Renters Insurance Archives - National Risk Management and Associates

January 26, 2025 By Cendra Ray

3 Reasons to Create a Home Inventory

Courtesy of iii.org

Creating and updating an inventory of your personal possessions is one of the best ways to make the most of your homeowners or renters insurance, and makes filing a claim easier and more efficient.

A home inventory is simply a list of your personal possessions along with their estimated financial value. You can create a home inventory in a simple, low-tech manner by writing down everything in a notebook and keeping receipts in a folder. Or you can take advantage of technology and use a digital camera or smart phone or app to make your record.

No matter how you choose to do it, the important thing is to take action. An up-to-date home inventory will:

Help you purchase the right amount and type of insurance. Having an accurate list of all your possessions helps you to have a more productive conversation with your insurance professional when making decisions about homeowners or renters insurance coverage. After all, if you don’t know what you have, how can you insure it adequately?
Make filing a claim as simple as possible. Most people cannot remember what they had for breakfast much less recall the contents of their attic, kitchen cabinets or downstairs closet after a fire, storm or other catastrophe. Disasters are scary and stressful, which can make trying to list damaged property for a claims form even more challenging. Having your belongings already documented in your home inventory can be a huge relief at times like these.
Substantiate financial losses for tax purposes or when applying for financial assistance. Following a catastrophe, the only way to determine whether you qualify for a tax break or disaster assistance is to substantiate your financial losses. A well-organized home inventory can be an extremely useful tool in this process.

Next steps: Use these tips to get started on your home inventory.

June 23, 2024 By Cendra Ray

Hurricane Checklist for Renters

Courtesy of iii.org

RENTERS INSURANCE

If you rent, rather than own, your home, have you bought renters insurance?

While your landlord may provide insurance coverage for the structure of your home, as a renter you are responsible for your own belongings. Renters insurance covers the loss or destruction of your possessions if they are damaged by a hurricane or other disaster listed in the policy. A standard renters insurance policy also includes ALE coverage if you are unable to live in your house or apartment due to damage caused by a hurricane.

Flood insurance is also available for renters. However, as for homeowners, the NFIP flood insurance policies for renters do not include ALE coverage.

Don’t wait to review and update your insurance until after you have a loss—there are few things worse than finding out you did not have the right kind of coverage when you are already filing a claim. So before hurricane season kicks off, make sure you’ve reviewed home or renters insurance policy with this Hurricane Season Insurance Checklist. Call your Insurance Professional if you have any questions. They can provide guidance on how to get the insurance protection that’s best for your needs and budget.

For information on how to make your home more disaster resistant, go to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). For information on evacuation, go to the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH).

September 30, 2018 By Cendra Ray

The Low-Down on Renters Insurance

Courtesy of iii.org

Hey guys, I know you’re busy having fun watching football, but it’s time for us to have a talk about renters insurance. Why? Because the I.I.I. found that only 37 percent of renters have renters insurance. Which is bad, because renters insurance is important and good.

One of the most important things renters insurance covers is damage to your personal property. Your landlord’s insurance probably doesn’t cover any of your personal belongings if a covered loss happens to the apartment.

(Covered losses usually include fire, water damage from an overflowing sink, theft, vandalism, and a few other things. But be sure to talk to an agent and read your policy because different companies often vary in their wording.)

It’s important because you own things

The first objection I often hear about renters insurance is “Lucian, I don’t need it because I don’t own a lot of stuff.” Yes, we’re all about minimalist Instagram chic in theory. But in practice, we own a lot of stuff, because we’re human beings who need clothes and dishes and sometimes we even own a couch.

Think about clothing for a minute. Unless you live by Miami Beach and only need a bathing suit, you own more than one set of clothes. A few pairs of pants. Blouses. Underwear (presumably). Maybe you own a suit or nice dress for work. If you live up north, you probably also have an entire winter wardrobe.

Now imagine you lost all your clothes in a fire. It could cost you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to replace them. Because you own a lot of clothes.

Nothing is free especially not replacing all your stuff

Another objection I often hear is “Lucian, won’t I just be giving those big insurance companies free money if nothing bad happens to my stuff?”

First, premiums are often pretty reasonable. The most I’ve ever paid for renters insurance was around $25 a month, and that was in a part of New York City where I was still probably getting a bargain. Some of the new app-based companies charge premiums as low as $5 a month. Your budget won’t hate you for that kind of expense.

Besides, no one ever says “at last, I can finally cash in on those insurance premiums I’ve been paying!” after their apartment building burns down and they lose everything.

Which leads me to my second point: an intangible value of insurance is peace of mind. People like to know that they don’t have to spend all their disposable income replacing everything they own. Odds are, you’re also one of those people.

Like life itself, renters insurance is about more than just the things you own

But let’s pretend for a minute you don’t actually own any stuff. Renters insurance also usually covers:

Your liability expenses if someone gets hurt in your apartment. Imagine someone is over at your apartment that has no furniture in it because you don’t own any stuff. Now imagine that someone gets hurt after slipping on your uncarpeted tiled floor because you don’t own carpets and they sue you. Your renters insurance will probably cover some legal costs. And even if they don’t sue you, your insurance can cover certain medical expenses for your injured guest.
Increased living expenses. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean your insurer will cover your rent increase. But it does mean that if a covered loss (think: apartment fire) makes your apartment uninhabitable, your policy could reimburse you for food and temporary housing. You don’t want to be that person without renters insurance standing outside their burning apartment building in 20-degree January weather with no place to go.

It’s really easy to buy

We’re all busy, but applying for renters insurance takes maybe 15 minutes, tops. Many companies let you apply via an app, so while your train is hopelessly delayed you can use that time to protect yourself and your stuff. That way, if your apartment building catches fire while you’re at work, you can rest (relatively) easy knowing that you’ll have help buying replacement stuff and having a place to stay while you find a new apartment for about the price of a coffee or four a month.

Seriously, get renters insurance.

RENTERS INSURANCE

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