The first 90 days after closing on a home are the most critical for homeowners, according to data from Armadillo, a home warranty company that uses modern claims data to inform its coverage. The highest volume of system failures, including HVAC, plumbing, and water heater issues, occurs within this initial period, catching many buyers off guard after they have spent their savings on a down payment.
Why are the first 90 days so high-risk? When you close on a home, you inherit every system in it. Some systems may have been sitting unused for months, especially if the home was vacant during the sale. An HVAC unit that wasn't tested under real conditions, a water heater that sat idle, or plumbing that hasn't been fully pressurized can all fail quickly once a new household starts using them at full capacity. Matan Slagter, founder and CEO of Armadillo, notes that their data shows plumbing, water, and electrical issues cluster around move-in at rates higher than any other point in a homeowner's tenure. Buyers simply don't expect it.
The financial hit compounds the timing problem. A buyer who just stretched to cover a down payment is also paying their first mortgage, setting up utilities, and absorbing moving costs. An HVAC replacement that runs north of $10,000 or a water heater failure at $2,000 and up is not a manageable surprise in that window.
What the home inspection misses is another factor. Home inspections are important, but they are not a guarantee that everything is functional. A home inspector checking an HVAC system in the middle of summer cannot meaningfully test the heating side of the unit. One inspecting in winter faces the same limitation with cooling. The inspector can note what they see, but they cannot simulate a year of wear.
Slagter explained that Armadillo's position is clear: if something wasn't flagged in the home inspection report and it fails after move-in, the reasonable assumption is that the buyer could not have known. In those cases, the breakdown is covered. The problem arises when buyers don't read their inspection reports carefully, file a claim on something that was documented as a known issue, and then are surprised when coverage is denied. That is the most common source of claim disputes in the industry. The takeaway for buyers: read the full inspection report before closing, not just the summary. Anything flagged should either be repaired by the seller before transfer, or documented as addressed, before a home warranty kicks in.
Based on Armadillo's claims data, the systems that fail most often in the first months after a purchase are HVAC systems, particularly in homes where buyers move in during one season and don't test the opposite function until weather forces it. A buyer who closes in June may not discover the heat doesn't work until November. Water heaters, which degrade over time and are often near end-of-life in older homes, are another common failure. An inspector can note the age, but age alone doesn't disqualify coverage if the unit was functional at inspection. Plumbing issues, ranging from slow leaks that weren't visible at inspection to pipes that fail under the load of a new, fully occupied household, also rank high.
A home warranty doesn't prevent systems from breaking, but it removes the financial shock from the timing. Buyers who have coverage in place before they move in can file a claim, choose whether to use Armadillo's network of vetted technicians or bring their own, and get the issue resolved without depleting what is left of their savings. Armadillo is one of the only companies in the category that gives homeowners both options upfront. The customer-choice technician model, detailed at armadillo.one, means buyers who already have a trusted plumber or HVAC tech are not forced to use a stranger from a dispatch network. That flexibility is one reason the company carries a 4.7-star Google rating in an industry that averages between two and three stars.
For first-time buyers in particular, the post-closing window is when a home warranty earns its value most clearly. The math is not complicated: a few hundred dollars in annual coverage versus a potential five-figure repair bill in a moment when there is almost no cash left to absorb it.
