Even in a home buyer’s market there are still people who will need to rent, and where there are renters, there should be renters’ insurance.
Renters insurance is excellent protection to have. Unfortunately about 7 out of 10 renters — among more than 80 million renters in the U.S. — don’t have this valuable coverage.
The majority of homeowners — about 96% according to an Insurance Research Council poll — have homeowners insurance to cover themselves in the event of theft, fire, or accidents by people on their property.
Even if you’re renting out a single-family home, you should still have your own coverage.
Here are three reasons you should have renters insurance if you’re renting:
It’s affordable. About $12 a month is about average for a policy that gives renters roughly $30,000 in property coverage, and $100,000 in liability coverage.
Protect your valuables. Even if you think your only valuables are a computer and your child’s Play Station, have you also considered the cost of replacing all your other stuff, like your clothes, jewelry, TV, furniture, CDs/DVDs, microwave, etc., in the event of theft, a fire, flood or some other mishap?
State Farm estimates that it would take about $25,000 to replace all the items found in a typical 2-bedroom apartment. Renter’s insurance would replace all of that if it gets stolen, damaged or destroyed.
Reduce your liability if you’re sued. Liability coverage protects you if someone trips, or gets hurt in your apartment. The liability portion also protects you if you have a dog that bites someone else and that person chooses to sue you. So having renter’s insurance can limit your personal liability.
If you’ve been thinking about getting renter’s insurance, don’t procrastinate or make a big deal out this. Just hop online and quickly get a few quotes from different insurers, using site like Insurance.com or Insure.com, and then rest easy knowing you’re covered.
