The biggest benefit of having a home warranty for your DC metro rental home is going to be that it can help limit or mitigate the expense of repairs needed in your rental home. For example, if your home warranty covers it, if your hot water heater goes out and needs a replacement, your home warranty may cover the cost of the replacement (or a portion of it depending on your policy).
The cons to a home warranty are as follows:
- They add an extra layer of communication needed which can add to time and could result to a higher chance of miscommunication amongst everyone involved. The process for creating a claim for a repair involves first going through the home warranty company; which then assigns the work to a vendor within their network.
- Not everything you think is covered is. You may think because your HVAC has an issue and your home warranty covers the whole cost. Not always the case! Some home warranty policies don’t cover items such as recharging the unit or adding freon; which can be a hefty expense. There are other stipulations that may also not be apart of your home warranty policy which could cause additional costs you weren’t planning for as a landlord when you purchased the home warranty policy.
- Time can cause issues with your tenant’s satisfaction. There could be instances when a technician needs a part or approval for a part which adds more time than normal for a repair. This can cause to tenant frustration and return trips that the tenant may have to constantly take time off work for.
- Emergency repairs are not always treated as “real emergencies”. Typically home warranty’s have a certain time frame that they must “respond” to an “emergency claim.” However, responding to a claim and actually going to address the claim are two different things. Typically home warranty response times for emergency’s do not work as they can take over 48 hours to actually address the emergency. This can cause greater frustration from your tenant; as well as, greater damage to your home.
