Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

Has anyone ever had one of those Home Warranties that cover service calls and sometimes appliance replacement?
I am a little confused and am getting mixed info.
We are looking into purchasing a home that has three 25 year old HVAC units.
They are going to need replacement soon.
Has anyone ever had a home warranty that replaces an HVAC system, or do they just repair them? Do we have to get a special clause to include that?
We are guessing they will not all go at the same time, but that would probably be a $28000 expense. I don't see how $800-$1000 a year could possibly cover that.

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

We bought a house with a warranty years ago. We asked the realtor what that meant and he said, "It means make sure you put money aside for repairs and replacement, it's practically useless." We found out the first week when the heat wouldn't turn on he was right. The company hired some HVAC business that was from over an hour away. They came out and said they needed a special part that would take at least a week to get. Meanwhile there was no way we could stay there and we were worried the pipes would freeze. We called a HVAC guy we already knew. He had the extremely commonplace part in his inventory and fixed it that day, it was stupid inexpensive.

When I called the warranty company they wanted to charge me for the first guys they sent out. I refused. I've never bothered with a home warranty since and warn everyone I know to stay away.

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

Make sure you have duct work inspected.it would be well worth it to have it replaced if it is very old especially if was installed in the 70s or before. Some,like ours, have the insides lined with fiberglass that was coated but coating has come off so bits of fiber cmes out of ducts

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

You can get a home warrantee with out an inspection. This means that if you call them today can come out and find a reason that your HVAC system, or what ever, isn't actually covered under the warranty.

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Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

We have a repair warranty though Xcel energy. It's excellent.

Replacement value is based in age, so they'd give you pennies. We skipped that.

Offer way less than the property is worth to account for a furnace that old. FWIW, our furnace guy said a great furnace is 3-5K and not to bother with the ones more expensive than that. A/C unit another 5K though.

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

The home warranties are useless. They are a selling tactic but, as a PP wrote, they have the right to keep repairing a unit or appliance that needs to be replaced, they can take their own sweet time repairing it, etc etc etc. If you buy a home that has a home warranty, you might as well use it as much as you can but I would not count on that warranty for keeping you in heat and a/c with units that old.

HVAC units that old are going to be very inefficient and cost you a lot of money in energy bills. Do you need all 3? Can they be replaced with 1? I'd get estimates on replacements and use that in negotiating the price. I would not ask the sellers to replace them because they'll put in something cheap.

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

This house has *five* units.
Two for the main level, one for the 2nd level, one for the third floor ( which I'm assuming was put in because they finished off part of the walk-up attic) and one for the basement ( again I'm assuming that was put in when they finished it,also) both of the newer ones are 11 years old.

We are asking what the utilities run.

One water heater is brand new and there are four of them as well. Again, they added two when finishing off the spaces.

We are planning to offer a lot less than they are asking.
:yes

Our water heater seems to have quit working on us today. So, when we go to sell our house, we will get to say that we have a new water heater!

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

Having been lied to on several things by the person who sold us our current house, I'd ask for copies to the utility bills, not rely on what they say. :yes2

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

We were lied to as well and it's going to cost us at least 5K that we weren't counting on.

I'd have an HVAC person come in addition to home inspector. Why in the world are there 5 units in a single family home? Was the house permitted while it was remodeled?

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

Crazy, right? We have a friend that is an AC guy and plan to have him come and look at it . I don't know why there are so many. Those spaces were finished 11 years ago and I think there have been two other owners since then.

We know that this house is a bit of a fixer upper. We already have one previous inspection report. We may walk away, but we really, really need the space. We really, really need my mother-in-law in her own space, and we need more than just a guest room and bathroom for her.

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

I totally understand needing a different space.

Can you do an audition video with your dancer and get on that show where they do an addition for you?

Re: Home warranties and HVAC replacement
 

What show is that?:giggle
We joke about that. My MIL garners a lot of sympathy, too.