Home Owners Warranties...Are they a good thing?

What about Homeowners Warranties? When negotiating a deal I suggest to my buyers to ask for a Home Owners Warranty from the sellers. It's sense of security for the buyers. In return I always suggest to my sellers to offer a homeowners warranty to buyers, again it creates a sense of security. But I also tell my buyers about a personal experience I'd had when purchasing a home with a homeowner's warranty. One of the first things I suggest they do when they get into their new home is call a good heating and air conditioning company and have them service the furnace and air conditioner. When my husband and I purchased our current home in 2002 we negotiated a homeowners warranty. It was a chilly April and one week after moving in the furnace motor went out. We called our Home Owners Warranty company (their name will go un-mentioned) and they sent out one of their contract service people. The service man went in, looked at the furnace and said it hadn't been maintained and that's why the motor went out. I was sure to tell him we'd only lived in the home a week, but that didn't matter he told me it wasn't covered because it hadn't been cleaned and maintained. Had I called for someone to service the furnace immediately upon moving in the furnace wouldn't have been filled with an accumulation of dust and dirt and would more than likely been covered. Do I feel homeowner's warranties are valuable? Yes, I do, but I always suggest to my buyers to have their heating and cooling maintenance done immediately upon moving in! Posted by: Fran White http://www.kansascity-realestate.net/

Kansas City Real Estate Phone Policy

Kansas City Real Estate Cell Phone Policy
Boy that sounded corporate didn't it? Well that wasn't my intention, I guess I just wanted to make sure you understand the importance I put on answering my cell phone.
Sometimes in Kansas City Real Estate moments matter! When I first got into this business and started thinking about my own policies and how I wanted to operate I thought about cell phones. Everyone has one...so why does it seem that every time I call another agent I need to leave a message?
This is really a pet peeve of mine. Yes, voice mail is great, but I hate waiting for the call back after you've left a message.
I decided that my own personal policy would be to answer my cell phone 99.9% of the time and I do. (This is not a personal invitation for all of you to test this policy *smile*)
Another thought.... How do you answer your phone? I think it's only professional to answer your phone using your name so the caller immediately knows that he reached the correct person.
How are you answering your phone?
Fran White, REALTOR 2006