Devil's in the home warranty details

Q: I'm currently in contract to buy a townhouse. The broker and my attorney are encouraging us to have the seller purchase a home warranty (through Coldwell Banker). What is your opinion of these programs? There seems to be many complaints about them online.

A: First, I need to give you a couple of disclaimers: I have only limited experience with home warranties, and I don't know anything about Coldwell Banker's specific program. So this is only my general and limited opinion.

From what I have seen and heard, home warranties suffer from a "fine print" problem. Homes and their systems are very complex, and there are so many variables that affect them, from the weather to do-it-yourself repairs. For that reason, there are a number of things that are either not covered or have only limited coverage under a lot of the warranties.

Also, there can be a number of factors that determine the inclusion or exclusion of a listed repair, such as age, condition, who's worked on it in the past, even its location in the house. Finally, depending on where you live, actually getting repair people out to your house in a timely manner may be an issue as well.

First of all, you need to carefully go over all the details and all the restrictions of the proposed policy. You obviously have an attorney involved, so he or she should be able to help you understand it. See what the deductibles are, and when they come into play. Find out what the exact procedures are for calling in a warranty claim, how long the processing takes, and how long it takes to get a service person out to the house.

If possible, ask for some local references of other buyers who have this service. Give a few of them a call, and see what their experiences have been.

Q: I recently bought a house built in 1927. It's a two-story with a finished attic (total of three floors of living space). It appears to have no insulation whatsoever. The third floor has access to the tops of the exterior walls, all of the roof rafters, and the tops of the second-floor ceilings. What would you recommend for insulation? Should I blow cellulose insulation down the exterior walls from the attic space?

A: Unfortunately, you're going to get a lot of conflicting opinions on whether blowing insulation into the exterior cavities of an older home is a good idea or not. ...CONTINUED

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