If you are in the market for renting out a property, the first thing you need to do is get some Renters Insurance. Renters Insurance is a form of insurance that will protect your belongings while living in someone else’s home and also will protect their property in case of an accident. Most policies can be had for $20 per month or less, and it is a small price to pay when paying out of pocket for items will cost you significantly more money.
The one main thing that you are getting Renters Insurance for is to protect your own belongings in case your property should happen to be stolen or is involved in something like a fire or flood. You can rest at ease knowing your property will be replaced should anything catastrophic happen while renting your home. On most policies, you will also be able to get reimbursed for items that were brought with you on vacation or items that were left in your car. The only problem here with making claims for personal property is the fact that you might not get reimbursed for what the items are worth or what you paid for them. You will more than likely be reimbursed at fair market value which could leave you coming out of pocket to cover the cost.
Let’s say for example you are having a party at your home, or you are having a few people over and a guest of yours trips and twists their ankle on an errant dog toy that was lying on the ground, in most case you are liable for the hospital bills and any other recourse. With Renters Insurance you can rest easy knowing that you have insurance to cover the out-of-pocket cost of your friend’s injuries. Even if this person wants to turn and try to sue you, your Renters Insurance will also pay for these expenses too. As you can see, having a policy to cover this is just worth it for those just in case moments.
Renters Insurance is also vital in protecting against third-party damage that may occur to a property. Let’s say for example your dishwasher springs a leak on the 4th floor apartment and you are unaware of this and it winds up leaking down into the unit below, who is going to cover the cost to repair the other unit? Well the answer is your Renters Insurance will pick up the tab here. Just be mindful of your policy before you purchase it and make sure you have enough coverage in place in order to make good on most damage you may do. If you have a policy that only covers $100,000 and you cause enough damage to your property and another of $150,000, you can find yourself on the hook for the additional $50,000 above and beyond your coverage amount. It is almost always worth it to get more coverage than needed just because the cost of a little extra coverage might only be a couple dollars per month. Would you rather spend an extra $50 per year, or have to figure out a way to pay $20,000 out-of-pocket? Make the right decision and get a proper Renters Insurance Policy.