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I see AHS is basically a scam. Three different people have told me they used them for repairs in the first year after buying a house for stuff like leaks. But, it sounds like their current MO is to deny service or do the bare minimum.

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I've heard good things about home warranties, though a lot of the appliances in my house needed to be replaced when I bought it (and I knew this beforehand). Look carefully at what EXACTLY they cover and see if it fits with your ultimate goals on the house. I turned it down when I bought my house, but I was also trying to stay in a budget, even with the possible benefit of extended warranties.

[This message has been edited by AgDrumma07 (edited 7/20/2011 10:47p).]

I went through 3 different home warranty companies, and they are all the same. They are in the business of collecting premiums, not paying claims. Paying claims reduces the amount of money they make.

Any excuse they have to cry "pre-existing condition" will be used to deny the claim. If they see any hint of deferred maintenance, they will use it against you.

They will pay for band-aid after band-aid after band-aid to pay the absolute minimum and avaoid hefty costs of full replacement of an item or major repairs to a system. All they are good for is minor work you can probably do yourself, and they hire a small number of contractors who are willing to do warranty work for dirt cheap.

None of the warranty companies I used ever had more than 2 or 3 authorized contractors. They often tried to get me to hire a contractor and front the money for repairs and submit a claim for reimbursement.

lol @ this

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They often tried to get me to hire a contractor and front the money for repairs and submit a claim for reimbursement.

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Yeah, I LOL'd at them when they would say it.

"That's what I pay you people for."

Our house was 50 years old and the AHS warranty paid for itself every year. It's not all bad.

[This message has been edited by WorthAg95 (edited 7/21/2011 12:44a).]

The warranty is being paid for a year by the seller up to $375 for a year. It wasn't really a key point in my decision, because I don't know much about it. Reading more, I see that some companies are better than others, but they all do what they can to deny service because of a pre existing condition or lack of maintainance

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I'm a mechanical engineer myself and watch a lot of HGTV

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Ignore all of the haters, they must not have seen that you watch HGTV!

If you buy this house, you have to change your tag to RetardAg07.

I never said hgtv qualified me for anything other than seeing the giant money pits houses can be from things that aren't obvious at first glance. That's basically the whole premise of Holmes on Homes.

With all this talking ,when does your option period end?

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other than seeing the giant money pits houses can be from things that aren't obvious at first glance. That's basically the whole premise of Holmes on Homes.

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Then you should know better than to touch a house that has a ton of expensive, obvious problems. All of the REALLY expensive problems that Holmes finds are hidden. That's sort of what we're saying -- you only see the surface signs of problems. Once you move in, there will be a ton of other issues that you find after living in the house for a while.

Good example: There is a roof flashing that didn't seem to be installed correctly when I moved in. Turns out that it really really wasn't installed correctly, and any T-storm blowing up out of the south would blow water back up under it. The solution involved pulling both the siding and the roof in front of it. Once I did that, I realized the sheathing wasn't sufficient. Once I took the sheathing off, I realized that the water had gotten into the drywall and insulation and the whole back side of it was moldy, and that's part of the reason the living room smelled like ass. None of this was apparent when I bought the house except for some really old signs of water leaks that had been painted over with stain blocking paint. The inspector didn't see it or cover it, and I had a good inspector. The problem had been there for about 15 years.

Solution: $7500 gut of the 600 sq ft living room, did almost all the work myself or it would've been a $30,000 gut.

There are signs that you learn after you run into a few of these... things that you look at and go, "Yep, that's gotta get fixed sooner than later and it's gonna really hurt" when you see or hear about a house.

Your house has all of them. ALL of them. IF the foundation checked out, I'd buy it for half market value or less and gut it. Otherwise, I wouldn't touch it with someone else's ten foot pole.

(Coincidentally, that's why I don't use air fresheners and make my girlfriend put away the scentsy crap when I'm around. Not only am I allergic to all that crud, but it keeps the smells of the house hidden from me. The first sign of a problem is usually something smelling off.)

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that's part of the reason the living room smelled like ass

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Sounds like my house. Wanna come gut it?

No. Gut your own money pit.

The gutting's the easy part. figuring out how to fix (and afford to fix) all the issues that show up? That's the priceless part.

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Solution: $7500 gut of the 600 sq ft living room, did almost all the work myself or it would've been a $30,000 gut.

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I don't know about that priceless part...

Add in the amount of time I really spent doing it at the hourly rate I charge for consulting work, and it becomes priceless.

I saved $10,000 by doing my kitchen myself.