Real Estate Zealot

Pat DeFeo with Colorado Home Warranty discusses their policies and service options

Interviewer: Today we're talking with Pat DeFeo, Vice President of Colorado Home Warranty. Welcome to the show.

Pat DeFeo: Nice to be here Dan, thank you.

Interviewer: We've talked a lot about home warranties, and realtors purchasing home warranties for clients, or what a home warranty is. Today I kind of want to talk about things that are included in your policy and things that are excluded. My wife and I were trying to decide if we wanted to buy a home warranty policy for our house and we started immediately going over, well, what's it going to cover?

Pat DeFeo: Okay.

Interviewer: Let's start there.

Pat DeFeo: Okay. The standard policy on our home warranty covers all the mechanical systems in the house to include: the furnace, the water heater, all the kitchen appliances to the built-in microwave, garbage disposal, ceiling fan, sump pump, garage door opener, plumbing leaks, electrical issues, stoppages, a panel. Sub panels on the electrical, we dont have on our standard coverage, that's it. Or we have optional coverage.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: For buyers, that is washers and dryers...

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: ...spas...

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: ...if you have a hot tub, gas fireplaces...

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: ...and air-conditioners.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: I mean, we have we also have some for well pumps and septic, but that's for up in the hills.

Interviewer: So my wife says to me, "So what do you think could go out like relatively soon?" And I said, "Well...

Pat DeFeo: Anything.

Interviewer: ...you know the garbage disposal's kind of old." I say, "We havent had the air conditioner furnace, air conditioner serviced, in quite some time, thats a possibility, and maybe the hot water tank." I said, "But I dont think the air conditioner is covered," and the first thing she says is, "Why?"

Pat DeFeo: Well, most, okay. We're in Colorado, now newer homes now have air conditioners or swamp coolers.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: Not every house has a swamp cooler or an air conditioner, so to keep our prices low, we don't add them into the standard policy. We add them, we have them as add-ons, if you have that, if you have that thing.

Interviewer: All right, so give me an idea if I want to add air conditioning?

Pat DeFeo: If you wanted to add air conditioning, air conditioning coverage is an additional $75.

Interviewer: That's it?

Pat DeFeo: That's it.

Interviewer: Wow! That's like a service call.

Pat DeFeo: It's like a service call, exactly, and with this new 13 sear, it's very prudent to have AC coverage on your house.

Interviewer: Okay, one more question then, and so, then the washer dryer is optional, but somebody would say, well doesn"t everybody have a washer dryer? Why would that be option?

Pat DeFeo: Not every house is sold with a washer and dryer.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: A lot of people take their washer and dryers with them.

Interviewer: Right.

Pat DeFeo: I mean, every case is different, but it's not a standard thing that's left in the house.

Interviewer: Well, it's a good option because I suppose if you are buying it as a real estate agent for a buyer or seller or whatever, that you may be able to save some money and be excluded, but if you're a home owner like me who wants a warranty program, and not so buying and selling their house, you might want to add in the washer and dryer.

Pat DeFeo: Yes, you would. We have a lot of realtors that have our warranty on their homes.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Pat DeFeo: And they are covered, everything is covered.

Interviewer: Well, yeah, I already got burned down and so I am not going to, not going to go down that road again.

Pat DeFeo: Don't go there.

Interviewer: All right, any other things that we should know about optional add-ons? And how expensive do they usually range? Is it mostly $75 to add something on, or...?

Pat DeFeo: $60 if you have a gas fireplace, $50 if it's for washer and dryer, and $150 for a hot tub spa.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: Roof--we have limited roof coverage.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: It's $60. It patches the roof. It doesn't replace the roof, so if you have a leak, it just patches where the leak is, and we have septic pumping for $45 and well pump.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: If you are on the hills, you know, for $75, so the most expensive we have is $150 for spa or a hot tub.

Interviewer: Okay and a standard policy where you talked about all the inclusions, what are they usually?

Pat DeFeo: $250, yeah.

Interviewer: For a year?

Pat DeFeo: Yeah, for a year.

Interviewer: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: And we have 15-month option as well. I mean, we have lots of options, but basic policy is $250.

Interviewer: Thanks, Pat.

Pat DeFeo: Thank you.

Interviewer: I appreciate you being here.

Pat DeFeo: Bye now.

Kristy Cook at Colorado Home Warranty discusses their quick, 24/7 repair service

Interviewer: Today were talking with Kristy Cook, service manager for Colorado Home Warranty. Kristy, welcome to the show.

Kristy Cook: Thank you for having me.

Interviewer: So were talking about home warranties, and I will actually do full disclosure here and use my own story. I come home, my heats out, I dont have a home warranty, I cant get my furnace to turn on. If I did have a Colorado Home Warranty, though, what would happen?

Kristy Cook: The home owner will place the service call, we would then in turn discuss the service issue, place the work order...

Interviewer: Okay.

Kristy Cook: ...write it up, and tell the home owner to go ahead and expect a call from one of our licensed contractors, and they would in turn call the home owner back within an hour, and make the call to come service their item, and then we would advise them theres a $55 co-pay.

Interviewer: Okay.

Kristy Cook: They would go out there and make the call, then we would follow up the next day to make sure that the...

Interviewer: Repairs have been done.

Kristy Cook: Yes, exactly.

Interviewer: Yeah, all right, and the best part about that, though, in that situation, is the only money out of the persons pocket is the $55 co-pay, so the fan had to be replaced and the furnace, the circuit board, wherever it may be. I came up from downstairs and say, "I think there is something wrong with the circuit board." My wife says to me, "How much is that going to be?" I say, "Probably 350 bucks." But if I had a warranty, my out-of-pocket would have been 55, right?

Kristy Cook: Correct.

Interviewer: So do you ever deny a service request?

Kristy Cook: We only deny service requests if its not part of the warranty or it couldnt be warranteed.

Interviewer: Its not covered item.

Kristy Cook: Yes, exactly. For example, say the washing machine goes out and they dont have the covered switches and optional coverage they could purchase but say they didnt have it...

Interviewer: Yeah.

Kristy Cook: Then we would deny it at that point.

Interviewer: Okay. So like an air conditioner, I know some policies dont cover air conditioning, is that right?

Kristy Cook: Yeah, thats correct.

Interviewer: Okay, so that might be one thats excluded. Somebody calls in, says my air conditioners out, its not part of the policy.

Kristy Cook: Right, the standard policy. However, we do offer it as an optional coverage.

Interviewer: Oh you do?

Kristy Cook: Coverage, yeah.

Interviewer: Oh good. All right, so what happens--I understand service issues during normal hours, although I should tell you, I called to see if I could get my furnace repaired and they were like, in no hurry to help me. Theyre like, ah, maybe we could get out there today, maybe we could get out there tomorrow, and Im like listen, I got babies. This house cannot be freezing tonight. So I understand what happens during normal business hours, but also after hours, how fast can we get somebody out there?

Kristy Cook: Well, what we have is a 24/7 service line where people call in. They would leave a message and one of our personnel people would get back with them within an hour.

Interviewer: Okay.

Kristy Cook: They would then tell them that service would be--a contractor would be called, and you know, be dispatched to them within four hours, so they would hear back within four hours as to when the contractor would be there.

Interviewer: Okay, so many times its same-day service?

Kristy Cook: Yeah.

Interviewer: You know, if its 2 oclock in the morning...

Kristy Cook: If its an emergency, yeah.

Interviewer: ...or if its 12 noon.

Kristy Cook: Yeah, absolutely.

Interviewer: Thats what I needed. Last but not least, how do you differ from other home warranty companies?

Kristy Cook: Well, were the only home warranty company that offers the quickest turnaround time, as far as call backs and service. Some of the other competitors out there have up to 48 hours before they will contact a customer, so we definitely have, you know, a quicker service time.

Interviewer: Well, Ive heard that about your company. Thats what I like about it. Thanks so much for being with us.

Kristy Cook: Thank you.

Interviewer: I appreciate the information.

Kristy Cook: Thank you for having me.

Paul Mulley talks about Home Warranties

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with Paul Mulley from Colorado Home Warranty and Paul welcome to the show.

Paul Mulley: Well, thanks for having me.

BrokerIPTV: Thanks for being here, Home Warranty's what are they and how do they work for those people who are unfamiliar?

Paul Mulley: Basically Colorado Home Warranty works, when you buy a home, lot of the owners or, new owners of the home are kind of little paranoid about the condition of all the appliances, and all the systems in the house, and so I think it would kind of give them a little bit more assurance, because we do cover the hot water heater, your furnace all your systems in the house. So, if anything does break down during that first year of coverage, it will only cost the home owner like $55 for a service call, so when you are talking $1500 worth furnace or, whatever you are talking, considerable savings.

BrokerIPTV: Yeah, no question all right, so my hot water heater goes out and you know its 2 o'clock in the morning and what do I do, how does the process work?

Paul Mulley: Well, don't call me at 2 o'clock in the morning.

BrokerIPTV: Okay.

Paul Mulley: No, but typically we do have after hours numbers as well, and so what we do is when we get the call, and within an hour we will contact a contractor to service your needs, typically if you get somebody out there within a couple of hours after the home owner first calls us, so it's we are, we do try to respond very, very quickly.

BrokerIPTV: Okay, so he comes out, he ascertains I need a new hot water heater, and my charge to me, because I have a Colorado Home Warranty, it's a $55 service charge and that is it.

Paul Mulley: That is correct.

Paul Mulley: Even though typically a hot water tank is four or five, six, seven hundred dollars.

BrokerIPTV: It sounds like a good deal.

Paul Mulley: That is a good deal, I mean it really is, I mean the hot water heater and furnaces are the biggest two liabilities so to speak for the home owners, so if you can come with those well, we build our business quite, quite well.

BrokerIPTV: Now, some people may be familiar with people who provide home warrantees on a national level, but you are a local company, and there is advantages to working with a local company.

Paul Mulley: Well, we believe so and that is kind of why we did this, did so well for last ten years. A lot of your national companies, you call the 800 number and you will get tied up in the phone maize, and they will call you back a day or two later. I think some [Inaudible][00:02:04] heat you know, and so in the middle of January in the snow storm you want somebody out there immediately, so we provide ourselves in trying to respond a bit quicker you know.

BrokerIPTV: Well, I know from experience from working with you in the past, you guys have personal contact and you have a local call center, so I think that is important.

Paul Mulley: I think we should try to personalize our service you know to most of the real estate market, and so I think they enjoy that, and it works out well for both parties, because we try to make the agent look like a hero, so if somebody calls the agent and says hey my hot waters heater is down, who do we call you know agent calls me and he goes hey you want my business next week, you better fix it for right now, but that I mean it's not like that, but we do cover it very, very quickly.

BrokerIPTV: All right, people naturally would be concerned with the contractors that are working on their house or replacing, how do you go about selecting your vendor?

Paul Mulley: Most of them, we do get from the real estate community, so like when we talk to the agents, we say okay who is your good [Inaudible][00:03:00] guy or, who do you really have had a good response with the plumbing person you know, so we really rely on our clientele to provide us with the better trades people, and that works out pretty well.

BrokerIPTV: And you have had a long relationship with many of these people.

Paul Mulley: Ten years now we have been in business and you know Colorado Home warrantees so, we are working on a second decade so you know.

BrokerIPTV: That is great, Paul good information thanks for being with us.

Paul Mulley: Thank you appreciated, thanks for the time.

BrokerIPTV: Appreciated.

Paul Mulley: Take care.

Paul Mulley talks about the importance of Home Warranties

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with Paul Mulley from Colorado Home Warranty, and Paul welcome to the show.

Paul Mulley: Thanks for having me.

BrokerIPTV: In a previous segment we were talking about Home Warranties, what are they and how they apply to realtors, and people who are buying or, selling a home and things of that nature, this time I want to talk a little bit about people who aren't so, and aren't listed, but could use a Home Warranty, how much of that is your business?

Paul Mulley: It's not that larger percentage right now, I think that is the one area that we haven't really delved into too much, because most home owners don't know that they can get a home warranted from Colorado Home Warranty, even if they are not selling their home. So, but basically we would cover the exact same systems and appliances as we would for any other home owner.

BrokerIPTV: Now, I am not selling my home, but I would be interested in having one can I call you?

Paul Mulley: You can call me.

BrokerIPTV: And what type of coverage are you going to provide me?

Paul Mulley: Well we cover the basic coverage's like it covers all the appliances, all your systems, your whole entire kitchen, the only extras that we do charge for would be a washer and dryer, and or air conditioning, but in Colorado air conditioning is not as prevalent let's like if it is in Arizona or California or Florida, so we kind of leave that as an option for the home owner.

BrokerIPTV: So, I could add the air conditioning if I wanted to.

Paul Mulley: Yes, you can.

BrokerIPTV: What about washer and dryer, just out of curiosity how come that is not covered?

Paul Mulley: Well lot of folks have their own washer and dryer [Inaudible][00:01:20] folks inherent the washer and drier when they do purchase their home. A lot of folks don't even have a washer and drier, [Inaudible][00:01:27] you know, so we kind of leave that as an option as well.

BrokerIPTV: Okay. Now, at one point I guess you know your local utility company was marketing very heavily that we are going to cover your appliances, talk about that program versus what you guys do?

Paul Mulley: Okay, well that program covers all your appliances, all your systems, we are a lot more in depth, and let's say like the utility company, utility company I think is only going to be covering primarily electrical type of items you know, and we go a lot deeper, we go into plumbing you know if we got leakages or, you know civil problems or whatever. So, I think and then another thing too, as a utility company they have a tendency not to respond as quickly as we do, you know they have a lot larger customer base, and so I think like you got a hot water heater out or, your dish washer went out. I can guarantee, we would respond a lot quicker than they could ever dream of.

BrokerIPTV: What are something like this cost, because I imagine there is a range here?

Paul Mulley: There is a range, our policies range from a two and quarter, to two ninety five, we have 12 months coverage, we have 15 months coverage, we have buyers, seller coverage, and all kind of depends, we can customize it a little bit to fit each home owners need.

BrokerIPTV: And occasionally do you offer discounts or...?

Paul Mulley: Well, some of the discounts would be the lower and as far as two and a quarter okay, typically like the agent pays for a warranty, we normally charge the agent 250 or so, sometimes you go down two and a quarter if we do have a special, you know so yes.

BrokerIPTV: Well so that is obviously a great selling point for an agent who wants to either help a seller or a buyer which is, hey I am going to thrown in a warranty here for it, because I am so sure that this is the right house for you, we want to protect you that type of thing I am sure you hear that.

Paul Mulley: I hear that lot too, and then you know lot of your real estate agents would do in a say like for a closing gift to their buyer and or a seller, and say hey look you know thanks for doing business with me, I am going to cover you for a year, you know and give you a free home warranty, and the home owner goes well, and that kind of reinforces the home buyer to you is that agent again in five or ten years when they want to sell their house again, and they go you know what that guy treated us well, so it works out very, very well.

BrokerIPTV: Paul thanks so much.

Paul Mulley: Thanks, thank you appreciate your time, appreciated thank you.

BrokerIPTV: Appreciated.

Local Home Warranty Companies and What is Covered Are Important to Consider

BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Katheryn D'Amico from Colorado Home Warranty and Katheryn welcome to the show.

Katheryn D'Amico: Thanks for having me.

Interviewer: I want to talk about home warranties. Recently, there was some information in the news that home warranties are good, but you might have to watch out for some of the fine print; tell us what happened or what happens in these scenarios?

Katheryn D'Amico: Yes there was an article in the Denver Post. Apparently, this company that provided the home warranty was offered through Wachovia Bank.

Interviewer: Okay.

Katheryn D'Amico: It's kind of like an after market type of home warranty and we actually looked up this company on the Internet, couldn't even find them on the Internet; so, not really sure where they are from, what they are all about. So, you know you are going to have some problems there. Colorado Home Warranty is a locally owned and operated company, very personal with our clients. So, there is a big difference there. You know there is a face with the home warranty; when you call our office you get a live person to talk to, it's not a call center that you are calling into, so very personal.

Interviewer: Well, the other difference is you are talking about some companies that aren't in the business of home warranty, they are kind of jumping on the band wagon, seeing if they can get a little after market revenue and they have got fine print rules and regs that if you are not aware of, you could get caught in.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly, yeah. You know there is no fine print in Colorado Home Warranty's policy.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Katheryn D'Amico: It's all in black and white right there.

Interviewer: It's upfront.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly, in our brochure, on our website, you are going to know what you are covered for, what you are not covered for. There is always going to be exclusions, there are limits of liability for any home warranty company, but it's all in black and white right there upfront with Colorado Home Warranty.

Interviewer: All right. So, maybe the take home message here is beware about who you are doing business with...

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: When it comes to warranties; is the company local, do they even specialize in this and watch out for their fine print.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: All right. One of the questions that comes up on warranty is that decision to either repair or replace and I have had it being it[Phonetic] myself you know the refrigerator is x amount old, I don't know if I should just... you know it's broken, should I repair it or should I replace it; how do you come to that decision?

Katheryn D'Amico: That is up to the home warranty company. It's up to us whether we repair or replace, but it's definitely for the benefit of the buyer or the owner.

Interviewer: Right.

Katheryn D'Amico: So, if it's going to cost you know $380 to replace a 25-year-old refrigerator or to repair it, it is better to put that money towards replacing.

Interviewer: Okay.

Katheryn D'Amico: So...

Interviewer: And of course there are some exclusions on... on that decision to replace or not, for instance if the homeowner hasn't done what?

Katheryn D'Amico: If you don't do the regular, regular scheduled maintenance that the manufacturer recommends, very simply like changing the filter in the furnace or the air-conditioner, you know just things that anybody should do, you need to do those things in order to keep it in good working order so that when it comes time, if something goes wrong, we will... we will repair it [music].

Interviewer: And the technicians you send out are reporting that information back to you?

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: And that's how you arrive at the decision?

Katheryn D'Amico: Yes.

Interviewer: All right. Real quick benefit of working with a local company in the warranty business like Colorado Home Warranty?

Katheryn D'Amico: Well, that's huge because like we said before there is a face and there is a local... local office, you know where we are located. There is me, everyone has my cellphone number; if they need to reach me, I am you know... I am available any time of the day, weekends you know, what not. So, we are definitely out there to please our customer. So, it's very personal. A nationally owned company, a lot of them you call into a call center and it's very black and white, this is what's covered, this is not what's not covered; with us, it's kind of gray you know. Well, you know you have given us so much business, you know we want to... we want to please you. So, we can kind of you know work with people in that way.

Interviewer: Thanks so much.

Katheryn D'Amico: That's a lot different.

Interviewer: Great information.

Katheryn D'Amico: Thank you for having me.

Interviewer: Thanks for being here.

Home Warranty Coverage Is Important to Understand and Consider When Buying or Selling a Home

BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Katheryn D'Amico from Colorado Home Warranty and Katheryn, thanks for being with us.

Katheryn D'Amico: Thank you for having me.

Interviewer: Nice to have you. In a previous segment, we were talking about warranties and a lot of large national companies that don't even specialize in the warranty business kind of jumping in and seeing if they can get some business off of this and a lot of times these companies have a lot of fine print that make you not qualify anymore and so forth; what are some of those fine print things that we ought to be careful and watch about when we are talking about warranties?

Katheryn D'Amico: Well, you do want to definitely read the fine print and there are some companies that have pages and pages of it and Colorado Home Warranty does not have pages and pages of fine print. It's all spelled out, black and white, real simple, what's covered, what's not covered on our website as well as our brochure.

Interviewer: And it's simple; it's either you maintained the product or you did not maintain the product and that's one of the exclusions correct?

Katheryn D'Amico: Yes, you do need to maintain your appliances and what not; the furnace, you need to change the filter on the furnace or the air-conditioner, things like that where you do just manufacturer's recommended maintenance.

Interviewer: But this can save you some serious money if you maintain your products and if you purchase a warranty and of course the consumer says, "Well, I got to pay for the warranty" but it's not as expensive as people think, right?

Katheryn D'Amico: It's not, not at all. It's only $275 to cover you, you can cover a seller during the listing period as well as it being handed over to the buyer after the purchase, which is huge; for the seller, he has peace of mind knowing that if something breaks, you know it's not [Inaudible] out. So, right before you are going to sell your home, you don't want to be putting money out you know for something major that goes wrong. A lot of houses are staying on the market a lot longer nowadays too and you know your systems are getting worn and you know it could happen so.

Interviewer: Is that 275 for a year?

Katheryn D'Amico: That's for a whole year coverage, yes.

Interviewer: Whole year coverage and what does that cover in my house, everything?

Katheryn D'Amico: It covers pretty much everything. It's got plumbing...

Interviewer: Electric [Voice Cross Over].

Katheryn D'Amico: Electrical systems, yeah.

Interviewer: Heating [Voice Cross Over] appliances.

Katheryn D'Amico: Heating. Right. Air-conditioning is an option you can do, it's not a standard coverage, but you can add that. You know if you have stoppages, you know your furnace goes out, your water heater goes out, those are the major things, but there is lots covered.

Interviewer: And if something breaks down you make a decision if it needs to be repaired or replaced, is that right?

Katheryn D'Amico: That is correct; with all home warranty companies, it's up to the home warranty company to decide whether it should be repaired or replaced.

Interviewer: And if we replace it, we are getting like to like, is that right?

Katheryn D'Amico: No. You know if someone owns a Bosch refrigerator...

Interviewer: Right.

Katheryn D'Amico: We are not going to give them six grand to go buy another Bosch.

Interviewer: Okay.

Katheryn D'Amico: Okay, but we are not going to do at builder's standard[Phonetic] either. We are going to give you know something kind of in the middle [music] so but if someone has something that's 25 years old, you know we will give them a builder's standard[Phonetic] or they have the option of us doing the cash out, which is we give them the cash what it costs get a builder's standard[Phonetic] and then they can upgrade.

Interviewer: Okay. Let's talk about benefits real quick. Benefits of the realtor to have a home warranty policy in place on the house they are listing?

Katheryn D'Amico: That's huge; especially in a buyer's market like it is today, you need to differentiate yourself, you need to make your listing stand out, and one way you can do that is with... by offering a home warranty. We have signs that attach to your listing sign, so even if someone is just driving by, they can say, "Hey, you know they have a home warranty on that house." That makes a buyer feel extremely comfortable you know that even if something wasn't... you know something was to go out after they purchased the property, they are covered.

Interviewer: And a benefit to the buyer is they feel some confidence in buying that house if something goes wrong in the next year, they could have it repaired.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: The benefit to the seller is he is adding on another perk that he can market.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: To a potential buyer.

Katheryn D'Amico: Yeah.

Interviewer: Okay. Thank you so much for being here; really appreciate it.

Katheryn D'Amico: Thank you for having me.

Home Warranties are more than just peace of mind

BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Pat DeFeo, the Vice President of Colorado Home Warranty and Pat, welcome to the show.

Pat DeFeo: Thank you.

BrokerIPTV: Thanks for being here. For those people not familiar with your business, again, lets tell people what Colorado Home Warranty does.

Pat DeFeo: Colorado Home Warranty is a locally based and owned and operated company. We provide home warranties to homeowners in Colorado.

BrokerIPTV: Okay and a seller, someone selling a home, can purchase a home warranty, which may entice a buyer to buy their home because they have a warranty after they buy it or a buyer can buy home warranty plan after they purchase a house?

Pat DeFeo: Correct.

BrokerIPTV: Pretty much.

Pat DeFeo: A seller does not have to pay for it. The seller can apply, put an application in, and his home is covered until its sold.

BrokerIPTV: Wow! I didnt know that.

Pat DeFeo: And if its not sold, then there is no funds collected even if there had been service during the listing period.

BrokerIPTV: And real quick, how does the warranty program work? In other words, somebody finds something wrong with the house, you put in a claim, so forth,

Pat DeFeo: They put in a claim they call... they call our office, they will get a, my service department will take the call. We dispatch a technician depending on what it is and there is a $55.00 co-pay that is paid to the contractor when he gets there and they will fix the problem, whatever it is or they will replace the problem if we cant fix it; if its a dishwasher and it cant be fixed, then we replace it.

BrokerIPTV: Question for you, does business fluctuate or does your business fluctuate with the real estate market? If the real estate market is slowing down, is your business slowing down or it really doesnt matter?

Pat DeFeo: Somewhat, it does somewhat slow, slow down. We are, you know, I mean I hate to even say this, but we are like the low hanging fruit on the tree. I mean home transactions require mortgage, they require title, but they dont require,

BrokerIPTV: A Home warranty.

Pat DeFeo: Home warranty, but our business hasnt dropped as much as I thought it would during this ebb and flow that we are going through right now. So, I guess the answer to your question is we do fluctuate some with the market, but not as much this time.

BrokerIPTV: Which then brings me to my next question about which segment really purchases home warranties the most; is it this crowd thats 300,000 and below or is it really just the people who have million dollar homes and over?

Pat DeFeo: You know it doesnt segment... it doesnt segment at all. I mean I have, we have a requirement and all warranty companies have that, not a requirement, but we ask the buyer, when a warranty is placed, we ask how many square feet is it. The only reason we ask that is because usually if the house is over 5000 square feet, it will have duplicate systems. It will have two furnaces or two water heaters and thats just to protect the, the person thats getting the warranty. At that point, if they dont want to cover the extra system, we will tell them, we will cover the first one that breaks you know and we wont cover the second one. So, there are million dollar houses with two or three systems and we get those too quite frequently.

BrokerIPTV: Yeah, okay, but affordability, if I have got a small house and I live in Aurora and I am thinking there is just no way I am going to be able to afford a home warranty plan; its far more affordable than people think, is that right?

Pat DeFeo: Its very much affordable. If you are the buyer, and we have this special going and we have had it going for quite a while; if you are the buyer and its not covered during the listing period, its $250. So, thats like $12, a little over $12 a month and what that saves you is peace of mind. It gives you so much peace of mind because if something breaks and you dont have a warranty and you call another contractor, they can tell you any number of things is wrong. If you call, have a home warranty and the contractor goes out, they are not going to gouge you at all.

BrokerIPTV: Pat, great information. Thanks for being with us.

Pat DeFeo: Thank you.

BrokerIPTV: I appreciate it.

A Free Colorado Home Warranty during listing period covers seller and broker

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with Pat DeFoe, Vice President of Colorado Home Warranty and Pat, thanks for being with us.

Pat DeFeo: You are welcome. Thank you for having me.

BrokerIPTV: In a previous segment, we were talking a little bit about home warranties amd Colorado Home Warranty and I just want to recap. Now, what people can do here is, if I am a seller and I am selling my home, I could purchase a home warranty to cover the mechanical things in my home. That home warranty could be attractive to a buyer. A buyer could purchase a home warranty for a property that they are purchasing...

Pat DeFeo: Right.

BrokerIPTV: Or a realtor on either side of the transaction could purchase a home warranty and give it to the buyer or the seller as a gift?

Pat DeFeo: Correct.

BrokerIPTV: Pretty much how that works?

Pat DeFeo: That's how it works.

BrokerIPTV: Okay. Now, talk a little bit about why this home warranty is good for people? Why should a realtor spend that money? Why should a seller or buyer do it?

Pat DeFeo: A realtor should consider a home warranty, because he is looking after the best interest of his client. A seller I think should have a home warranty, because houses are staying on the market longer, which means there is more use on the major systems of the house, which we cover. If there is a claim during the listing period and say the house doesn't close, we collect no money. It's not paid for until it closes. So, if we have service during the listing period, so be it; we take care of the problem and walkaway if the house doesn't [Inaudible].

BrokerIPTV: One of the neat features that I hadn't thought of is, if I had my home on the market and I had your Colorado Home warranty in place.

Pat DeFeo: Correct.

BrokerIPTV: And the buyer came and did an home inspection and found that there was something mechanically wrong with my furnace, I wouldn't be out of pocket for it; I could just rely on my home warranty, is that correct?

Pat DeFeo: The Colorado home warranty would take care of it, correct.

BrokerIPTV: So, that would help me with inspection items?

Pat DeFeo: That would help you with home inspection items and it would give you peace of mind as a seller to know that if something broke down, it was covered and it would give your buyers on resale homes confidence that, "Okay, I have a warranty, everything checked out fine on the inspection, but I know I have a warranty. If something comes up, I have got coverage for it."

BrokerIPTV: Now, there are a bunch of people who I am sure are saying, "Well, this sounds good, but what's this going to cost me?" or a realtor says, "What is the fee range on a standard home warranty policy?"

Pat DeFeo: A standard Colorado home warranty policy is $275, that's for 12 months buyer coverage and 180 days listing coverage. We have another option that's $295 that will cover the buyer for 15 months should they choose that option. We have a $55 copay is what we call it when we send a contractor out to do a service and that's what the home owner pays and then we pay the rest. We pick up the rest after that. The only claims that we ever deny are claims if there is not coverage. For example, if... we don't have options for the seller for air-conditioning. So, they call their air-conditioning is out, we can't cover that, because we only offer that for the buyer; but if the buyer calls, we cover it.

BrokerIPTV: Trip charges, is that included in that $55...?

Pat DeFeo: That's $55, that's the trip charge. We have no trip charge.

BrokerIPTV: So, that's maximum out of pocket?

Pat DeFeo: That's maximum out of pocket, correct.

BrokerIPTV: Okay. What about "Hey, I have this type of furnace and I want this type of furnace?"

Pat DeFeo: If you want to upgrade?

BrokerIPTV: Correct.

Pat DeFeo: Well, we will replace what they have in there. They have one stage 80% and they want to upgrade to a two stage. We will pay for the... what they have and they can pay for the upgrade. We have contracts with all the wholesalers in Denver. So, believe me, the upgrade is very affordable.

BrokerIPTV: Quickly, one of the nice things about you being a local company is what? No call center?

Pat DeFeo: No call center. We have live people. We have relationships with our contractors, so we can call them and say "You know we have an emergency, we have a little old lady and she has no heat and it's midnight, can you get out there?" and they do it.

BrokerIPTV: That's great. Pat, thanks so much for being with us.

Pat DeFeo: Thank you.

BrokerIPTV: Good information.

Pat DeFeo: Thank you.

Over 75% of all after sale headaches covered by a Colorado Home Warranty

Broker IPTV: Today, we are talking with Pat DeFoe, the Vice President of Colorado Home Warranty and Pat, welcome to the show. Thanks for being with us.

Pat DeFeo: Thank you.

Broker IPTV: Tell me a little bit about your service.

Pat DeFeo: A little bit of our service? We are a home warranty company. We are located in Colorado. We are local. We have been in the business for here in Colorado for 10 years. What else would you like to know?

Broker IPTV: Colorado Home Warranty Benefits?

Pat DeFeo: Benefits...

Broker IPTV: Why go with the Colorado... why go with a home warranty in general?

Pat DeFeo: The home warranty in general benefits the realtor. The realtor walks away from the closing table with cash in hand, commission in hand and any after sale issues that come up with the property come to the warranty company. We handle about 75% of any after sale issues the warranty company handles.

Broker IPTV: All right. Typically, what type of issues are we looking at on an after sale?

Pat DeFeo: After sale... after sale...

Broker IPTV: The big ones...?

Pat DeFeo: The big ones? The big ones are the furnace.

Broker IPTV: Goes out.

Pat DeFeo: Goes out, we fix it; we can't fix it, we replace it.

Broker IPTV: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: Water heaters. Water heaters go out. We work in conjunction with the home owner's insurance. If your water heater goes out, drops out, it floods your basement, ruins your carpet.

Broker IPTV: Okay.

Pat DeFoe Your home owner's insurance pays for the water damage, but they don't replace the water heater; we replace the water heater.

Broker IPTV: Got you.

Pat DeFeo: A lot of houses are vacant now, so when the new home owner walks or goes in, they have stoppage issues, because the water hasn't run through the line or whatever. We cover sewer, we cover the main line stoppages for up to a year.

Broker IPTV: And that's a common post sale problem?

Pat DeFeo: That's a common post sale problem now.

Broker IPTV: Or do you see even in active listing that's [Voice cross over].

Pat DeFeo: Even in the active listing, all of this is covered during the listing period, all the same issues even after the sale, if a policy is put on and it's covered for the listing period, the same thing... the same coverage goes for the seller as for the buyer.

Broker IPTV: Now, Colorado Home Warranty just recently did an update and now you are going to do gas fireplaces; is that right?

Pat DeFeo: Right.

Broker IPTV: Talk a little bit about that.

Pat DeFeo: We had requests from many realtors and this is part of what the benefit of us being local and small is realtors were asking why we didn't cover gas fireplaces. So, we also said, "Why shouldn't we cover gas fireplaces?" So, we do have a buyer's option to cover gas fireplaces.

Broker IPTV: Plumbing?

Pat DeFeo: Plumbing issues? Plumbing issues are taken care of, leaks, leaky toilets, drippy garbage disposals. Yeah, we cover plumbing issues, we cover electrical issues, we cover ceiling fans, we cover garage door openers. We have options for hot tubs, spas, hot tub pool.

Broker IPTV: My microwave went out...

Pat DeFeo: Okay.

Broker IPTV: You can do that?

Pat DeFeo: I can do that.

Broker IPTV: Got it, but this... is this true, is this pretty much how all warranty... home warranty programs work? I mean are they all pretty much created equal?

Pat DeFeo: Pretty much created equal.

Broker IPTV: Okay.

Pat DeFeo: We differentiate... in my opinion, what makes us outstanding is we don't have call centers; we don't have phone queues. If a homeowner or a realtor calls the office, they get a live person. If a homeowner calls for service after hours, they get a live person. They don't have to wait. They don't have to go through phone queues. You know do you want service, do you want this, do you want that? They get a live person to answer their question immediately.

Interviewer: Pat, great information. Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

Pat DeFeo: Thank you.

Landmark Home Warranty At Colorado Realtor Convention

http://www.brokeriptv.com/scott-morris

Landmark Home Warranty Covers AC As a Standard Item

Scott Morris is with Landmark Home Warranty Based out of Denver, Colorado.  Their Standard Home Warranty covers Air Conditioning as an included item.  Scott is attending the 2007 Colorado Association Of Realtors Convention held at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado as an exhibitor. This event is held every year for real estate professionals and Realtors. Topics of interest such as real estate politics and policies as well as real estate education and industry vendors are all present at the Realtor Convention.