Don’t Skip the Home Warranty When Buying a Home

01/26/17 • -1 min

Pittsburgh Real Estate Podcast with Gina Giampietro

Home warranties are incredibly important, especially if you buy a home with older appliances. I’ll tell you why today.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Most people don’t know what home warranties really cover. However, it’s incredibly important that you have a home warranty for your home.

Let’s say you’re looking at a home and that home has a 20-year-old furnace, a 20-year-old AC unit, and older appliances. You really like the layout of the home but you know that you will have to pay to replace or repair those appliances.

When you purchase this home, make sure that you get a home warranty. Having a home warranty and keeping it up to date will help with those costs. In fact, home warranties can absorb 90% of what that cost will be for you.

Home warranties can save you 90% of repair and/or replacement costs.

So, if you find a home you really like and see those repairs coming, a home warranty makes perfect sense for you.

A lot of people get a home warranty when they buy a home but forget to renew it. You have to renew your warranty every year. Home warranties protect you and cover more than your furnace and AC units. Home warranties cover electrical, plumbing issues, toilets, doorbells—basically, all major components of your home are covered, along with some minor components.

Like every insurance policy, there are things that are covered and things that are not. Make sure you check which items are which. That said, major items in your home should be covered.

I always recommend that you get a home warranty when you purchase a home. If you have any othe...

Home warranties are incredibly important, especially if you buy a home with older appliances. I’ll tell you why today.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Most people don’t know what home warranties really cover. However, it’s incredibly important that you have a home warranty for your home.

Home warranties can save you 90% of repair and/or replacement costs.

So, if you find a home you really like and see those repairs coming, a home warranty makes perfect sense for you.

Like every insurance policy, there are things that are covered and things that are not. Make sure you check which items are which. That said, major items in your home should be covered.

I always recommend that you get a home warranty when you purchase a home. If you have any othe...

Previous Episode

What Is the FHA Doing With Its Mortgage Insurance Premium?

The FHA will reduce its mortgage insurance premium to lower the monthly payment for the loan buyer. Here’s what that means for you.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

For the first time in two years, the FHA will reduce its mortgage insurance premium to lower the monthly payment for the loan buyer. Currently, an FHA mortgage insurance premium is based on 3.5% down, which is 0.85% of the loan amount. On January 27th, it will be reduced to 0.6% of the loan amount.

However, if you put 5% or more down, the premium will be reduced to 0.55% of the loan amount, which would be a substantial amount of savings, depending on your loan balance. With this new insurance premium being lowered, you could save as much as $55 or more per month if you purchase a home through the FHA.

This new change could save you a lot of money, depending on your loan balance.

This change should make it tougher for people to decide between a conventional loan and an FHA loan. A lot of people with 5% down or more used to go with a conventional loan because it would result in a lower mortgage premium. With this new development, though, FHA loans are going to compete with conventional loans.

For more on this topic or any other topic you would like to hear about, please feel free to call or email us anytime. Until next time, make it a great day!

Next Episode

What Everyone Needs to Know About Pricing a Home

When it comes to pricing a home, there are a few things that both buyers and sellers need to understand. I’ll go over everything you need to know today.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

When it comes to pricing a home, buyers want to negotiate even after the agents have done all the work, while sellers sometimes don’t listen to their agent when it comes to pricing. I want to go over a few things that both buyers and sellers should keep in mind when it comes to the price of a home.

Let’s say that a buyer sees a house that is priced at $140,000 in a $160,000 neighborhood. Even though the home is priced below the neighborhood, the buyer still feels the need to negotiate and get an even lower price.

Keep in mind that when an agent prices a home, nine times out of 10, they will meet with the seller and go over everything about the house. The agent will take the location, condition of the home, condition of the roof, furnace, and AC, and the number of kitchens and bathrooms into consideration when coming up with an accurate price.

If it was as simple as going to Zillow and putting the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage into the computer, then you wouldn’t need an agent or appraisal. However, that is not how pricing works.

Zillow’s Zestimates are out of control. Nine times out of 10, Zillow’s Zestimates are completely wrong. Zillow looks at the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage. Zillow also looks at the last 30 days of sales within a two-mile radius of your home, which includes all different kinds of homes.

There is only so much money in any given transaction.