Below is a link to site that has reviews for the major companies. I'd take the reviews with a grain of salt though because some of the positive ones read like advertisements.

Personally, I think you are wasting your time. Of course these companies are going to try to deny claims. They only charge a couple hundred bucks. You can pretty much guarantee that there will be more damage than that in a foreclosed home. All the policies are going to exclude "pre-exisiting problems" and you can bet that they will claim everything in an abandoned house is a pre-existing problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: company reviews

I agree with Bill. We bought a home with a home warranty a few years back. We had to pay $50 to bring their selected crew in and then they denied our claim. They cost us money. I wouldn't bother getting a warranty.

I've yet to see a home warranty that is worth the paper it's written on.
You are much better off putting the money aside and using it to replace broken items. It's less hassle and fuss.

They are service contracts, not actual warranties.

One of the guys I work with has one.

They nail him for $50 every time, plus time off from work to perform the fastest cheapest repair they can.

My first experience with a home warranty was in 1986. The company paid several hundred dollars to repair our air conditioning unit. So when we bought our current house, we thought the home warranty would protect us from our 28 year-old mechanicals, if they malfunctioned before we could replace them. No chance. They turned down a claim for our water heater, saying that it did still heat water. Yes, it did, but not enough to take one shower without it running cold - not the best set-up for our 90 year-old parent who lived with us! The water heater would have to leak or not make any hot water for it to have been covered.

We're in the minority. We've had good luck with our AHS warranty. We've used them in several houses and have had several repairs. The most recent was our leaky water heater, the outside pipe was leaking. Turns out it needed a new valve and the $60 cost was far cheaper than to call a plumber.

We recently got a new stove out of them too. That was a bit of work, but we did it without any fight. The oven was original to the house and parts were starting to go. Then, they ordered the wrong part and it didn't have the same features as the part it replaced. They called me to say we were getting a new stove and offered us X brand. I checked it out at the store and it was missing some features our previous oven had. I told them a couple models that had equal features and they approved a GE Profile range to replace our KA. I was shocked.

They at first tried to buy us out of the oven, but I told them I wanted it repaired. I think too many people expect them to replace something, but they tend to repair until they can't do so anymore. For us, the key was having it repaired and then they couldn't get the part.

I just went with the flow and we got a brand new modern range to replace the old one. I thought they were going to dump us, but they renewed our contract. I was surprised. I heard they dump you if they replace anything.

One company is also in the middle of a class action suit for turning down legit claims. Maybe this is why they have gotten better. I don't know.

I had an AHS warranty, too... it came with the house I bought in 2001. The evaporator coil went bad on the heat pump after I lived there about 4 months. It was kind of crappy that I had to pay a service fee ($60 or $70) to their chosen technician (not the one I would have chosen) both the first time they came out to diagnose the problem and when they came out to install the new coil, as well as the refrigerant they added and then a fee to recapture it later... but it was cheaper than the $1300 coil!!

I have had a couple of AHS warranties. The trend is to increase the cost of the warranty, increase the deductible and to exclude more and more items from payment. While they paid for a couple of repairs, I never got my money back. My last warranty expired several years ago and they still hound us to renew.

FWIW, there is currently a class-action suit against AHS.

I agree with others that are not impressed with home warranties. I would not buy one and expect it to protect me with a foreclosure I am buying.

I've had both old republic, and fidelity pay out over 3000. In claims for my MIL and a client. I had American home shield on my house, and they sucked big time toilets all backed up in a rental house on Easter sun, and they said theyd have someone call me in 3 hrs. That was at 10 am. By 9 pm, in spite of 4 calls to them, saying someone would call, no one did. Then they lied about whether someone was coming. I had a renter with 4 kids in there, and they needed a working toilet. I finally called a plumber myself and had someone there in 20 min. I paid for it. They didn't want to reimburse. They said they were having a problem getting a plumber out because of holiday, yet I got one on my first call.