Home Warranties
By Melissa Wirkus
Buying
a home can be a very confusing process for someone
who has never done anything like it before. There
are mountains of paperwork to complete, and that does
not even happen until you have gone through the long
process of finding the house at the right price!
Once you have found the right house, took out a mortgage
and made all of the necessary arrangements, you will
find that there are still many small details to consider.
And one of those small details is the home warranty.
An October 5, 2006 article by Elizabeth Weintraub
of about.com, “Home Warranties – What
is a home warranty plan?” looks into the importance
of making sure your new home is protected by one of
these plans.
Home warranties are extremely important for new home
owners
because there are a lot of things that can go wrong
after the transaction is completed.
These plans protect a homeowner from common problems
that can occur with things such as appliances.
“Whoever dreamed up the idea of home warranties
hit upon a gold mine. They have become an essential
today in most real
estate transactions across the country, if for
no other reason than to isolate the seller from buyer
hysterics after closing. Buyers tend to jump to the
conclusion that if something breaks or malfunctions,
it's because the seller tried to cover up the problem.”
It seems to be Murphy’s Law that everything
could be working perfectly in a house and as soon
as it is sold, things start to go berserk. It is not
as though the seller is trying to withhold any problems,
it is just the Universe working it’s magic;
and this is exactly why home warranties are so important.
“The last thing a home buyer
wants to worry about after closing is what could possibly
break or malfunction in her new home. Since that can
cover a multitude of items and systems, for peace
of mind, it's a good idea to get a home protection
plan. It's especially a good idea to obtain a home
warranty if you're a first-time home buyer with no
experience maintaining a home.”
Deciding on who pays for the home warranty is usually
a matter of local custom. In some areas, it is customary
for sellers to pay for the warranty because it protects
them from having to deal with the buyer when the dishwasher
malfunctions.
Warranties usually cost a couple of hundred dollars,
so in the big picture of a house transaction, it does
not seem like a very big deal.
“Home warranty companies sometimes run special
sales and either discount policy prices or offer additional
coverage for the same price. The policies are prepaid
for a year in advance, at which time they expire or
can be renewed.”
If something happens to a home system or appliance,
you would contact your home warranty company and they
would work with you to schedule a repair and fix the
problem. Occasionally there are discrepancies, especially
if a new home owner thought something was under warranty
that really isn’t. If this happens you should
contact your real estate agent,
and they should be able to help you.
The importance of a home warranty is ten-fold and
will help to ease a lot more worries and stress in
the future.