Home warranty - good or worthless?

[Andy Cracchiolo]

Hello All, I was wondering what your thoughts were surrounding Home Warrantys.   The allure of being able to cap major expenses for an AC or Heat pump at 450$ a year plus 100$ per incident charge seems like a good way to keep your costs fairly predictable.

I suppose, if you pay this thing for 10 years, and have some minor things like a dishwasher/ AC issues/ Heat pump issues and they fix it, could be a wash more or less.    But makes expense more predictable, no major hits at one time, pay it over time.   Also, I'm wondering if the premium a Prop Management company charges could make this even better than with your primary residence.  I think most property managers would charge you something just to go out to the property and deal with finding a contractor.

Has anyone actually ever used on on an appliance and gotten it paid out?  Is this a strategy you guys use to keep your expenses predictable?

thanks!