Should I Ask For the Home Warranty?

There’s a little section in the real estate contract here in Tucson where a Buyer gets to decide if they want to ask for a home warranty or not, from which company, with what coverage, and who will pay for it.

A home warranty is different from your home owner’s insurance. Home owner’s insurance protects your house and stuff in case of a loss, in general. A Home Warranty is an annual service where if something breaks, you call the home warranty company and they send someone out to see if the repair is covered by the warranty, and if so, fixes it. The service call (as of today in Arizona) is $60, regardless if the repair is covered or not.

Home warranties can be purchased at the time you buy the home, and can be renewed every year.

I tend to use American Home Shield, who’s base policy is $350 per year, and then you start adding on a couple hundred for things like pool equipment coverage, or refrigerator coverage, things like that.

There’s a whole booklet that gives an overview of what is covered and what is not.

I’ve had clients with both very good and very bad experiences with home warranties. Sometimes, people get a new air conditioner covered by their warranty. And some people keep making service calls and whatever is broken is never covered by the warranty.

So should you ask for the home warranty when you’re negotiating to buy a home? If you think you’ll use it or need it, by all means. In general, the home warranty request isn’t a deal-breaker. In fact, some sellers offer it up front in their listings. It’s a side benefit for them as well - they get the benefit of using the warranty themselves (with some restrictions) while on the market, and then can pass on a full year of coverage to the new buyer.