If you look closely at the lower left wire, you’ll see why I ran off on Tuesday rather than writing a long post about Case Shiller. We’d had PGE out last year to our rental property when the electrician said whatever was going on was a PGE issue; they came out and fixed. When things went bad last week, PGE received the first call. One leg of the power service was complete burned through under the meter base (click the image to enlarge). Some of the paint outside the meter based had bubbled. The repair is the homeowner’s (my) problem.

We have an American Home Shield Warranty on the property (renewed annually) so the next call is to them- if you have a potential claim and call them after the fact, your claim will be denied. They paid about $1800 to repair the service. I paid about the same to upgrade the service to 200 amps and replace the panel ( I also paid a $60 deductible). I couldn’t see the point of keeping a lesser service as I still would have paid a portion of the bill since the repair was over the limits of what the warranty covers.

There a few ways of getting a home warranty. In the case of AHS, the seller can provide, the buyer can purchase through escrow or directly within 30 days of closing. We recommend them all the time but with an older AC unit on the property, it is even more important. If your policy covers AC and they can’t repair it (parts are getting harder to find), they’ll replace it with a 13 SEER unit that meets today’s standards. In Prudential Northwest Properties’ case, the AHS Warranty is provided during the listing period with no obligation to buy. If the is a covered issue, only the deductible is due. When PRU-NW’s Buyer’s Advantage Program is used, Columbia Mortgage buys the warranty for the buyer.

Readers have any home warranty stories? There are others available, not just AHS. We used to have a 2-10 Warranty