[TAKerry]

A little tidbit, a friend of mine whom is a RE agent bought one for her own home. She paid extra for coverage for her swimming pool. When something broke with the pump she found out it was one of the parts NOT covered!

[Inogame]

Having one supplied right after you buy a new home is ok. Seller usually throws it in but even if they don't I can see a market for it. Lot's of times you drop a big $ down payment and after moving and everything else involved with getting into a house the last thing you want is to get saddled with a big dollar replacement. Best to look at it as catastrophic coverage.

That being said, it's much better to start setting aside money in case you lose HVAC than to go with a home warranty.
Of course, it's easy to say that when it's not my money. Money and savings is a very personal thing.

I say HVAC because in many cases that would be the most expensive item to fail and need replacement at any given time. If you have enough to cover that, in a pinch you can likely cover anything else.

[carcrazy]

Warranty companies don't make money by paying out claims! The excuses for non-payment I've heard over the years are unbelievable. I've also had them (American Home Shield in this case) outright lie to me about was was and was not covered. The quality of contractors generally used......well they are working for a warranty company for a reason....haven't been impressed with any I've met. Warranty companies can be a little easier to deal with if they made money the previous quarter, but if they lost money.....good luck! You'll get the "it's not covered because it was built Thursday afternoon" type of BS.

[Forrest]

I live on my great grandparents house ( my restoration shop there also..along with the old carriage house..smoke house..wash house you get the point!) with 115 acres..(pre 1870),,I have not called for ANY repairs for service on anything..( except septic tank cleaning!) I just learned as I lived..repaired everything and built things also..I would be dead broke or greatly in debt if I depended on others for things..It's just the way I wanted and had to be..having a electronics engineering degree and masters in blacksmithing helped also! and not to mention the feeling of "repairing" is great..most people would probably throw out things and buy new..not me.. I will repair anything as long as I can get parts for it.. and sometimes even when I can't!..No warranty for me ever!