The more you look at them, the more they look like sucker purchases.

The warranty business is growing large enough to be a competitive nuisance in some markets. That's because homeowners don't know any better.

This homeowner remembers 1994 as a bad year maintenance-wise. I came home one Friday night to find a big puddle leaking from underneath my ancient water heater. Had to pay time and a half to get it replaced over the weekend. My dishwasher, refrigerator, clothes dryer and assorted other breakdowns dinged me to the point that I looked into the home warranty policies that I had been hearing so much about at work. It sounded attractive to commit to $400-$500 a year to be covered for all those things that went wrong.