For Big Ticket Items, You’d Better Beware and Don’t Take the Short Cuts
Home Protection Plans have been around as long as I’ve been in the Real Estate business and I’ve made them part of just about every Real Estate transaction I’ve been involved in.
They are useful if you want to try and keep your “repair costs” down. I always recommended this service whether you are a Home Buyer or a Real Estate Investor and you’re buying a property that is not brand new construction.
Did you notice I didn’t say “maintenance”…? That has always been your responsibility..!
I’ve Noticed Some Changes Recently
It seems to be an industry trend because I’m getting the same treatment from more than one company and that is, they are closely scrutinizing service calls, especially for HVAC systems.
I have an old friend who is a long time Escrow Officer for First American Title Insurance Company which owns First American Home Buyer’s Protection. She purchased a Duplex in Roseville through me in 2005 and we have been managing it ever since. On a recent service call for one of the air conditioners, First American H.B.P.Corp demanded to see a recent receipt from the owner that we had actually completed a “routine” servicing of each of the units…. BEFORE THEY WOULD GO OUT.
Luckily we had done that because they weren’t going to complete any repairs if we hadn’t.
It also didn’t matter that she was a 35 year employee of First American Title. You’d think in that case there’d be some “dispensation”, however, there was no sympathy even for her.
In another case, Fidelity National Home Warranty, was reluctant to make repairs even though my client had purchased the property almost a year ago. They wanted to see if we had completed a “home inspection” prior to the purchase which we had not done. We did however have the Air Conditioners inspected prior to close.
My suggestion is if you are going to purchase a home or an investment property be sure to:
- Have any Heating and Air Conditioning unit inspected before you close escrow.
- Have it serviced annually.
If you don’t do the above…? You might be on the “short end of the stick” as they say and be stuck with an expensive repair. They are now looking for a way to deny your claim if they can show you didn’t maintain it.
You don’t want to have an argument with them if it’s 110 outside and you need service. You don’t want to be a Landlord and your tenant calls up with a service request for a non working unit. They won’t care about your relationship with the Home Protection Plan company, they want it fixed NOW…!
By the way… if you need services for your HVAC system, call or email me and I’ll give you the names of some people we use that are very reasonable because we deal with this a lot as part of our Property Management business.
In the mean time…?
Make it a Great Day..!
Ed Favinger, Broker, CRS, GRI, SFR, CDPE favinger@rwnetwork.com 916-203-1260
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