The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[ScottyB]

things i can recommend:
1. a good home warranty IF you buy and have older AC units... its $100/visit to keep them alive. That sounds like a lot, but we have TWO system that use the old freon... so to replace them would require all new lines and everything. We were quoted about $8k/system to replace.

some of you have heard me say this before, but our home warranty literally saved our asses when we just moved into our first place here. i'm not an "extended warranty" guy, and absolutely everyone told us it would be a waste of money to get a home warranty. in most cases i'd agree. but this was our first house, we spent at the high end of our budget, and our gut feelings told us we wanted the psychological peace of mind as much as the utility aspect of the warranty so we could focus on enjoying making the house "ours" and not worrying so much about random catastrophes especially with a baby in the house.

sure enough, despite a very thoroughly passed home inspection, 1 month into ownership in August here in the deep south during a triple digit heat wave and both the AC unit, condenser, AND lineset needed replacement all at once due to the unit's compressor grenading and filling the entire system with shrapnel. our house is 9 years old and in a place where the AC runs 8 months out of the year, i guess it was "time"

almost $10k later our system is completely new, and i think our deductible was $1k. easiest grand i've ever gratefully paid. and our warranty company dropped us after that :lol: AC stuff is just layer upon layer of expense since its such a specialized trade and there's a lot of specific waste handling measures.

we no longer carry a warranty nowadays, it was sort of a buffer measure for that first year when we first moved in. when we move into a different house again someday i might be tempted to get one again though.