There’s no wrong time to consider your budget and how you invest to protect your finances and prepare for unexpected events or emergencies. Whether you already have a home warranty or never thought to purchase one, now is the perfect time to learn more about them and how they can help you save money and prepare for the future. Here are the benefits of having a home warranty.
Provides Financial Protection
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A home warranty can help protect you from financial hardship by covering the repair or replacement of the major systems and appliances in your home that you depend on, like your washing machine and HVAC system. Common household repairs can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. While repairing your washing machine might be cheap, repairing your plumbing can be more expensive.
Your home warranty takes care of the repair or replacement of covered home systems and appliances that break down due to wear and tear for a period of one year. While this might just seem like another monthly or one-time cost, it can help you save money depending on the terms of your plan.
Suppose you don’t have a home warranty. In that case, you’ll need to pay for repairs and replacements out of pocket, which means that an HVAC repair may cost thousands of dollars instead of hundreds of dollars. Your home warranty provider may even completely cover the cost based on your specific home warranty plan.
Additionally, a home warranty can loosen tight budgets. For example, first-time homeowners often have tight budgets after using most of their savings on the down payment. This is where a home inspection report can prove especially valuable and help the new homeowners avoid having to dip into their savings or borrow money for unexpected repairs.
A good home warranty will review a home inspection report to make sure that new homeowners don’t have to pay for covered breakdowns caused by unknown pre-existing conditions.
Without a home warranty, you’ll need to anticipate what the costs of your repairs will be, which means calling up your local contractors and getting quotes. Instead of calling for quotes to determine what you’ll pay out of pocket, the terms of your home warranty contract spell out exactly what breakdowns are covered and how much is covered, which allows you to budget better. Many warranty companies allow you to break down the cost of your plan in monthly installments or pay a one-time annual fee.
Provides Peace of Mind
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A warranty plan offers peace of mind through improved financial security against unexpected home repairs. As a homeowner, one of the most frustrating things you’ll have to deal with is an appliance breaking and completely disrupting your day.
Whether your air conditioning stopped working or your washing machine broke down with a load of laundry in it, you don’t have to ever be inconvenienced again when you have a home warranty. Instead, all you have to do is log into your home warranty account online or use their mobile app to open a claim.
The one downside of a home warranty is that if you don’t keep up with preventative maintenance, then the warranty company can deny your claim, which means they won’t pay to have something repaired or replaced. You can check out companies like HelloSuper who offer a subscription-based home warranty plan that includes maintenance services to help prevent breakdowns and keep your systems and appliances in tip-top shape.
Offers Convenience
When an appliance breaks, homeowners without a home warranty hunt for a technician or repair service so that they can get it fixed immediately. The research process can be as simple as finding the first business listed on Google for some, but others will want to research pricing and get multiple quotes so that they can save as much money as possible.
When you have a home warranty, you don’t have to spend any time worrying about finding someone on your own to come fix the issue as soon as possible. Instead, the home warranty company will find you a technician in your area and make the process as quick and painless as possible. A good home warranty will also have fair, cost-effective pricing previously negotiated with service providers.
Added Savings
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As we’ve mentioned, a home warranty can provide you with financial protection in the form of savings. For example, suppose a hot water heater costs $300 to repair or $1,200 to replace. In that case, homeowners without a home warranty will likely choose to repair the hot water heater only for it to break a few years later, which means spending even more money.
On the other hand, homeowners with a home warranty will only pay a flat fee to repair or replace a covered hot water heater, which will be less than the cost of repairs for homeowners without a warranty.
A home warranty provides additional savings opportunities. Many warranty companies offer exclusive discounts to customers on name-brand appliances, HVAC filters, and more. Many of these same companies also offer customizable plans so homeowners can choose what they want covered and what they don’t so that they can save even more money year after year.
Ability to Transfer
A homeowner can purchase a home warranty and transfer it to the new owner of a home if the property is sold, making the home warranty a selling point of the house for many homebuyers who may not have opted to purchase a home warranty on their own. The additional home warranty included with the house can attract more promising buyers and increase the value of the home.
Helps Sellers
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While a warranty’s ability to transfer can be a huge selling point in the eyes of homebuyers, it can also help sellers. Did you know? Failure for a seller to disclose information about appliances and home systems when selling their home can lead to post-closing litigation? A home warranty can help manage that risk if the seller transfers their warranty to the new homeowner.
Additionally, a home warranty can keep price negotiations higher during a home’s sale because buyers can be reassured that the accompanying home warranty can help with any unexpected breakdowns in covered systems and appliances .
Should You Have a Home Warranty?
A home warranty is an additional cost on top of your home insurance and other monthly expenses, but it can help you save thousands of dollars when something important in your home breaks. You don’t want to be left without heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer because you can’t afford a major repair.
While no one can tell you whether or not a home warranty is right for you, it’s always best to be prepared by making a list of all of the systems and appliances in your home and doing your research to determine if the cost of a warranty is worth saving thousands of dollars on repairs or replacements.
