"Art Begun" wrote in message
...
I thought I would post, for the benefit of people buying a new home,
some information on those 3rd party warranties builders often supply.
Usually the builder raves about them but you never get a copy until
closing day and they ask you to sign the front page at closing.

Don't do it. You are signing away most of your normal consumer rights
and the terms of the warranty are so bad it is highly unlikely that
you would ever collect a cent under it. For the most part it frees
the builder of liability for meeting code which would otherwise be
required by law. So if a code violation is found after closing you
would not be able to do anything about it.

Big name builders and small builders use these things. Refuse to
sign. Tell them at closing that you don't sign anything with out
reading it and you will take it home and sign it after studying it.
After a careful reading you can decide what is right for you.

These warranties are a way for builders to unbundle their warranty costs which
are of course rolled into the price of the home. This inflates the warranty
cost substantially and removes the incentive for the builder to do it right the
first time. The buyer winds up paying 20 or 30 years for the warranty which has
long since expired.

As far as collecting any money under the warranty--not a chance. At best you
get a "fixer" of their choice to try and remediate the problem.

Unfortunately you don't have much choice when the builder includes the warranty
of his choice in the deal. By not signing you get nothing but the right to
sue--not a good way to homeowner satisfaction.

The time to think about warranties is up front, not at closing. If you want to
buy from a big name builder then you are stuck with his deal. Small contractors
are more likely to be open to negotiation. But you will probably pay more
anyway since the smaller builders don't have the economies of scale.

The other day I accidentally trespassed into a new development area (KB) and
noticed that on virtually every house the exterior was spray painted with
several instructions and corrections for the workers such as:

Add insulation here --

Extend wrap around side

etc etc.

Obviously they are using warm bodies who don't know what they are doing and
can't read drawings. No wonder there are so many defects in a new house.

Regards,

John

One thing to keep in mind is the right to sue does not mean you will
have to sue. If you buy from a big builder and sign on to the
worthless warranty you lose the right to sue. But if you refuse to
sign it at closing until you can take it home and read it (and file it
in the circular file) you will keep your right to sue. Which may be
all you need to get the guy to fix stuff.


"JTM" wrote in message
...

"Art Begun" wrote in message
...
I thought I would post, for the benefit of people buying a new
home,
some information on those 3rd party warranties builders often
supply.
Usually the builder raves about them but you never get a copy
until
closing day and they ask you to sign the front page at closing.

Don't do it. You are signing away most of your normal consumer
rights
and the terms of the warranty are so bad it is highly unlikely
that
you would ever collect a cent under it. For the most part it
frees
the builder of liability for meeting code which would otherwise be
required by law. So if a code violation is found after closing
you
would not be able to do anything about it.

Big name builders and small builders use these things. Refuse to
sign. Tell them at closing that you don't sign anything with out
reading it and you will take it home and sign it after studying
it.
After a careful reading you can decide what is right for you.

These warranties are a way for builders to unbundle their warranty
costs which
are of course rolled into the price of the home. This inflates the
warranty
cost substantially and removes the incentive for the builder to do
it right the
first time. The buyer winds up paying 20 or 30 years for the
warranty which has
long since expired.

As far as collecting any money under the warranty--not a chance. At
best you
get a "fixer" of their choice to try and remediate the problem.

Unfortunately you don't have much choice when the builder includes
the warranty
of his choice in the deal. By not signing you get nothing but the
right to
sue--not a good way to homeowner satisfaction.

The time to think about warranties is up front, not at closing. If
you want to
buy from a big name builder then you are stuck with his deal. Small
contractors
are more likely to be open to negotiation. But you will probably
pay more
anyway since the smaller builders don't have the economies of scale.

The other day I accidentally trespassed into a new development area
(KB) and
noticed that on virtually every house the exterior was spray painted
with
several instructions and corrections for the workers such as:

Add insulation here --

Extend wrap around side

etc etc.

Obviously they are using warm bodies who don't know what they are
doing and
can't read drawings. No wonder there are so many defects in a new
house.

Regards,

John

"Art Begun" wrote in message
...
One thing to keep in mind is the right to sue does not mean you will
have to sue. If you buy from a big builder and sign on to the
worthless warranty you lose the right to sue. But if you refuse to
sign it at closing until you can take it home and read it (and file it
in the circular file) you will keep your right to sue. Which may be
all you need to get the guy to fix stuff.

If you want to go with a big builder who uses third party warranties then
refusing to agree to the remedies in the warranty by not signing it will still
leave you paying for an over priced warranty which will not be in effect. These
companies have full time lawyers skilled in getting complaints dismissed because
the buyer failed to avail himself of remedies that were included in the sale.
They know the courts will look unkindly on any action until you have availed
yourself of the warranty that you paid for, regardless of whether you signed it.

The time to deal with third party warranties is before you get caught up in the
excitement of buying a new house. The only real choice you have is to use an
independent builder who does his own warranties--with all the risks and higher
costs that entails.

Regards,

John