Not everyone always has the privilege and finance to buy a house.
So, when there's no money to purchase a house, what one does, in order to have a roof over one's head, is rent or lease a property.
Seeing that homeowners insurance policy is for individuals with houses, it doesn't mean people without houses are left out.
There's an insurance policy available for renters, and it is called a renter's insurance policy.
So, the good news is, being a renter doesn't make you not to be able to protect your properties.
If you were looking for where to get essential and more-than-enough information on renter's insurance, you've come to the right place.
Do well to read on in order to feed your mind with more knowledge on renter's insurance - what it is, how to get it, how it works, and so on.
I will be serving detailed information about areas under renter's insurance, like;
• What Is Renter's Insurance?
• Key Points To Note About Renter's Insurance
• How To Get Renter's Insurance
Let's get right into the discussion, shall we?
WHAT IS RENTER'S INSURANCE?
Renter's Insurance, as the name implies, is a form of property insurance that provides coverage for losses to the insured individual's personal property, and protects the insured from any liability claims.
Also, the policy provides coverage for injuries that occur in the insured's rental, but isn't caused by a structural problem.
Being a tenant, any injury that occurs due to structural problem shouldn't be any cause of worry to you, as it is your landlord's problem.
If the affected person will file a lawsuit for damages caused by the building's structure, he or she will file it against the landlord, as it is not your fault, because you aren't the person who built, or oversaw the building of the house.
Renter's Insurance basically provides protection for almost anything rentable, ranging from a studio apartment to a full house or a mobile home.
Even if you're just starting to rent, or you intend to rent a place for a year at least, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get renter's insurance - one of the easiest to obtain and the least expensive insurance policy an individual can get.
Before getting to know about it, or while getting it, you may think you do not have anything of great value, until you eventually realise that it takes a huge amount of money to replace belongings in the event of a fire, or bad burglary - all of which renter's insurance covers.
Additionally, there's no way on Earth that you can be careful enough with your apartment to the extent that you'll be able to control your neighbors. They can be as careless as falling asleep while cooking, which can in turn, start a serious fire, or they can leave your security gates open, which poses potential threat to you and/or your properties' security.
So, what happens when any of these occur?
You'll definitely need replacement, and that's where renter's insurance helps.
It is important to note that while your landlord may have gotten property insurance which covers the building itself, the insurance policy does not cover your apartment contents, and it does not cover the damages which you may get sued for, if it happens that someone got injured on your property.
KEY POINTS TO NOTE ABOUT RENTER'S INSURANCE
Below are the few important things to know about renter's insurance policy.
• Renter's insurance is a kind of homeowners insurance, only that it is designed for renters, as the name already points out.
• According to USAA, the average renter's belongings are worth around an estimated $20,000.
• The typical renter's insurance policy offers coverage for damage or loss of items in the insured's home, all of which are caused by either theft, fire, electrical malfunction, and plumbing.
• Two Important steps in getting and maintaining a renter's insurance policy are taking accurate inventory of your belongings and keeping an updated spreadsheet of your household items.
• Renter's insurance reimburses the insured in two ways. They are;
√ Cash Value: This consists of the complete reimbursement of what the property damaged was worth, at the time of damage.
√ Replacement Cost: This consists of the reimbursement of the full cost of replacing the damaged items with new ones.
HOW TO GET RENTER'S INSURANCE
The necessary things to do in a bid to get renter's insurance are not really difficult.
In order to know what exact steps to take to be able to get renter's insurance successfully, read on.
✓ The first thing to do is to make your insurance needs assessment.
When you initially apply for renter's insurance, it is important that you make a video or take photos of everything you own.
If you have expensive items, writing down the serial numbers of those items which could help you in verifying your claim, in the case of the theft or damage of the item, is important.
You can even take the assessment a step further by entering the items into a spreadsheet, alongside the estimate of each item's value.
✓ Seeing that you've gotten an idea of how much insurance you need, the next thing in line is finding an insurance company that offers a good renter's insurance policy in your area.
If you have no idea where insurance companies are located in your area, you can simply go on the internet to search for renter's insurance companies or agents nearby.
✓ After successfully picking out the insurance companies you see as good-enough, the next thing is to start the application.
In the event of several companies checking out financially, you can simply apply to all of them in order to see which one offers a more benefitting coverage.
✓ The application stage will be easy to complete, and that brings you one stage closer to completing your goal.
Here on this stage, you will fine-tune your policy. You get to choose the type of reimbursement you will receive, and it is advisable that unless you have a very tight budget, opting for a replacement cost coverage is wiser.
This is because in the case of fire destroying your tables and chairs, if the price to get new chairs and tables is $1500, you will be given $1500 instead of the couple hundreds of dollars that actual cash value coverage will pay - the price of which your tables and chairs were worth at the time of damage, due to depreciation.
Replacement Cost Coverage is only 10% more expensive than actual cash value coverage. So isn't it wise to go for replacement cost coverage? Yeah it is!
✓ So, now that you've finalized the whole hullabaloo with the renter's insurance policy, the last thing to do is pay.
After payment, the renter's insurance policy is kick-started, and you begin to pay your premiums.
Premiums vary depending on how expensive the items you got insured are.
