What happens when it all goes wrong?

You just bought a new home. Then it all goes wrong!

What?

No one expects that systems and appliances break right after closing. After all, you had an inspection on the property. Shouldn’t the inspector catch it?

This happened to one of my clients this year. They moved into the house and shortly thereafter they couldn’t get any hot water! No kidding! I found out after they had been taking cold showers for a week! It is a good thing that I call my clients periodically because I was able to get them help right away.

This brings to mind what a doctor told me the other day. I was in getting my knee looked at and I asked him why “all of a sudden” I had knee problems when I hadn’t had them before. He said, “Kristi, they work up until they don’t.” There are some things that you can tell will go wrong with a home, mainly from deferred maintenance, but there are other things that just happen. Call it Murphy’s Law.

So, how do I help my clients protect against the unforeseen issues?

I am a big believer in home warranties. More often than not, Fidelity National Home Warranty has honored my client’s claims. For instance, the same couple that had the hot water issue also problems with the water pressure valve and the overflow tank and later in the year when I called again their oven just stopped working! All of these items were covered by the home warranty. The warranty actually gave them the money so that they could purchase a whole new range of their choice.

Here’s the kicker. They didn’t call the warranty for any of these problems. They didn’t think that they would be covered so they never called. Because I keep in touch with my clients, I found out about each of the items at the exact time that they were experiencing them. I was the one who explained to them that the warranty would cover it. Mind you, I had explained this all before. What I am trying to say is, when you choose a Realtor to work with, think about the long haul. Think about how they can assist you for years to come without you buying or selling again.

A great agent serves their clients forever. All we ask, is that you let others know that you continue to have a great experience with YOUR REALTOR.