FINANCES: Home Warranty

On Sunday we noticed that the inside part of our air conditioner unit was vibrating really loud. Still cooling well, but vibrating so much that I could feel it on the other side of the house. My family thinks I'm really strange but I really can feel certain vibrations like cars pulling in front of our house or into the driveway or garage. They hum Twilight Zone music when I come out of the shower and tell them someone has arrived. :)

Back to the A/C. I contacted American Home Shield, our home warranty company via their online form. They called on Monday morning and someone came today, Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. The blower wheel inside the air handler unit of our A/C needs to be replaced--total cost to us--$60, the service call fee.

We have had this home warranty ever since we purchased our home in 1998. Our realtor, a personal friend, recommended it to us since the house was older, built in 1971. It's not a cheap policy--$450 per year--but it includes all the expensive parts of our home such as the air conditioning system, water heater, ductwork, pool pump, electrical system, plumbing, ceiling fans, refrigerator. We have 12 covered items/systems. Since we have had it for so long we are grandfathered in for some of these covered items that may not be available now. We have not regretted paying this each year because about once every year we have a large repair that needs to be done that is covered. We had a plumbing leak that cost $1,000 to repair that we paid $35 (S/C used to be just $35); $600 water heater replaced; $2,500 outside A/C unit replaced; $150 shower faucets and spray replaced; $600 pool pump replaced last year [I had JUST upgraded our policy to include the pool pump system], our oven ($500+ retail) was replaced ...to name a few.

For this most recent repair...

• Cost of the new part:   $150
• Cleaning cost of A/C:   $200
• Labor cost:  $150
• TOTAL:  $500 (we paid $60 service charge call)

I highly recommend home warranties to anyone buying an older home especially, but new homes can have issues after the first year as well. Unless you or someone in your household knows how to do major repairs well, this is well worth the money spent.

If you're looking for a good maintenance service, we think ours is the best.  We hire them regularly for things that are not covered by our warranty for our home and our rental house.