August 24, 2023 • 19 mins
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Are you ready to learn the ins and outs of home warranties and how they can offer you a competitive edge in the real estate market? Today, we unravel this topic with Matt Fellin from America's Preferred Home Warranty, who brings a wealth of knowledge and insights. We unravel how home warranties are not just an add-on, but an essential safeguard against product failures, offering coverage on up to 25 products in the home. Additionally, we touch on the legal coverage offered to sellers and the seamless transfer of warranties to buyers at closing, making it a win-win for both parties.
Moving forward, Matt breaks down the claims process, highlighting the convenience homeowners have in choosing their own preferred licensed contractors. Hear about the competitive response times, the possibility to renew a warranty each year, and how contractors get paid. We also compare pricing and standard coverage across the industry. Closing off, we revisit the importance of home inspections and how a warranty can complement this process, giving homeowners and buyers the upper hand. Matt wraps up with an overview of the services and coverage he provides, leaving you equipped with expert advice and a better understanding of home warranty coverage. Jump in and get a handle on home warranties with Matt Fellin.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, this is Brad Wiseman.
You're listening to Real Estateand you we are back in the
studio with more awesomeinformation.
This show actually happens tobe about real estate, which is
pretty good.
This guy here is somebody comesinto our office pretty often
and he talks about this productthat we really need to talk
about.
There's not many inspectionsbeing done today and, with that
(00:25):
being said, it gets a littlescary because we don't know
what's in the house.
So instead of doing aninspection, we are doing home
warranties.
So Matt Felin is here fromAmerica's Home Preferred right
Home Preferred.
America's Preferred HomePreferred Home Warranty.
There we go.
You know what's funny?
When I wrote my notes, Iactually literally wrote down
(00:46):
America's Home Preferred HomeWarranty.
Yeah, this is why We'll get itright.
Yeah, this is why, you know,maybe I shouldn't write things
out, I should just go with it,right, Hugo?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
See, Hugo always agrees with everything I say, so
I love having him around.
So let's, you're doing homewarranties and you're doing a
lot of them now I bet.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
We are, we are.
We've been very important inthe.
We've always been important.
But in the changes with themarket, with so many inspections
being waved along the way, evenwith the inspection there's no
crystal ball that you know downthe road a couple months in,
towards the end of the year,that not going to have a problem
of product failure that wecould help out with.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And so let's just explain what.
Let's just get right out whatis a home warranty?
What is this?
People get confused.
It's not insurance.
It has nothing to do with.
Like Hugo had said to me.
Is this what I need for thebank?
Is this?
It's not private home mortgageor mortgage insurance.
This is a completely differentelected type warranty.
So explain what it is.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, so we're important there.
You see analogy a lot of likeused houses, like a used car.
Yeah, products fail, things gowrong, well pumps go out.
So a lot of folks don't want aused car without a warranty.
They really shouldn't want touse house without a warranty.
So we're in place for productfailures Again.
(02:02):
Yeah, like you said, we're nothomeowners insurance.
Tree falls on a roof and youknow damages the house.
You're going to use yourhomeowners for that.
Yeah, what for products thatfail?
Things like dishwashers, hotwater heaters, bigger stuff like
central air.
We have septic and well pumpcoverage.
So 25 products that we offercoverage on for for a buyer, a
little bit of a shorter list forseller, but a lot of power on
(02:24):
the list.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay, so let's go there.
You said there's there's a lotfor the buyer, but what's on
there for seller?
So, cause this is the part thatalways amazed me is that you,
you, you don't pay for thepolicy until settlement.
Correct, is that?
That's the way it still is?
But there's anything I say it'swrong, just let me know I'm
wrong, cause sometimes I do saythings that they're not correct
and then we use the eight ballto find out what's really
happening.
Okay, eight ball nose.
That's right, especially thered one.
So yeah, so let's go into that.
(02:47):
So there's some things that arecovered for the seller, but
they haven't even paid for thisthing yet, correct?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So it's it's it's very powerful to have it on the
listing side, because we have alist of things for the seller
that they can claim on with us.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Um, they also get to use their own license
contractors.
We would talk about a bit here.
If they do have a claim, whichis a huge value for that
homeowner, we also entitled thatseller to up to a thousand
dollars in legal coverage Ifthey get sued by the buyer for
up to two years post sale.
We can potentially help nowlike a thousand dollars in
attorney fees for free justcause we're on the listing Right
.
So the other thing is thewarranty transfers to the buyer
(03:23):
for free of closing.
Yeah, the buyer picks up 25products.
There's $25,000 between all theproducts.
You know ceiling a maximum oneach product Something's covered
, something's not but aggregatecombined 25,000 for them to
claim on that for the seller.
That really helps take them outof the transaction after the
sale because something goeswrong for that buyer.
You're handing them a free homewarranty with 25 products
(03:46):
they're going to probably cometo the home warranty company,
not back at the seller.
So it helps take that sellerout of the transaction.
National Association ofRealders tells us too that
houses normally get more moneyfor it for that listing, when
there's an advertised warrantyon the MLS.
It's like that used car isgoing to get more money when
advertised warranty on it too,so not a power there.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, it's funny is I'm not a warranty guy, but if
somebody's paying for it for me,I'm in.
Yeah, yeah, seriously.
But on this kind of situationnow too, let's go back to what I
said in the beginning was we'rein a market where people aren't
doing inspections and we neverthought we'd be here and we're
probably going to go back toinspections over the next year,
I think, as things start to goback to normal.
(04:26):
But if you were going to spend$600 on inspection, I suggest
you spend $600 on a warranty.
And then what's nice about that, even if you did have an
inspection?
The thing about an inspectionwe talked about this the other
day.
It's a snapshot in history.
It's basically saying the day Iwas there, everything worked.
(04:46):
Okay.
We all know mechanical things.
You can have a brand new car,brand new AC, brand new anything
.
The next day or the next weekit could fail.
It's a mechanical item, that'strue.
So that's what I think is hugewith the warranty is that it's a
year of not being worryingabout the hotwood reader,
worrying about the AC orwhatever going out.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So it's definitely peace of mind there for them and
, yes, you're correct, with aninspection Inspector stands
there and says, hey, todayeverything looks good.
It doesn't mean in two months,three months, six months.
I mean our coverage for thatbuyer is for a full year.
Yeah, that a product isn'tgoing to fail and our prices are
very nominal.
For the coverage that they getand, of course, being able to
use their own contractor, we donot require a home inspection
(05:28):
for our plans, for our warranty.
That's the thing I want tobring.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Let's say that again.
So a lot of people ask thatquestion, Matt.
They'll say, hey, okay, great,I'm going to get this warranty,
but you know they're going to goout and inspect the house and
then they're not going to coverhalf the things on their list,
because those things are older.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, so you said two things there.
We don't inspect the house as ahome warranty company.
Okay, you know the buyer orseller agrees they want it on
the agent places you order withus and it's put on, just order
it.
Because we don't come out andsay, okay, well, let us look at
the house, yeah right, see whatkind of shape this place is, and
no, just put it on, there'scoverage.
And then we do not require theowner to do a home inspection to
(06:06):
validate the plan Gotcha.
So I mean, that's what, likewhat you're saying there earlier
.
It's so important if they'repassing on a home inspection and
there's not one done well, thatused houses even a bigger
question mark than if there wasan inspection you better have
something in your hand a homewarranty and we even have a
little more premier plan for abuyer that gets them more
(06:27):
products within the productseligible to claim on, gives them
their best opportunity to havean approved claim, and it's you
know $600.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, I was gonna say let's get a range here just
because we can talk a little bitabout price, and we're not
gonna.
We're not gonna hold you toanything, obviously, but you
have a nice brochure, has allthe information.
So what are we looking at?
What's the least expensivepolicy?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, so really for the there's three price points.
We try to keep it very easy forfor agents we like easy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep itsimple keep things moving easy
to do business with.
So for single family home $499starting price.
That has the 25 product listand the 25,000 aggregate between
them.
That carries $100 deductibleper claim.
(07:09):
Now there's also a choice at$535 with only a $50 deductible
per claim and then you can go upto that premier plan which is
695.
So that gets the list of 25products and then within those
products we give more pieces inthere, more, more, more stuff.
That's covered.
We have more products withinthe products.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Because, like like an HVAC system, I mean there's a
lot of things that can go wrong.
Good, example.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
So if that premier plan or the buyer's preferred
upgrade, which is included, isput on there, if that gets
worked on your central layer andthe free on of the pure on the
refrigerator needs refilled,right it's expensive.
That's like $140 per pound yeahsystems are taken three to five
pounds.
We pay completely to refill therefrigerator in the system if
(07:55):
it gets worked on.
So that's where that premierplan is.
That's a big deal, Even with aninspection.
I recommend that a lot of times.
Just yeah, and it carries thelowest deductible only $50 per
claim.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Amazing.
Yeah, that's awesome.
There you go, hugo.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
That's right.
Pretty good stuff, right?
Yeah, no, that's very good.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, it's awesome.
So let's go back to one of thethings that we suppose we might
we touch on this a little bitwas okay, I'm the seller.
This doesn't happen too oftennow, right now in this market,
but I have the property 123 MainStreet.
It's on the market.
I decided, you know what, I'mreally worried about the
dishwasher or whatever.
I'm worried about somethinggoing and I'm just going to get
this coverage and I'm going totransfer it over.
(08:31):
The buyer Turns out have it onthe market for some reason.
I can't sell it.
I'm like screw it, I'm takingit off the market.
I can't find a house.
What do I pay for if somethinggot covered?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
If it's on the market and let's use hot water heater.
Hot water heaters hate it whena sign for sale sign gets kicked
in the yard and hot waterheater's seen it.
Why is it always the hot?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
water heater gets picked on.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I don't know it happened to me when I bought my
house.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I was doing a walkthrough and they're down
there with a mop around.
I'm just I'll deal with it,whatever.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So seller coverage is on and maybe a problem with the
hot water heater that they cometo us and we do a claim for.
We pay out $300 towards theirproblem to fix that hot water
heater Cool.
And then something happens inthe family maybe and they have
to take the house off the marketand it doesn't close.
The warranty can be canceled.
Nobody owes us for it, whetherthe agent is paying for it and
putting it on or the seller.
(09:22):
We wanna be on that listing sothere's no risk, there's just
benefits to having a listing assuch, see that's huge and it's
like two warranties for theprice of one.
I wanna be clear about that.
If it's put on the listing andseller or agent's paying for it,
there's one cost.
It's $4.99,.
It can go into.
It does go into closing costs.
We don't want it paid ahead oftime.
And if the house doesn't close,it could be canceled.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, right, there you go.
Amazing, see, that's awesome.
All right, so let's go back towhy should I get the?
Okay, we talked about why weshould get the home warranty.
Okay, why wouldn't somebody geta home warranty?
Like, why wouldn't they get it?
Is there anybody that says, oh,I don't wanna get it because of
a certain reason?
I mean, what's your biggestpushback?
What are you here?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, probably it depends on who you're talking to
, yeah, whether it's coming fromthe client or from agents.
Sometimes it's just costpreventive, cause these buyers
are paying so much for theirhomes and the interest rates are
a little bit higher they're notcrazy high, they're higher than
they have been, as we know andthey're just using all their
(10:26):
funds and they're just saying Ijust don't have it.
Another $6.95 or another $500warranty.
I'm just gonna take my chanceand go with that.
Or maybe they don't understandwhat it is or isn't.
They don't see it as oh, it'ssimilar than a warranty on a
used car.
So it's usually things likethat.
Sometimes it's from an agentthat's had a bad experience with
(10:47):
our competition.
Maybe and you know why it'sjust a little bit sour.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
One of the things that I've heard before and you
can tell me you guys aredifferent.
I used to get a lot of pushbackbecause they would call, when
they had the warranty, the othercompanies, your competition,
well, they're not competition,obviously.
Then right.
But the other companies wouldbasically say, all right, yep,
you got the warranty, but whensomething happens, you gotta
call this 1-800 number and weuse our own contractors.
(11:13):
You cannot bring your owncontractor, you cannot use your
own contractor.
We're gonna find somebody outthere that decided they would
work for us.
And a lot of times it didn't gowell.
No, it didn't go well.
And a lot of times, because Ithink what happened is they
weren't probably paying thecontractors like the normal wage
and the contractor would nottreat them in the normal way and
(11:36):
they would get shoddy work,they would be rushed through it,
all that stuff.
You guys don't do it that way,we don't.
You're a little different,we're very different, very
different.
He's very different.
Well, his last name's Felon.
So you know Me personally andthe company.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, but yeah.
So at our inception the ownerof the company saw that aspect
of the home warranty companysending out.
They either send out their owntechnicians that are on the
payroll of the home warrantycompany or they contract and
send folks out, still kind of onthe payroll of the home
warranty company.
Owner of our company saidthat's not great for a homeowner
.
Let's let the homeowner choosetheir own license contractor in
(12:13):
the event of the claim Awesome.
So case in point maybe you havea dishwasher problem and your
cousin's a licensed plumber.
Call them and get them in.
That's the criteria is thatthey're licensed.
It's not a big criteria at all.
We don't follow them up orcheck them out or anything like
that.
Homeowner brings them in.
They start to claim with us.
First We'll give them a claimnumber.
Hey, bring your contractor infor a diagnosis.
(12:34):
Have them call back with thatdiagnosis and then, based on
what their licensed contractorconveys to us, is what we base
denial or approval on.
And it just works so muchbetter for the homeowner because
they have something, someonethat they may know personally,
have used before, or just even acontractor they haven't used.
Your contractor you're bringingin they wanna do a good job for
(12:55):
you normally because they wantyou to reform to other folks use
them again.
So the quality of workmanshipnumber one is superior safety
and security.
Who's coming to your home?
Response time that's one of thecomplaints I hear from agents
is like yeah, your competitionis telling my air conditioning
customer in August, here there'sgonna be two or three weeks
(13:15):
till they come out and even lookat the problem.
For now, open your window.
They like you know that's not,that's not that's not an option
for me.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
That's not acceptable .
What do you think, hugo?
No, you wanna hear that today?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
No, open your windows , no.
So if your contractor tells youthat, you have the freedom to
call somebody else, the pool ofcontractors that the competition
has been working through hasgotten smaller through COVID
because contractors have beenreally high demand and been
pulled away and paid more money.
So they choose your owncontractor aspect with us.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
That was huge.
When I heard that the firsttime I think it was at a Keller
Williams meeting or something wehad down a regional thing and
when I heard that cause, thatwas always my biggest complaint
and it was that you know you getsome person you don't know who
they are.
And the other thing is, too, isif you already have a
relationship, like you said,with an HVAC person, now you're
bringing somebody completelydifferent in there, doesn't know
the unit, doesn't know whatthey did last time to it.
(14:06):
You know, it just never madesense to me, you know, but that
ended, that's awesome and that'sa big one.
Now here's another thing.
I wanna use it again next year.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Can I renew it?
Yeah, we want them to.
So that's why we also carry anA plus better business bureau
accrediting the only major outthere that has that.
We get there by number onedoing the right thing and that's
stand behind our coverage.
If it fits the criteria for theclaim you know, we approve it
and pay out to help thathomeowner out.
(14:34):
And with the choose your owncontractor aspect, that helps
push our numbers up because theyhave good experience with that.
To use people, like you said,somebody you know, but then they
can't complain about thecontractor and then they can't
complain about.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
the contractor Takes that out.
You picked them Exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
So yeah, we want them to renew at the end of that
year.
If they had us going through areal estate transaction, yeah,
very cool.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
And it's just like you're re-upping.
I mean, is it the same kind ofcost?
Is it more expensive?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So we'll reach out to them as they're getting towards
the end of their year term.
The prices end up going asdirect to consumer with us.
So our prices at that 499 orthe 535 or 695, they're
discounted to go through thereal estate transaction.
Gotcha, gotcha Past that theydo get higher.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I don't have exact sense, but it's not astronomical
.
It's really good.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It's like the starting fee is a little
different.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah, okay, not bad, not bad at all.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
People do renew.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
So you can use your own contractor.
What else sets you aside fromyour competition?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Ease of doing business for the home owners or
claims process is very easy,whether they call it in through
our 800 number, start the claimor do it online.
For agents also, I have greatreviews about how easy it is to
place orders with us to gettheir invoices for title and for
clients, we have a greatworking portal for agents to
(15:55):
work through that they can doeverything through, put an app
on their phone and then do a lotof it that way as well.
Yeah, so, and our prices beingvery competitive, and really how
inclusive our list of standardcoverage, especially for buyers,
is.
There's a lot of tools in ourtoolbox, especially in today's
market where, for agents, we'rewatching now for some of their
(16:16):
E&O, air and emissionsdeductibles.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, we talked about that the other day.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, the value for the sellers it's big.
Some would say, well, why wouldyou put a warranty on a listing
it's gonna sell in a couple ofdays?
Well, once they understand them, as much value, risk management
potential, more revenue forthat seller, get them out of
that transaction more so.
Easier with the home, no homeinspection if they desire it,
which a lot still are.
It just a lot built into it.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yeah yeah, amazing.
One other question real quick.
So once the claim is OK andeverything's good, how do they
get compensated?
Is there a check they get inthe mail?
Is it like?
How does that?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
happen?
Yes, good question.
So we do have the capacity topay the contractor directly by
credit card over the phone, ifthey're set up to do that.
Normally we pay to thehomeowner and we try to have
that again, keeping thingsmoving do it in a really prompt
fashion.
So once we know everything'sbeen completed, we'd have a
check in that homeowner's handwithin two weeks post once the
(17:12):
repair's been done so they cankeep that contractor under a
30-day payment window.
Awesome, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Now, how do we get in touch with you For questions or
anything else like that?
How do we get in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
So agents certainly reach to me.
My cell number is 484-460-6615.
Homeowners are best to call our800 number, which is
1-800-648-5006.
And our folks inside can helpyou with any questions you might
have.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Should they mention that they heard it through you?
I mean, is that a good thing todo?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
They can.
It's not going to changeanything.
But yeah, please love theopportunity to do business with
you.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Awesome.
Thanks so much for coming in,man.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Awesome, there we go.
The home warranty.
I'm going to say guru, he knowseverything about home
warranties.
Let's just put it that way.
Yeah, so that was amazing.
So if you're not getting aninspection on your house or the
house you're purchasing, youmight want to consider getting a
home warranty, because it'sgoing to cover you from first
year.
And if you need to do that, youwant to call Matt Felin here.
He will get you all hooked upand if you have any questions,
(18:14):
you can always contact me tooand I'll help you out.
All right, that's about it.
See you next Thursday at 7 PM.
Hello, this is Brad Wiseman.
You're listening to Real Estateand you we are back in the
studio with more awesomeinformation.
This show actually happens tobe about real estate, which is
pretty good.
This guy here is somebody comesinto our office pretty often
and he talks about this productthat we really need to talk
about.
There's not many inspectionsbeing done today and, with that
(00:25):
being said, it gets a littlescary because we don't know
what's in the house.
So instead of doing aninspection, we are doing home
warranties.
So Matt Felin is here fromAmerica's Home Preferred right
Home Preferred.
America's Preferred HomePreferred Home Warranty.
There we go.
You know what's funny?
When I wrote my notes, Iactually literally wrote down
(00:46):
America's Home Preferred HomeWarranty.
Yeah, this is why We'll get itright.
Yeah, this is why, you know,maybe I shouldn't write things
out, I should just go with it,right, Hugo?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
See, Hugo always agrees with everything I say, so
I love having him around.
So let's, you're doing homewarranties and you're doing a
lot of them now I bet.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
We are, we are.
We've been very important inthe.
We've always been important.
But in the changes with themarket, with so many inspections
being waved along the way, evenwith the inspection there's no
crystal ball that you know downthe road a couple months in,
towards the end of the year,that not going to have a problem
of product failure that wecould help out with.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And so let's just explain what.
Let's just get right out whatis a home warranty?
What is this?
People get confused.
It's not insurance.
It has nothing to do with.
Like Hugo had said to me.
Is this what I need for thebank?
Is this?
It's not private home mortgageor mortgage insurance.
This is a completely differentelected type warranty.
So explain what it is.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, so we're important there.
You see analogy a lot of likeused houses, like a used car.
Yeah, products fail, things gowrong, well pumps go out.
So a lot of folks don't want aused car without a warranty.
They really shouldn't want touse house without a warranty.
So we're in place for productfailures Again.
(02:02):
Yeah, like you said, we're nothomeowners insurance.
Tree falls on a roof and youknow damages the house.
You're going to use yourhomeowners for that.
Yeah, what for products thatfail?
Things like dishwashers, hotwater heaters, bigger stuff like
central air.
We have septic and well pumpcoverage.
So 25 products that we offercoverage on for for a buyer, a
little bit of a shorter list forseller, but a lot of power on
(02:24):
the list.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay, so let's go there.
You said there's there's a lotfor the buyer, but what's on
there for seller?
So, cause this is the part thatalways amazed me is that you,
you, you don't pay for thepolicy until settlement.
Correct, is that?
That's the way it still is?
But there's anything I say it'swrong, just let me know I'm
wrong, cause sometimes I do saythings that they're not correct
and then we use the eight ballto find out what's really
happening.
Okay, eight ball nose.
That's right, especially thered one.
So yeah, so let's go into that.
(02:47):
So there's some things that arecovered for the seller, but
they haven't even paid for thisthing yet, correct?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So it's it's it's very powerful to have it on the
listing side, because we have alist of things for the seller
that they can claim on with us.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Um, they also get to use their own license
contractors.
We would talk about a bit here.
If they do have a claim, whichis a huge value for that
homeowner, we also entitled thatseller to up to a thousand
dollars in legal coverage Ifthey get sued by the buyer for
up to two years post sale.
We can potentially help nowlike a thousand dollars in
attorney fees for free justcause we're on the listing Right
.
So the other thing is thewarranty transfers to the buyer
(03:23):
for free of closing.
Yeah, the buyer picks up 25products.
There's $25,000 between all theproducts.
You know ceiling a maximum oneach product Something's covered
, something's not but aggregatecombined 25,000 for them to
claim on that for the seller.
That really helps take them outof the transaction after the
sale because something goeswrong for that buyer.
You're handing them a free homewarranty with 25 products
(03:46):
they're going to probably cometo the home warranty company,
not back at the seller.
So it helps take that sellerout of the transaction.
National Association ofRealders tells us too that
houses normally get more moneyfor it for that listing, when
there's an advertised warrantyon the MLS.
It's like that used car isgoing to get more money when
advertised warranty on it too,so not a power there.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, it's funny is I'm not a warranty guy, but if
somebody's paying for it for me,I'm in.
Yeah, yeah, seriously.
But on this kind of situationnow too, let's go back to what I
said in the beginning was we'rein a market where people aren't
doing inspections and we neverthought we'd be here and we're
probably going to go back toinspections over the next year,
I think, as things start to goback to normal.
(04:26):
But if you were going to spend$600 on inspection, I suggest
you spend $600 on a warranty.
And then what's nice about that, even if you did have an
inspection?
The thing about an inspectionwe talked about this the other
day.
It's a snapshot in history.
It's basically saying the day Iwas there, everything worked.
(04:46):
Okay.
We all know mechanical things.
You can have a brand new car,brand new AC, brand new anything
.
The next day or the next weekit could fail.
It's a mechanical item, that'strue.
So that's what I think is hugewith the warranty is that it's a
year of not being worryingabout the hotwood reader,
worrying about the AC orwhatever going out.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So it's definitely peace of mind there for them and
, yes, you're correct, with aninspection Inspector stands
there and says, hey, todayeverything looks good.
It doesn't mean in two months,three months, six months.
I mean our coverage for thatbuyer is for a full year.
Yeah, that a product isn'tgoing to fail and our prices are
very nominal.
For the coverage that they getand, of course, being able to
use their own contractor, we donot require a home inspection
(05:28):
for our plans, for our warranty.
That's the thing I want tobring.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Let's say that again.
So a lot of people ask thatquestion, Matt.
They'll say, hey, okay, great,I'm going to get this warranty,
but you know they're going to goout and inspect the house and
then they're not going to coverhalf the things on their list,
because those things are older.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, so you said two things there.
We don't inspect the house as ahome warranty company.
Okay, you know the buyer orseller agrees they want it on
the agent places you order withus and it's put on, just order
it.
Because we don't come out andsay, okay, well, let us look at
the house, yeah right, see whatkind of shape this place is, and
no, just put it on, there'scoverage.
And then we do not require theowner to do a home inspection to
(06:06):
validate the plan Gotcha.
So I mean, that's what, likewhat you're saying there earlier
.
It's so important if they'repassing on a home inspection and
there's not one done well, thatused houses even a bigger
question mark than if there wasan inspection you better have
something in your hand a homewarranty and we even have a
little more premier plan for abuyer that gets them more
(06:27):
products within the productseligible to claim on, gives them
their best opportunity to havean approved claim, and it's you
know $600.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, I was gonna say let's get a range here just
because we can talk a little bitabout price, and we're not
gonna.
We're not gonna hold you toanything, obviously, but you
have a nice brochure, has allthe information.
So what are we looking at?
What's the least expensivepolicy?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, so really for the there's three price points.
We try to keep it very easy forfor agents we like easy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep itsimple keep things moving easy
to do business with.
So for single family home $499starting price.
That has the 25 product listand the 25,000 aggregate between
them.
That carries $100 deductibleper claim.
(07:09):
Now there's also a choice at$535 with only a $50 deductible
per claim and then you can go upto that premier plan which is
695.
So that gets the list of 25products and then within those
products we give more pieces inthere, more, more, more stuff.
That's covered.
We have more products withinthe products.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Because, like like an HVAC system, I mean there's a
lot of things that can go wrong.
Good, example.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
So if that premier plan or the buyer's preferred
upgrade, which is included, isput on there, if that gets
worked on your central layer andthe free on of the pure on the
refrigerator needs refilled,right it's expensive.
That's like $140 per pound yeahsystems are taken three to five
pounds.
We pay completely to refill therefrigerator in the system if
(07:55):
it gets worked on.
So that's where that premierplan is.
That's a big deal, Even with aninspection.
I recommend that a lot of times.
Just yeah, and it carries thelowest deductible only $50 per
claim.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Amazing.
Yeah, that's awesome.
There you go, hugo.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
That's right.
Pretty good stuff, right?
Yeah, no, that's very good.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, it's awesome.
So let's go back to one of thethings that we suppose we might
we touch on this a little bitwas okay, I'm the seller.
This doesn't happen too oftennow, right now in this market,
but I have the property 123 MainStreet.
It's on the market.
I decided, you know what, I'mreally worried about the
dishwasher or whatever.
I'm worried about somethinggoing and I'm just going to get
this coverage and I'm going totransfer it over.
(08:31):
The buyer Turns out have it onthe market for some reason.
I can't sell it.
I'm like screw it, I'm takingit off the market.
I can't find a house.
What do I pay for if somethinggot covered?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
If it's on the market and let's use hot water heater.
Hot water heaters hate it whena sign for sale sign gets kicked
in the yard and hot waterheater's seen it.
Why is it always the hot?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
water heater gets picked on.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I don't know it happened to me when I bought my
house.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I was doing a walkthrough and they're down
there with a mop around.
I'm just I'll deal with it,whatever.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So seller coverage is on and maybe a problem with the
hot water heater that they cometo us and we do a claim for.
We pay out $300 towards theirproblem to fix that hot water
heater Cool.
And then something happens inthe family maybe and they have
to take the house off the marketand it doesn't close.
The warranty can be canceled.
Nobody owes us for it, whetherthe agent is paying for it and
putting it on or the seller.
(09:22):
We wanna be on that listing sothere's no risk, there's just
benefits to having a listing assuch, see that's huge and it's
like two warranties for theprice of one.
I wanna be clear about that.
If it's put on the listing andseller or agent's paying for it,
there's one cost.
It's $4.99,.
It can go into.
It does go into closing costs.
We don't want it paid ahead oftime.
And if the house doesn't close,it could be canceled.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, right, there you go.
Amazing, see, that's awesome.
All right, so let's go back towhy should I get the?
Okay, we talked about why weshould get the home warranty.
Okay, why wouldn't somebody geta home warranty?
Like, why wouldn't they get it?
Is there anybody that says, oh,I don't wanna get it because of
a certain reason?
I mean, what's your biggestpushback?
What are you here?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, probably it depends on who you're talking to
, yeah, whether it's coming fromthe client or from agents.
Sometimes it's just costpreventive, cause these buyers
are paying so much for theirhomes and the interest rates are
a little bit higher they're notcrazy high, they're higher than
they have been, as we know andthey're just using all their
(10:26):
funds and they're just saying Ijust don't have it.
Another $6.95 or another $500warranty.
I'm just gonna take my chanceand go with that.
Or maybe they don't understandwhat it is or isn't.
They don't see it as oh, it'ssimilar than a warranty on a
used car.
So it's usually things likethat.
Sometimes it's from an agentthat's had a bad experience with
(10:47):
our competition.
Maybe and you know why it'sjust a little bit sour.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
One of the things that I've heard before and you
can tell me you guys aredifferent.
I used to get a lot of pushbackbecause they would call, when
they had the warranty, the othercompanies, your competition,
well, they're not competition,obviously.
Then right.
But the other companies wouldbasically say, all right, yep,
you got the warranty, but whensomething happens, you gotta
call this 1-800 number and weuse our own contractors.
(11:13):
You cannot bring your owncontractor, you cannot use your
own contractor.
We're gonna find somebody outthere that decided they would
work for us.
And a lot of times it didn't gowell.
No, it didn't go well.
And a lot of times, because Ithink what happened is they
weren't probably paying thecontractors like the normal wage
and the contractor would nottreat them in the normal way and
(11:36):
they would get shoddy work,they would be rushed through it,
all that stuff.
You guys don't do it that way,we don't.
You're a little different,we're very different, very
different.
He's very different.
Well, his last name's Felon.
So you know Me personally andthe company.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, but yeah.
So at our inception the ownerof the company saw that aspect
of the home warranty companysending out.
They either send out their owntechnicians that are on the
payroll of the home warrantycompany or they contract and
send folks out, still kind of onthe payroll of the home
warranty company.
Owner of our company saidthat's not great for a homeowner
.
Let's let the homeowner choosetheir own license contractor in
(12:13):
the event of the claim Awesome.
So case in point maybe you havea dishwasher problem and your
cousin's a licensed plumber.
Call them and get them in.
That's the criteria is thatthey're licensed.
It's not a big criteria at all.
We don't follow them up orcheck them out or anything like
that.
Homeowner brings them in.
They start to claim with us.
First We'll give them a claimnumber.
Hey, bring your contractor infor a diagnosis.
(12:34):
Have them call back with thatdiagnosis and then, based on
what their licensed contractorconveys to us, is what we base
denial or approval on.
And it just works so muchbetter for the homeowner because
they have something, someonethat they may know personally,
have used before, or just even acontractor they haven't used.
Your contractor you're bringingin they wanna do a good job for
(12:55):
you normally because they wantyou to reform to other folks use
them again.
So the quality of workmanshipnumber one is superior safety
and security.
Who's coming to your home?
Response time that's one of thecomplaints I hear from agents
is like yeah, your competitionis telling my air conditioning
customer in August, here there'sgonna be two or three weeks
(13:15):
till they come out and even lookat the problem.
For now, open your window.
They like you know that's not,that's not that's not an option
for me.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
That's not acceptable .
What do you think, hugo?
No, you wanna hear that today?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
No, open your windows , no.
So if your contractor tells youthat, you have the freedom to
call somebody else, the pool ofcontractors that the competition
has been working through hasgotten smaller through COVID
because contractors have beenreally high demand and been
pulled away and paid more money.
So they choose your owncontractor aspect with us.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
That was huge.
When I heard that the firsttime I think it was at a Keller
Williams meeting or something wehad down a regional thing and
when I heard that cause, thatwas always my biggest complaint
and it was that you know you getsome person you don't know who
they are.
And the other thing is, too, isif you already have a
relationship, like you said,with an HVAC person, now you're
bringing somebody completelydifferent in there, doesn't know
the unit, doesn't know whatthey did last time to it.
(14:06):
You know, it just never madesense to me, you know, but that
ended, that's awesome and that'sa big one.
Now here's another thing.
I wanna use it again next year.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Can I renew it?
Yeah, we want them to.
So that's why we also carry anA plus better business bureau
accrediting the only major outthere that has that.
We get there by number onedoing the right thing and that's
stand behind our coverage.
If it fits the criteria for theclaim you know, we approve it
and pay out to help thathomeowner out.
(14:34):
And with the choose your owncontractor aspect, that helps
push our numbers up because theyhave good experience with that.
To use people, like you said,somebody you know, but then they
can't complain about thecontractor and then they can't
complain about.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
the contractor Takes that out.
You picked them Exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
So yeah, we want them to renew at the end of that
year.
If they had us going through areal estate transaction, yeah,
very cool.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
And it's just like you're re-upping.
I mean, is it the same kind ofcost?
Is it more expensive?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So we'll reach out to them as they're getting towards
the end of their year term.
The prices end up going asdirect to consumer with us.
So our prices at that 499 orthe 535 or 695, they're
discounted to go through thereal estate transaction.
Gotcha, gotcha Past that theydo get higher.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I don't have exact sense, but it's not astronomical
.
It's really good.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It's like the starting fee is a little
different.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah, okay, not bad, not bad at all.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
People do renew.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
So you can use your own contractor.
What else sets you aside fromyour competition?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Ease of doing business for the home owners or
claims process is very easy,whether they call it in through
our 800 number, start the claimor do it online.
For agents also, I have greatreviews about how easy it is to
place orders with us to gettheir invoices for title and for
clients, we have a greatworking portal for agents to
(15:55):
work through that they can doeverything through, put an app
on their phone and then do a lotof it that way as well.
Yeah, so, and our prices beingvery competitive, and really how
inclusive our list of standardcoverage, especially for buyers,
is.
There's a lot of tools in ourtoolbox, especially in today's
market where, for agents, we'rewatching now for some of their
(16:16):
E&O, air and emissionsdeductibles.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, we talked about that the other day.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, the value for the sellers it's big.
Some would say, well, why wouldyou put a warranty on a listing
it's gonna sell in a couple ofdays?
Well, once they understand them, as much value, risk management
potential, more revenue forthat seller, get them out of
that transaction more so.
Easier with the home, no homeinspection if they desire it,
which a lot still are.
It just a lot built into it.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yeah yeah, amazing.
One other question real quick.
So once the claim is OK andeverything's good, how do they
get compensated?
Is there a check they get inthe mail?
Is it like?
How does that?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
happen?
Yes, good question.
So we do have the capacity topay the contractor directly by
credit card over the phone, ifthey're set up to do that.
Normally we pay to thehomeowner and we try to have
that again, keeping thingsmoving do it in a really prompt
fashion.
So once we know everything'sbeen completed, we'd have a
check in that homeowner's handwithin two weeks post once the
(17:12):
repair's been done so they cankeep that contractor under a
30-day payment window.
Awesome, that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Now, how do we get in touch with you For questions or
anything else like that?
How do we get in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
So agents certainly reach to me.
My cell number is 484-460-6615.
Homeowners are best to call our800 number, which is
1-800-648-5006.
And our folks inside can helpyou with any questions you might
have.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Should they mention that they heard it through you?
I mean, is that a good thing todo?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
They can.
It's not going to changeanything.
But yeah, please love theopportunity to do business with
you.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Awesome.
Thanks so much for coming in,man.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Awesome, there we go.
The home warranty.
I'm going to say guru, he knowseverything about home
warranties.
Let's just put it that way.
Yeah, so that was amazing.
So if you're not getting aninspection on your house or the
house you're purchasing, youmight want to consider getting a
home warranty, because it'sgoing to cover you from first
year.
And if you need to do that, youwant to call Matt Felin here.
He will get you all hooked upand if you have any questions,
(18:14):
you can always contact me tooand I'll help you out.
All right, that's about it.
See you next Thursday at 7 PM.
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