Home Warranty Providers | San Diego Lifestyle

San Diego Home Warranty Company Recommendations.

If you’re purchasing a re-sale home in San Diego you’ll want a home warranty. Companies like American Home Warranty, Old Republic, and First American Buyer’s Protection are a few of the more common.

Home Warranty programs cover most mechanical systems in a home and are typically paid by the Seller. They cost from $300.00 to $800.00 depending on living space, options, and company. Most have a service call fee of around $30.00 to $60.00 per claim. Home warranties don’t cover structural issues or should they ever be a replacement for a professional home inspection.

Benefits for Sellers in providing a Home Warranty include after sale disputes if something goes wrong after close of escrow. Rather than argue about a non-disclosure issue, the home warranty will fix the problem for a nominal fee.

Benefits for the Buyers are some peace of mind knowing that appliances, heating systems, and plumbing are covered. Nice not to have an unexpected expense for that first year.

Home Warranty options include the following:

Refrigerator – normally considered personal property unless a built-in like a Sub-Zero.
Washer & dryers.
Roof leaks (Limited)
Garage door openers – some provide in up-graded coverage.
Pool, pool and spa.
Central air conditioning.

The basic warranty plan is normally around $300.00 for a standard size home. Options run around $150.00 for pool and spa coverage, $75 for washer and dryer, $25.oo for refrigerator, and central air around $60.00. Each company is different.

Check the fine print on each Home Warranty Company for coverage and exclusions. Here are three that I have had satisfactory service from.

Notice that I said satisfactory service.

Just do a YELP search on Home Warranty programs to find out many customers are not happy. This is probably from higher expectations of coverage and the various sub-contractors that the services use. Sometimes you get lucky, other times you have no idea why they selected the service provider.

I tell my Clients it is really for peace of mind on small repairs, but don’t expect much more. I still believe they are a good thing to have. The last home I owned it certainly paid for itself threefold.

Once again don’t rely on a home warranty to a professional home inspection – read my 5 tips here. If you have specific questions please give me a call at 858-352-8280.

2 thoughts on “Home Warranty Providers”

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Debra Marsh July 4, 2012 at 9:39 am

Good advice from this San Diego Lifestyle article. We have First American Home Buyer’s Protection (FAHB) policy and have used it several times. Our experience has taught us that, if you have high end appliances, it is difficult to get the same quality replacement without a lot of negotiating and/or paying a lot for the upgrade. It can be done but it takes a lot of time. We had a fire in the control panel of our dishwasher and then, when FAHB’s contractor came out to install the garbage disposal hose connector “nipple” was broken rendering the unit useless. That contractor didn’t own up to fault. FAHB then sent their contractor plumber to evaluate it and reported breakage due to excessive torque. So, then we had to negotiate between the plumber and the installer and FAHB. We spent six weeks on the dishwasher and going on five days now on the garbage disposal issue. The result was a new fully upgraded dishwasher w/minimal upgrade cost of $200 appx. and a cashout deal covering cost and installation of the garbage disposal unit. This took up many hours doing research on value and quality of appliances offered vs desired and holding the contractors’ responsible for their performance. Telephone hold times for FAHB were long (5-20 mins) and transfers started the time over again. Plus we had to repeat the information to each representative even though they had notes and even though we had an assigned case rep (her extension rolled over to other reps). Each representative was courteous and helpful in their capacity. A more detailed review of our experience is provided on Yelp but targets the installer contractor A-AALL Services of Escondido, CA. It is our conclusion that FAHB is probably an “industry standard” home warranty company and that, given time, research and negotiating skills, maximum benefits can be achieved.

Pingback: California Residential Purchase Agreement
Debra Marsh July 4, 2012 at 9:39 am

Good advice from this San Diego Lifestyle article. We have First American Home Buyer’s Protection (FAHB) policy and have used it several times. Our experience has taught us that, if you have high end appliances, it is difficult to get the same quality replacement without a lot of negotiating and/or paying a lot for the upgrade. It can be done but it takes a lot of time. We had a fire in the control panel of our dishwasher and then, when FAHB’s contractor came out to install the garbage disposal hose connector “nipple” was broken rendering the unit useless. That contractor didn’t own up to fault. FAHB then sent their contractor plumber to evaluate it and reported breakage due to excessive torque. So, then we had to negotiate between the plumber and the installer and FAHB. We spent six weeks on the dishwasher and going on five days now on the garbage disposal issue. The result was a new fully upgraded dishwasher w/minimal upgrade cost of $200 appx. and a cashout deal covering cost and installation of the garbage disposal unit. This took up many hours doing research on value and quality of appliances offered vs desired and holding the contractors’ responsible for their performance. Telephone hold times for FAHB were long (5-20 mins) and transfers started the time over again. Plus we had to repeat the information to each representative even though they had notes and even though we had an assigned case rep (her extension rolled over to other reps). Each representative was courteous and helpful in their capacity. A more detailed review of our experience is provided on Yelp but targets the installer contractor A-AALL Services of Escondido, CA. It is our conclusion that FAHB is probably an “industry standard” home warranty company and that, given time, research and negotiating skills, maximum benefits can be achieved.