.

Ditto on that.


I agree. The only one that might be a good thing is one that someone
else paid for, like one paid for by a seller in an attempt to make the
house more attractive to a buyer. But other than that, I've heard
far too many complaints about all warranty programs of this type to
ever consider one myself.

Another factor to consider, if you just effectively self insure it,
when something goes, you have complete fexibility in what you do, how
much you spend, etc. Say you're old conventional furnace has a
major problem. By having the money you would have spent on a warranty
program, you can use that towards either a repair or maybe switching
to an entirely different system, like a heat pump, etc.

Alexander SuperTramp wrote:
I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have a
better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay away
from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be
part of the deal).
Thanks!


I once bought a home that came with a home warranty. The warranty included
repair of plumbing in the house, but didn't pay to repair the wall if they
had to open it up. Useless.

Bill

Alexander SuperTramp wrote:
I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have a
better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay away
from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be
part of the deal).
Thanks!



You also have to take into account the 'service call fee' which I think
in my case was $50 per call. I can probably fix 99% of all problems for
less than the service fee. I did have a sewer pump go out, but the pump
was specifically excluded. Cost me about $200 in parts I did the labor.
My real estate agent paid for a policy but of course I did not renew
despite repeated letters about how my house was going to fall to pieces...

Also if you do have a breakdown of a major item and it needs to be
replaced, then you will be stuck with what they want to install which
will be = to what you have. If you were considering upgrades then that
could be a problem.

Kevin

On Jul 26, 7:57*am, "SteveB" wrote:
Alexander SuperTramp wrote:
I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide)
just sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month
to include heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of
these companies have a better reputation than others? Are there any I
should just plain stay away from? *( we are considering another home
for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be part of the deal). *Thanks!

They all have equally bad reputations.

I've never heard of a home warranty that was worth the money. My
opinion is that they're mostly useless.

** There is a long list of things that *aren't* covered, including all
the things you really want. For example, a leak in your water heater is
only covered if it is *not* the result of wear and tear and *not* the
result of an accident. *What's left? (This is a made-up example.)

** You are required to use their technicians. These people are never
available because the warranty company pays so little that your job is
always at the bottom of their list.

Open a savings account and put $37 in every month. You'll come out
ahead.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX


Consider this, about 50% of the money you pay goes directly to the
insurance company and sales staff. None of that every goes back to
paying the cost of repairs. So you can expect, on average, to pay at
least twice as much with insurance than you would pay without
insurance.

"Alexander SuperTramp" wrote in message
...
I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have
a better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay
away from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will
be part of the deal).
Thanks!


As others have mentioned , the warranty is almost useless. Also most of
the real estate agents get a fee from the warranty companies for the ones
they help sell.
That is why the agent will push for a warranty.

The one I read over about 4 years ago when I bought a house seemed to be
almost useless. The same with a a car warrenty, if they were not making
money out of them , they would not be offered.

I would recommend a good home inspection. Then factor in the age of things
in the house such as a well pump, roof, heating/cooling system.

I knew the house I bought was about 20 years old, needed a roof soon (it had
been replaced a few years before) would probably need a new heat pump (which
it did 2 years later) and a few other things. I made an offer based on
that. I did have to put in a new heatpump after 2 years. It let me go with
a much higher efficency one of my choosing. It would have been out of the
warrenty time anyway.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:52:20 -0700, "Alexander SuperTramp"
wrote:

I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have a
better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay away
from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be
part of the deal).
Thanks!


In my line of work (heating and air) I deal with home warranty
companies daily. I'd run from them as fast as I could. All of them are
equally worthless as they will ALWAYS do what is in their best
interests, not he consumers.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:52:20 -0700, "Alexander SuperTramp"
wrote:

I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have a
better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay away
from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be
part of the deal).
Thanks!

By now you should know that pretty much everyone here thinks these
warranties are useless, and I concur totally. The one that came with
our house had so many exclusions PLUS a nice little $90 service fee
for each estimate that it was completely impossible to use. An utter
waste of the seller's (and therefore our) money: do as others have
said and set aside $$ every month to build up the emergency
repair/replacement fund.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:52:20 -0700, "Alexander SuperTramp"
wrote:

I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have a
better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay away
from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be
part of the deal).
Thanks!


The manufacturer usually gives the warranty when the product is
purchased. It is included with the product. I got a 1 year warranty
on my house when I bought it from the builder. A few items like
foundation had a 5-year warranty. The best insurance to help with
unexpected repairs is to set aside $5K in a money market account which
will pay you 4-5% interest. If you can't do that rent an apartment
and save up.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:33:47 -0400, Phisherman
wrote:

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:52:20 -0700, "Alexander SuperTramp"
wrote:

I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have a
better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay away
from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be
part of the deal).
Thanks!


The manufacturer usually gives the warranty when the product is
purchased. It is included with the product. I got a 1 year warranty
on my house when I bought it from the builder. A few items like
foundation had a 5-year warranty. The best insurance to help with
unexpected repairs is to set aside $5K in a money market account which
will pay you 4-5% interest. If you can't do that rent an apartment
and save up.


I'd like to know which money market fund pays 4-5 percent?

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:04:16 -0700, wrote:

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:33:47 -0400, Phisherman
wrote:

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:52:20 -0700, "Alexander SuperTramp"
wrote:

I know THAT is a loaded question...my mortgage lender( countrywide) just
sent us an offer for a home warranty , $ 24 /month or 37/month to include
heat/ac unit and it just got me thinking ...do any of these companies have a
better reputation than others? Are there any I should just plain stay away
from?
( we are considering another home for the in-laws wherein a warranty will be
part of the deal).
Thanks!


The manufacturer usually gives the warranty when the product is
purchased. It is included with the product. I got a 1 year warranty
on my house when I bought it from the builder. A few items like
foundation had a 5-year warranty. The best insurance to help with
unexpected repairs is to set aside $5K in a money market account which
will pay you 4-5% interest. If you can't do that rent an apartment
and save up.


I'd like to know which money market fund pays 4-5 percent?


Vanguard Prime Money Market, ticker VMMXX, min $3K investment. Very
good low-risk fund, low expenses, trusted company. I havn't found a
better one (yet).

On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:53:53 -0400, Phisherman wrote:

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:04:16 -0700, wrote:

I'd like to know which money market fund pays 4-5 percent?

Vanguard Prime Money Market, ticker VMMXX, min $3K investment. Very
good low-risk fund, low expenses, trusted company. I havn't found a
better one (yet).

Current yield for that fund is 2.2%

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/Fun...FundIntExt=INT

--
Tony Sivori
Due to spam, I'm now filtering all Google Groups posters.

"Tony Sivori" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:53:53 -0400, Phisherman wrote:

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:04:16 -0700, wrote:

I'd like to know which money market fund pays 4-5 percent?

Vanguard Prime Money Market, ticker VMMXX, min $3K investment. Very
good low-risk fund, low expenses, trusted company. I havn't found a
better one (yet).

Current yield for that fund is 2.2%

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/Fun...FundIntExt=INT

--
Tony Sivori
Due to spam, I'm now filtering all Google Groups posters.

You could also look at GE Interest Plus.

https://secure.geinterestplus.com

Yields from 3.04% to 3.35% depending on amount deposited.

Joe J