What’s a Home Warranty and Why Do I need One?

A home warranty is an insurance policy that covers the repairs of some of the major systems and appliances in the home, usually for the first year that you own the home. Even newer homes can have problems with plumbing, or the heating and cooling system or some other  system.  

The way they work is that you call the company that has your policy whenever anything that is covered goes wrong and they handle sending out a service/repair technician to look at the problem, There is an initial deductible on all of these policies of between $50-100. That deductible covers the initial service call, but may be returned if the service person ends up diagnosing a problem that is covered under the policy.  The normal policy of these companies it to try to repair the system or appliance; however, if repair parts are not available they will replace the item with a similar unit. For service oriented work, like unstopping plugged up plumbing different companies have different policies about  whether or not you may have to co-pay, if the problem turns out to be one you caused (toy down the toilet for example).