Special guest Ashley Williams with First American Home Warranty joins us to discuss home warranties. Ashley talks about the common misconceptions of Home Warranties, and how they actually work to help save you thousands on home repairs. We discuss how home warranties are different from homeowners' insurance and how they work together.
Ashley Williams
First American Home Warranty
336-482-6034
awilliams@firstam.com
Jeff Cunningham is a Realtor (license # 301547) with United Realty Group (Broker license C34827) serving the Triad NC area.
Jeff can be reached at
Email - jeff.cunninghamrealtor@gmail.com,
website, jeffcunningham.mysalecore.com,
Facebook,- https://www.facebook.com/jeffcunninghambroker/
Gina Milloway is the Mortgage Loan originator NMLS #1676070 & CEO of Triad Mortgage LLC, NMLS # 2385260,
Gina can be reached at,
Email: gmilloway@traidmortgagellc.com
Web: https: https://www.ginamillowayloans.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mortgageswithgina/
Office -336-290-1891
NMLS Consumer Access: https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org/
Privacy Policy: https://www.ginamillowayloans.com/privacy-policy
Triad Mortgage is an equal housing lender
Special guest Ashley Williams with First American Home Warranty joins us to discuss home warranties. Ashley talks about the common misconceptions of Home Warranties, and how they actually work to help save you thousands on home repairs. We discuss how home warranties are different from homeowners' insurance and how they work together.
Ashley Williams
First American Home Warranty
336-482-6034
awilliams@firstam.com
Jeff Cunningham is a Realtor (license # 301547) with United Realty Group (Broker license C34827) serving the Triad NC area.
Jeff can be reached at
Email - jeff.cunninghamrealtor@gmail.com,
website, jeffcunningham.mysalecore.com,
Facebook,- https://www.facebook.com/jeffcunninghambroker/
Gina Milloway is the Mortgage Loan originator NMLS #1676070 & CEO of Triad Mortgage LLC, NMLS # 2385260,
Gina can be reached at,
Email: gmilloway@traidmortgagellc.com
Web: https: https://www.ginamillowayloans.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mortgageswithgina/
Office -336-290-1891
NMLS Consumer Access: https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org/
Privacy Policy: https://www.ginamillowayloans.com/privacy-policy
Triad Mortgage is an equal housing lender
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. Let's get moving with Jeff and Gina, where we discuss all things fine selling in financing real estate. I'm Gina Millway, your local mortgage advisor, and this is Good Morning. I'm Jeff Cunningham. I'm your local real estate agent here in Greensboro, North Carolina. We call this the Triad and I am with United Realty Group here right downtown in just about downtown Greensboro. So welcome everybody, and we have a guest today. Yes, we do. We have a guest, so we are recording this on December, what is today? The 20th. We're keeping up on the Christmas holiday. Mm-hmm. And we are gonna be discussing all dean's, home warranties. Home warranties with our guest, Ashley Williams. Yes, absolutely. Welcome, Ashley. Thanks. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Ashley, we, we love talking about insurance, really anything that goes along with the home buying process and, and journey. And you know, we, we, we, you are essential here in today's. Thank you. Yeah. All right. So Ashley has been around the industry about the same amount of time that I have. And Ashley, tell us a little bit about yourself. Yes. So Ashley Williams, first American Home Warranty. I've been in the business about five years. Prior to that I was a stay at home mom, so it was just a blessing to come into this industry, come into the real estate community, which. Eagerly jumped into and and I'm having a blast with it. So I really enjoy what I do. Real estate community is just a fun, fun group of wonderful people. Yes, it is. Yes, it is energetic to say the least. But yes, there's always something going Well, it it, you know, we, we, we always like to know about our guests a little bit. So so, so not say you're ever gonna step outta motherhood. Yes. But stepping back into so and so, the corporate world, How did that transit transition happen? Oh, it was fantastic. Well, my kids, my, I, I have a two 10 year old twin girls and a 13 year old son. But back wow. Five years ago or so, my, my daughters were getting out of kindergarten and I was looking to, you know, step back into the sales in sales world. I was a manager of a staffing company. 14 years ago. Mm-hmm. So so they were getting into kindergarten. I was looking for a full-time job and it just kind of fell into my lap. I had a head hunter who had reached out to me from for this warrant warranty company. It's a different, one of'em were with now, but another warranty company. Their president, I had known him in a different, in a different lifetime. And so they reached out and it was really just a blessing. Mm-hmm. It was, it was exactly. Well, I'll tell you what, I didn't think so at first. Cause I was like, how, what the heck is a home warranty? How am I gonna sell it? It like boring thing. It sounded so boring. I actually, yes. I actually turned it. At first, cuz I'm like, I don't, I don't wanna do that. I didn't believe in the warranties. Wow. And then two weeks later they came back and I was like, well, yeah, let's, let's, let's, let's do it. And best thing ever happened, so yeah. Yeah. You would've asked me five. Years and six months ago, if I'd be selling home warranties, I would've laughed at you in the face. And to be honest, you know, I'll be honest, it took me, once I was in the job doing it, it took me a good three or four months to really understand how it worked. So I still had those doubts in my mind. I, as I'm sure a lot of other people do, when they don't really understand how they'll warranty, warranty. True. Yep. True, true. You know, and not to, not to step outta line, but but yes, I mean, you know, we, you know, we're always buying cell phones, we're always buying appliances. We're always buying this, that, and the other thing. And and, and, and, you know, and, and when I was married, I, you know, the first thing I'd say was, you know, Hey, we're not buying a warranty. We're not, we're not getting that, we're not paying an additional 2, 3, 5, whatever. We're just not doing it. If we need it, we'll get a repair to do something like that. And I'm, I'm the person to say, I don't get a warranty either. You, I would, you're, you sell me a car, I'm not getting the warranty. That's, you know, I'm not doing it. I'm the person that. But there's a difference. There's a huge difference in a home warranty because, especially from the one that's going through a real estate transaction, when the homeowner is going into a house that they don't know anything about and you do hold the due diligence, you're getting the home inspector in there, you're looking at things. Yeah. But that new homeowner is using those systems differently and they, they break, I mean, 40, I think it's, I can't, I don't wanna lie, it's in between 30 and 40% cuz it did recently change and I don't remember what it was. Of our clients file a claim within the first 90 days of their hermit. Wow. So it's, so things do break. Wow. And, and it's not, yes, it's not anybody's fault. It's not the inspector's fault cuz he missed something. It's just life. Mm-hmm. And especially now when people are their home, using those systems a lot more. So it's really just a, the whole warranty is so important. For a first time home buyer or you know, somebody going into a new to them home because it does it, it helps save money, and that's the bottom line. It helps save money. Yeah. What's the difference? There's a difference between when you check out at Lowe's and they ask you if you want a warranty on a. Cord that you, you know, a$10 cord. It's like everything you check out that's electronic, they ask, do you want a warranty? I'm like, it's a five. I You mentioned that though. But there is a cord, I can't remember. You can buy'em at stables, but I know it's gonna die in three in three months. And they always sell you that warranty. Hey, it's gonna last for three years and I never do it. Not exactly what we wanna work this dude. But But no. Anyway, the home warranty is, is is a li it's, it's a lot different than that. And not only is it there to save money for clients, it's really risk reduction too for, for everybody involved in a transaction. Yes. So that's why it's there. And if you look at the the offer to purchase. It's in there. I don't know what line item it is, but it's like, you know, it's several pages down. Yep. But it's like, it is a homework gonna be provided. And the reason why is because inevitably something, something's gonna happen and there needs to be some, some liability. For it. You know, some, at some, you know, it's, there needs to be somebody to be able to help with it, you know, A homer sense. Yes, yes. Well, it, it, it, it's beyond, it's beyond comfort. Like you said, it, it, it, it, it is a, it is a, it is, it is a risk you know, aversion tool, if you want to call it that. But, you know, at the same time you know, it's, Terribly expensive in the grand scheme of things, which is, you know, a lot of what I, you know, really try to get across, especially to my first time home buyers is, you know, hey, you just spent$250,000 on. You know, a home that you've been saving up for and working this investment in your life for, you know, a period of time. So again, an additional$650 is about average that I see. And, and, and again I certainly don't want to insult anything as far as your pricing goes. But, you know, a standard, you know, between six and$700 for a year's worth of coverage to make sure that your, your water heater works. Make sure that your stove's working, make sure that the micro microwave is working the way it's supposed to. And, you know, and some of the other aspects of of the home that we will talk about, which may or may not be covered but some of what we had just mentioned, you know, again, You know, a new refrigerator nowadays used to be what? A new car cost. Yeah. You know, 15, 20 years ago, so maybe you may have to wait six weeks to get it right now. Oh yeah, exactly. Not to mention. Absolutely true. So so yes, it, it's not only important that, again, we do have the. Home warranty that's say, put in place, or at least we discussed that, but that we also discussed it with the right company and the right individual who can tell us a little bit more about that at the time when we purchased that warranty itself. Yes. Right. And the good thing about the warranties is, especially when you're purchasing it, is that that initial policy. May be able to be paid for by the seller, so it may not cost you anything outta pocket, so why not ask? Mm-hmm. and at least, yeah. Well, so here's the thing. You know, we're coming out of that. We're evening out of that seller's market. We're no sellers, were, there were no seller concessions. There was nothing, you weren't even talking about. But Nellie, we're starting to even out, we're starting to see a lot more sellers, you know, but buyers are asking for the warranty. They're asking for closing costs. They're asking for things. Yes. And you know, one of the, like, these are big ticket items that we cover. The, the warranty covers the HVAC system. Mm-hmm. I mean, especially with prices as high as they are now. Two years ago, prior to 2020, if you'd asked me what the average cost to replace a HVAC system was, it was about five to$6,000. Now we're looking at eight to nine. Yeah. So, Yeah. So so when you're, when buyers now, if they're looking at a house and it's an older HVAC system, but the inspector, they have the, the HVAC guy come and check it. It's in good working condition. It's just 20 years old. You know, that home inspector's gonna say, mm-hmm. this thing is beyond its life expectancy. I hear that all the time. And that's a mm-hmm. marker for buyers. Mm-hmm. But the home warranty can come in. save the day and then save those buyers if something happens to it down the line. So it's huge. Yes. And, and you know, one thing, not all, one of the myths about home warranties is that they're all the same. They're not. They all have mm-hmm. different. they're all, they're all intended to save money, but they all have different specialties. So that's one of the things that, you know, homeowner needs to consider when they're looking at home warranties. But one thing, one thing you wanted to look at is the and I know I'm kind of jumping all around you guys, I can talk about home warranties all day, but I can, I mean, it's just that I, I, again, three or four months into my job doing this and I. Wouldn't have told you, but now I, I know how they work but but you know, and I lost my train of thought cause I'm all over the place. But it's, well, you're talking about having the right, the, the right home warranty. The right warranty, yes. So you wanna look at caps, you wanna look at how much that co that policy is gonna cover. You also wanna look at what if, if, what happens if, if, if it can't be fixed, you know, is the home warranty gonna mm-hmm. Company just gonna give out a payout based on the age of the system, or they can replace it right. You know, the parts and labor and, and are they gonna place it? So those are some interesting and very important questions that need to be asked. Yes, yes, absolutely. And, and, and, and as we talked before, we, before we came on the, here here, who would we be asking that information or who would be asking? Who would we inquire? Yeah, well definitely the sales rep that the, the home warranty rep. You know, here's the thing, okay. Real estate agents, you guys are doing your job. You're doing work in your magic, you're doing the negotiations. I think you know, all warranty reps. All we want is you to just put our name out there, put their name in front so that we can explain it. Mm-hmm. I think the biggest thing about home warranties is the misconception that they, that they, that they cover everything 100%. And there's no out market expenses, you know, that, that it's just the end all be all. And there are limitations. Mm-hmm. there has to be limitations. You know, I mean, we'd go out of business. So asking, you know, having put, have the home warranty rep, talk to the, the buyer so that they can set, you know, they can, they can make their, their decisions, but at least in front to make, you know, if they, if they want it or not, or which company they wanna go with. It's so important. Absolutely. And, and, and as you mentioned earlier, I think it was absolutely proper setting those expectations for, you know, not to say that something's gonna go wrong, but in the case that something does go wrong, what are those expectations? So explain if you would just a little bit about you know, any of the repairs or the most common, now you mentioned hvac, of course. You know, and I'm sure water heaters are going left and. But how about appliances? Like, oh yeah. Washes and dryers and things like that. I mean, are we covering everything in the house? So, you know, with, with, and I can't talk about every home warranty, but with mine we have like a good, good, better, best. Mm-hmm. And it's kind of like any kind of insurance. You know, you've dental insurance, you've got a good policy, but you've got a really good policy. And it just depends on the level of coverage. So our basic plan, we cover plumbing, electrical, all the appliances except for the washer, dryer fridge. And we cover the, the h. A right. Adding to that, you would put an upgrade, which covers it covers some bringing things to code. It covers builder's permits, it covers, you know, kind of the, the, the bells and whistles. So it's, it covers mm-hmm. recapture, reclaim, and, and. Disposal of refrigerant as well as disposal of protective equipment. So it's a really good option to add that upgrade, but the best plan covers all of the appliances, including the washer, dryer, fridge, and includes that upgrade. So I'll give you, well, I really can't talk numbers, but if you have, you know, one of the expectations is that it covers a hundred percent and that's just not true, especially with hvac. Mm-hmm. HVAC coverage, we will cover parts and labor and depending on the plan mm-hmm. we'll cover a certain amount of those non-covered costs. So so you, the better plan you have, the more that we cover we also, but plumbing, electrical, appliances, cooling and heating, it's the acronym of Peach. That's typically what a home warren he will cover. That includes ceiling fans, exhaust fans attic fans just garbage disposal, garbage trash compactors, I mean anything basically that you can turn on and off with a switch in your home. Wow. Yeah. This sounds like a good combination to add with your homeowner's insurance because home warranty and homeowner's insurance are very different. Yeah. Things. Mm-hmm. and I've had both. I've had you know, a warranty with First American. And when we bought our house, cause our HVAC system was. Was older and we actually used it a few times. It was very easy. They came out, you know, they, they took care of it. And it saved us a lot of money on those repairs where the furnace went out. Back to the homeowner's insurance. Yeah. So I don't think a lot of people don't realize that your homeowner's insurance will cover the damages from the incident. Yes. They don't cover to repair what That's right. Happened. So like we just had a water leak in our house. Homeowner's insurance covered everything that the water touched damage to replace it. but they wouldn't repair, which makes absolutely no freaking sense to me. Because you think they wanna repair the thing that's causing you damage, but they don't. Yeah. They didn't repair the, the hose. Yeah. The plumbing that caused the leak. We, that was our, out of our pocket. Yeah. Huh. And I think that's gonna go to anything like a water heater, the water heater, word of malfunction, and, and spew water all over your house and fledge your house. They're gonna cover those damages, but they're not gonna cover that water heater. Huh. Whereas a home warranty. So we actually work in Tand. Wow. The big huge misconception there. Myth that they're one in the same. They're totally different warranty covers. Mm-hmm. what breaks, and we'll cover what fails, but we don't cover secondary damage. That's where the, the where the the Yeah. Sure. Insurance comes in. And I give you a really good example of that. I lived in an, an old, beautiful old home with the cast cast iron. Pipes in my ceiling furnace every year in the ceiling. Old, it was like a hundred years old. Every year we turned on that furnace. There was a leak. So beautiful mold crown molding, you know, 12 inch molding, plaster ceiling, plaster walls, ruined, but quite, you know, huge expense for that pipe. Mm-hmm. Joe, Joe Schmo, plumber couldn't come out and fix it. There had to be a mechanical plumber, but more take, took care of that pipe. So that's huge. Wow. But they didn't take care of the, you know, for me to fix the molding. That was, that was my expense. Yeah. And it wasn't enough for homeowners to to come in. I was, I had to get the handyman to come in and fix it, but yes, that's the big difference. Yeah. And so again, we cover the mechanical systems home. Home insurance we'll cover, cover like acts of God flood, lightning, you know, things of that thing, theft, all those things. Excellent. Excellent. Yeah. Well, no, I, I love the idea again, working in tandem, you know, the two products together. Cuz yes, I, I, I, you know, I guess luckily enough, haven't had to use any insurance. On my home that yeah, we'll, we'll cover the damage but won't fix the problem. So yeah, Gina, and I guess layman's term that really sucks. But but again, using these two products or using an insurance along with the home warranty, again, I, I is, is again, risk avers. It'll help you in the law. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, before we go in for Ashley, we didn't even, we didn't even mention this, but of course you're with first American and, and how do we get in touch with you? Yes, well, I can well look, I tell you my phone number is(336) 482-6034. My, Email address is a Williams first am.com. First am for American firstamerican.com. Yep. First am.com. Yep. And I'm very responsive. So if I don't answer the phone right away, it's because I'm doing something like this, a podcast, but I always return the phone call right after, so, Fantastic. And, and of course we love having you on. We love having guests. But at the same time Gina will include your contact information of course down below. So anybody who needs to get in touch with you, Ashley, absolutely. And thank you so much for, thank you so much for just clearing up a couple of those misnomers. You know, again, this is, this is kind of, this is kind of cool. It's, well, that's my job. It's setting right expectation. Yeah, absolutely. If somebody were buying a question on that, somebody were buying a new home, is that something that you would Great question. Yes. Yeah, we have, so builders are, you know, by law in North Carolina, they're supposed to buy, they're supposed to have a a one year builders warranty that just comes with the house and mm-hmm So we do happen to do cons. Warranty that covers years. It actually can covers years one through four or two through five, but it's four years and it's for such a small amount for the, basically the same, just a little bit more than a one year home warranty for an older home. It'll cover all four years for that, for that price. It's amazing. I've seen some talks lately. Like I, you know, mean I love my TikTok. I don't think Jerry's on TikTok yet, but I love my TikTok. I do too. I love it. So I love it. But you, I get those videos where you have home inspectors going into new construction, new build. and these are not two houses that they're going into? No, these are 4, 5, 600, which in this area is a, you know, decently priced house. There's some pretty shocking things that they come across in there. Yeah. That would make me a little concerned and mm-hmm. this past year has been different for, I think everybody with supply chains and lack of inventory of staff. And yeah, so I think I would probably have a little bit of concern buying a new a new build right now without one. Yeah, yeah. Well, like you said, yes. You know, following, following through with your builder, you know, for that first year and keeping your checklists in place, keeping all of the phone numbers and all the contacts in. Because again, it's not as easy, glamorous, however you want to put it as, as anybody, always makes it out to be. You know, again, you need to contact the right people. You need to make the request on time. You cannot, in general go past your expiration date without incurring significant cost. So, so, so, I, I totally agree with you, Ashley. If, if you can go ahead and get a bunch. It's, you know, amazing product or a program out, out there. And again, it's like buying a new car. You're granted, you're not gonna get a huge break on your car insurance, but you know, again, you might have that again, need to use some sort of warranty in the first three to four years. And, you know, having that paid for it is, is, well, here's the thing, and it's, I'm not, you know, Yes, I know, you know, building house right now, I've, I've spoke, I've got several builder friends and, and they're all stressed out. This, like, this is, they're stressed. Oh, yes. It's hard to find your help. You know, there's all that, but also the mechanicals, you know, they don't make, I mean, refrigerators, they don't make'em, they, they don't makeand that has, first of all, I just, that does have something to do with the supply chain, because these manufacturers are just whipping'em out as fast as they can. Yep. And Yep, they, they're not, they are hunks and junk. And yes, having that warranty, I cannot tell you how many times we've saved people. Thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars, yeah. Yes, yes. And necessarily so. I mean like, like I said, it just the cost of refrigerator, you know? I mean this three,$4,000 for a refrigerator and, and yeah, the lifespan. Certainly not what it used to be. Not at all. Not at all, I tell you. All right. So what would you if if you had. A list of questions that say a new homeowner or a new buyer would ask of you know the realtor and of course you on the team as well as, you know our, our, our lender Jean on the team as well. You know, what questions would you recommend that we ask, you know, while we're in that while we're in that process? Again, it is, we we're shifting a little bit, you know, we're getting away from the seller's. Just a little bit. They still hold most of the marbles, but you know, again, what, what could a buyer be asking, you know, as far as an expectation would go? Something that in, in your realm? Yes. Of the process. So the biggest thing I think, is looking at the caps. So the cap is what the warranty will pay out at the most. Per item. So, okay big ticket items. With US hvac, we don't have a cap. So that, what that means, what that means is, is that we will cover, there's no limit to the amount that we'll cover for parts and for labor. Now, again, with the HVAC replacement, this is the misconception. A lot of people will think, oh, I'm gonna give a brand new HVAC system for free. You know, just pay the$85 service. And get it for free. Now we cover, again, parts and labor, but not, you know, not all the modifications. Again, you get that good, better, best policy, get the best. We're gonna cover more of those modifications. But there are out-of-pocket expenses, and that's what it takes the technician to put the new equipment into the old house. But we will pay for that equipment, we will pay for that labor, which is the labor is the most expensive. Sure. And we will pay, depending on your level of policy for some of those modifications. But the cap is very important. One of the, an an example in, in this territory, this isn't true for all territories. The North Carolina North Carolina state law says that if, what if like the outside unit goes out, but the inside unit's still working, if you have to replace the outside unit, you still have to replace the inside unit or you know, they have to be compatible. So one dies. You have to replace both. A lot of warranty companies will only cover the one that failed, but the homeowner has to cover the part that didn't. Mm-hmm. we cover both. We cover both parts. Okay. So that's huge. So you wanna look at those? You sure those are, when, when it's about warranty, look at the big ticket items. What, what are, what's gonna be covered, what's not? Also look at the cap, the caps of the appliances. Some warranty companies out there will cover$5,000 for all of the appliances. You know, maybe you don't have to use that, but you know, we, we, we have a higher amount per appliance. So sure. You know, caps are very, very important. Also, you wanna look for coverage for rust, age and age, rust and corrosion. You want all three of those, not. age and, and not just age, because if there's, sometimes you'll see in the little fine print the rusting, corrosion. that could mean a denying claim. You wanna look for age, rest, and corrosion to be, to be covered. I mean, if you have something that's old, it's gonna have to have a little rest, you know, especially when you're looking at that outside vac system. So those are, those are some big, big things. Another one is, what's gonna happen if that system fails and it can't be fixed? Are they, are you gonna get a check for the you know, the value of the, of the, of the equip? At its age, at at today's time, you know what, what would that pay out be or, mm-hmm. are you gonna get it replaced with a brand new item? So those are the big things that I would ask. Okay. Excellent, excellent. And and, and most of these I would assume have some sort of deductible. Yes. Well, it's not really called a deductible, it's called a service fee. And so any time a technician comes out, you just pay, you pay a service fee that's gonna vary from state to state, from warranty configured warranty company. But it's nom. and depending, so like, say it's your dishwasher, you pay that fee that one time. If it can be fixed right then and there, they can fix it. If not, they order parts to bring it in. If it can't be fixed for us, we'll replace it. There's no other, any other charge. Typically for an appliance, again, there's gonna be out-of-pocket expenses for your big ticket items, like the water heater, the hvac but again, we cover parts in light. Sure. Okay. And, and, and we did touch on this earlier, so working this in conjunction, if you do have a claim with your insurance company do, do, do you recommend we start one way or the other with the insurance company first? Because, you know, again, speaking to a lot of first time home buyers. Yep, yep. You know, typically your appliances are not covered under your, you know, quote unquote home insurance. You know, but, like, like we mentioned you get a dishwasher upstairs, whatever, and it it breaks floods downstairs. Your insurance company will take care of the damage per se, but they're not gonna repair. Right. You know, again, what caused the damage? So. Do you recommend any? It, does it matter which way we go first, whether we talk to the insurance folks or talk to, it doesn't matter. Just make sure you file a claim and, you know, we need to have the claim filed and then we'll go from there. But and, and we work in tandem, so you know, if, if, if floors need to be replaced, all that, you know, we are, we are just in the background. I've got a service partner who stays on top of things. You know, she'll do a check-in based on, you know, what, you know, what's going on. She'll do a check-in with the homeowner. And until everything's ready, then we're ready to go to, to back up the homeowner. Excellent. Excellent. Well, that's great. That's, that's, that's some good information there. What you got, Gina? You got, you got a question from Ms. Ashley? Brianna I don't have a question per se. I would just like to, you know, couple things I wanted to point out that, you know, we talked about as the plans and the pricing is, you know, once you're past that initial plan where maybe you paid it at the closing table, the seller paid it, you can, you know, my, my understanding, you can continue the plan and. It's, it's actually on a monthly basis. Like you don't have to come up with that lump sum all at once. Is that still correct? That's correct. Yep. It's renewable and second year can be monthly. Yep. Yeah. So that makes it super easy. So you don't have to come up with a, a chunk of money at once. It's, it's paying it out better than paying for the repairs on a hvac, especially during wintertime when they all go out and they're super busy to your house. Yeah. So that's, that's good. It just gives you a little safe of mind and I. When we made our claim with the warranty company, it was super easy. We just went online and filled it out. We paid our deductible. It was like, and this has been a while, so it's probably changed. I don't wanna quote maybe 50,$75 or something like that. But, you know, they, they came out, they had to order parts, they had to come out again and replace it. So, I mean, that's without, it would've been. four or$500. Well, I mean like one of the biggest, one of the, I, I see this claim a lot, but you're the blower motor. it, it goes out. Mm. And it's a simple repair, but you know. Mm-hmm. again, we're talking about 20, 22 prices, that everything is just gone. Outrageous. So that blower motor, whereas before it might have been 250, and again, it de depend, it varies by technician. They're all over the place, 250 to$500 repair. Not to mention, you know, the, the labor of it, but just the part itself now that's like double, triple, the. So that's what we, that's what we, that's what we take on. So, well, and I don't know if this is something that would've been covered cause we don't currently have the home warranty, but so we just, we, we just recently, we just recently. And so the plumbing, the spigot that Went out. I mean, it's a, it was a super simple fix. It was easy. It wasn't, you know, you didn't have to tear out the walls. It was accessible, but it was on a Sunday. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. And the, to come out on the weekend to fix it was going to be almost a thousand dollars from a couple companies. Mm-hmm. because I was like, are you kidding me? Yeah. Like, it's literally like a super quick job. It's literally like$10 in materials. Yeah. I, I was like, I, that told my husband, I said, I will, YouTube plumbers are very expensive. Before I pay a thousand dollars, I will YouTube repair this plumbing and do it myself egregious. So it, it can get really, really expensive. And you know, for those, I'm, I'm lucky. you know, myself and my husband are both pretty handy, so we, you know, can do a lot of things ourself, but you know, if you don't have the aptitude to do this or do things for yourself, it can really become, it can add up. The cost can add up. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And, and, and, and, and truth be told, and, and staying on that thread right there, you know, a lot of millennials in the past couple of years Learned that lesson. You know, they are the largest buyers right now of, of new homes or, or, or new home purchases. But yeah just the fact that, you know, if something does go wrong you know, millennials I, I don't know if that's something that we have, created that in that generation, but you know, they're used to calling people, they're used to getting stuff fixed. So like you said, as a new homeowner, it's great if you know how to drive a nail or use a screwdriver or use a power tool. But you know, for folks that don't you know, again, I would have to say a home warranty is certainly. Right up there out. Let me give you an example actually. So you have a toilet leak and it's something, something as simple as, well, it's not simple to me, but it's an easy fix for a plumber. Mm-hmm. The, the, just, you know, replacing that ring, the seal. Ring. Yeah. And if you called, if you called a plumber like Gina, you were saying the thousand dollars on a Sunday afternoon. Well that's, that's the emergency fee, everything, all that. But you call a plumber and it's just a hundred dollars just to go out there. You know, just to go out there. Yeah. To the hou, to the home, and then they've gotta do that. Mm-hmm. you're super expensive. You're with a warranty company and you pay the nominal service fee and that plumber's gonna come out there and do that job. And it's so much, it's so much. It's, it's. It's so much more savings than if you were to call a plumber on your own And I've been there. I've been there. Yes, I've been there. I have called the plumber on my own and been just mortified. I'm like, you were here five minutes. Yes. Yep. Yep. Hundred$60. You know. Oh, yes. But I mean, that's, that's, that's a good five minute charge right there, you know? And I question'em. They say, yeah, ma'am, we charge you a hundred dollars just to get out here. I, that's a quote from the plumber, Oh, yes, yes. Well, sticking on, sticking on plumbers and Gina, I think we've covered this one time I had an exterior leak on my supply line coming in. and same thing, it was just before my my, my son's Covid wedding. So everybody's coming over to the house, you know, and, and all of a sudden we've got this leak that's coming up outta nowhere and call the plumber. And he's like, yep, all right, so where do you think it's leaking? And I'm like, well, God, you know, there, here in North Carolina, you know, we. We've got clay that we deal with and, and water will take the path of least resistance and, and any, in any, you know soil Anyways, he said, well, you're gonna start paying, and that's why I use that$160 an hour. You're gonna start paying$160 an hour when I start digging, and if I don't find it, you're still pet. Oh gosh. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. Okay. I understand. So, you know, again, folks out. Ask the question. So I did. I said, well Mr. Plumber, where do you think it's leak? Where do you think the leak is coming from? And, and of course, I, I pointed a little off of where I thought it was coming from and he said, well, I'm gonna start right here if it were me, because I think I'd be able to find, find the water quickest. Okay, great. We found it in 25 minutes, which was awesome, So, yes, I, I got that whole thing repaired for less than$300. Which, which, you know, basically it cost me$180 just to get'em there. And, and then yes. Crazy craziness. But yes, plumbers, any, any of these repair folks are, they just come with an expense. That's when you give the wedding for shovels. Yeah, absolutely. And you laugh at that, Gina, but no, I got, I had three shovels there, So once, once the plumber got through digging the. Fixing the thing. He's like, do you want me to start digging, you know, filling the hole back up? I said, the heck no. Absolutely. I got, I got that. You know, Hey, wedding party, come on over. But but yeah again, to avoid these super duper crazy expenses, yes, this is one of the great tools to have in your tool bag. Which in the grand scheme of things, it's, it's, it's considered inexpensive based on the price of your home in, in most cases. But but I, I would've to say that they are invaluable. In some cases, and even in most cases, these stories these stories. Bring me back to another point right now where it is. Kiddos, trade schools. Yes. Trade schools. Trade schools. Trade schools, yes. That is where I was gonna bring that up too. Yeah. We need, we need more plumbers, we need more electricians. We need more skilled trades people. It's a, it's a dying. Mm-hmm. Industry, we, oh, I was talking to somebody Yeah. The other day and they said the average trade person, their, the average age is like, 56. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's the same apprais right now. Crazy. Yes, they're, they're aging out. Well, what are we gonna do when these people age out and stop working? They're average in the fifties. We need appraisers. We need more of them. We need it. We need not to be so hardis. But anyway, that's a whole story. But yes, we need the trays right now. There is so much money. That could be made and that ridiculous. You know, get a business degree and hire people to do the work. You don't have to do the work. Yeah. There you go. That's our next job. In our next well, in the next podcast, Gina, we'll talk about that. I didn't get rich in the trades. Yeah, I think absolutely. Absolutely. Well you know, again, just to finish up guys you know, again, I I, I, I believe, and I do recommend this to any of my buyers that, you know, home warranties are out there they're certainly worth looking into. And at the same time, they, they do work and they do what they are intended to do. And, and. Like we, like we always mentioned Gina you know, creating your team, making sure you have everybody in the same boat as we're going down on this new home journey and, and, and having people all on the same And again, not having the fear of asking a home warranty provider what it is that they cover. You know, I mentioned that earlier. Half the time, you know, people have their head in the sand. It's like, well, I got a home warranty. But if the home warranty just covers the front steps and nothing on the inside of your house, you know, it's a terrible time to find out once your plumbing goes bad, that that's what you just bought. Yeah. Ask hard questions. Yeah. Yes. Ask the front and, and setting up those expectations up front, you know, again, whether they're just for yourself, your spouse, or whoever you're buying the. You know, that's wonderful. But again, we, we are in the business of getting in touch with the the right folks in the process. Absolutely. Hi, Ashley. Well, any last comments that you wanna throw in there about home? Well, no, I think we've pretty much covered it all, but I do, you know, I, I get my number out there, Gina, if anybody asks. I'm one of the things is I, I mentioned I'm very responsive. I love my job. And and yeah. I, I'm, and I'm here. So I, I, I love, thank you guys for inviting me. I just, this was a, a fun time. Absolutely. Fantastic. Thank you for joining us all guys. Well, thanks for tuning into the podcast and we will see you guys on the next episode. Talking to you soon. Bye.