The last thing that a home buyer wants to worry about is fixing faulty plumbing the first month after he moves in. That’s why home warranties exist: to give buyers some peace of mind before they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house. In many places, it’s expected that a seller will pay for the coverage because the buyer won’t be calling the seller to fix problems after the closing.
If you’re selling your home, you can sweeten the deal by offering to throw in a home warranty. Here’s how to put your buyer’s mind at ease and get rid of your home in short order.
Offering a Home Warranty
Home warranties cover major appliances, heating and cooling systems, plumbing, and even electrical systems. Because you probably don’t want to go through all of these areas in your home and fix them prior to the sale, a home warranty offer makes good financial sense. In a way, you’re guaranteeing that everything in the house is in tip-top shape. By offering to pay the buyer for at least a year’s worth of coverage, your buyer will have little to be nervous about.
If you offer to pay for 5 years worth of coverage, it’s going to discount the price of your home a bit, but it will remove all fear on the part of your buyer – and that’s the real secret to getting your home to sell quickly.
Major Appliances
Major appliances break. Maybe you just outfitted the home with a new garbage disposal. It’s amazing. You can throw entire bones down the sink. It’s not indestructible though, and you have no idea what the buyer will do to it. Obviously, that’s not your problem, but many buyers implicitly make it your problem.
They may never say it, but they expect everything to work perfectly forever after you’re gone. That’s just not realistic. What is realistic, and what most buyers will accept, is a warranty that guarantees major appliances won’t leave them in a financial hole after giving you all this money for your house.
Heating and Cooling Systems
Your central heat or air conditioning system might be several years old, or it might be older than you. That’s fine. You don’t need to replace it if you offer a home warranty because most of them cover heating and cooling systems. While a one-year guarantee is nice, several years is probably more enticing and it makes you look confident about what you’re selling.
Plumbing
Pipes leak eventually. When that happens, it’s nice to have a warranty to cover the repair costs. Your buyer wants to know that they’re not one cold snap away from having to replace the mainline coming into the house.
Experts cost money, and good plumbers are no exception. Will your new buyer need to have the entire system overhauled, a section of pipe, or would his pipes just need to be resealed? You don’t know and neither does he and that’s what scares him. Home warranties protect him from this kind of uncertainty about the plumbing.
Electrical
Electrical wiring can be chewed through by unwanted house pests. You’re not a dirty person, but rats will make a home in just about any location that offers them shelter – including your attic. It’s a common thing, but maybe your new buyer doesn’t realize this. Even if they do, they might not be thinking about it until it happens. You don’t want them to curse your name. A home warranty protects them and turns you into a hero before anything bad ever happens here.
