After the tornados being litterally a mile away today, I finally convinced hubby to get renters insurance. Our next question is how much to get??? We have an 1800 sq.ft. house, we have nice, but moderate furniture (maybe $1000) per room, we have a lot of nice electronics including his musical equipment (3 guitars, amps, mics, pedals, etc.) and we have 2 kids. To get on the nosey side, we make about $65,000 a year. So, he was thinking that we'd only need about $20,000 in renter's insurance. I'm thinking more like $30.000 or $40,000. When you think about total loss you have to consider clothing, luggage, lawn tools, bikes, strollers, wagons, camping equipment, etc., it adds up. So what do you insure price wise??
Ironic!!
After me made it through yesterday I looked at my husband and said you know we would of been screwed if that sucker had came 4 exits this way! We too are getting renters insurance this month. I was terrified! I also told him to start digging! I want to be as much under ground as possible next time! Glad y'all are ok.
I was told to estimate the replacement cost of what I have in my apartment, not the current value. I would suggest doing an inventory of your posessions with your best estimate of the replacement cost. So, if you had to buy everything you need from scratch, what would it cost? That's how much insurance you should have.
I'm an insurance agent in AZ. A quick way to estimate is $10k-15k per room, depending on how "nice" your things are. In the event of a TOTAL loss, you have to take every little thing into consideration. Also, walk around the entire house with a video recorder and record everything in every room. Literally open drawers and cabinets, etc. Keep a copy of this off site, at a relatives house or get a lock box. Remeber things such as "collectables" are not covered unless they are "scheduled" on the policy. Things like computers, jewlery, guns, antiques, art, etc are only covered up to a certain amount. So if you have something that has a replacement cost that is higher than what is covered by the basic policy, you have to have it appraised for the replacement cost and added separately to the policy. Talk to your agent, they will be able to help you. Good luck!
You have received some wonderful advice so far. When it comes to insuring your things you don't want to scrimp. Think replacement value. How much will it cost to replace everything, tv's, blueray players, videos, video games, videos game systems, sofas, chairs, tables, lamps, curtains, towels, sheets, clothes, soap dish, curling iron, clothes iron, children's toys, ironing board, etc. As you can see this list can get exhaustive, also include the cost for possibly having to live or stay at a hotel while you wait for your place or a new place.
The actual costs for renter's insurance is affordable. When I rented I also had a $1,500,000.00 liability policy which was also affordable. I think I paid something like $65 a month. Which as great I thought especially for how much coverage I had. Insurance in my New Jersey is probably higher than what you could expect to pay in Texas but getting quotes is free so get your quotes and then make an informed decision.
Renters insurance premiums are fairly reasonable I believe, I don't have it but should as well.
I'd logically just make sure there was enough to replace all my material stuff basically.
I was also told to take pictures of everything I had and put it in a safe box or give it to someone for safe keeping. Unfortunately, when there is a fire or flood (or some other disaster) we often forget about the things that we have or had.
L.
State Farm writes a minimum of 20,000. Call your auto insurance company to get the quote. You get discounts for bundling.
However much you decide to get go around room by room and video or take pictures of all your stuff, the serial numbers and model numbers of all electronics. Don't forget the bathroom and your closets. EMail that to yourself or store it in the cloud so you can retrieve from any computer. In the event of a disaster like this, you have to list every single thing item by item and having the documentation will jog your memory and make settling the claim so much easier.
We have ours through Allstate and the minimum we could get was $25K. And we pay $14 a month. If indeed you ever have to use it, you will incur expenses you might not think of now, so keep that in mind.
It's not black and white, you may get what the items are determined to be worth at time of loss, there may be a maximum of what you'll get back on certain items, certain exclusions and limits may apply, for instance, flooding, earthquakes, and tornadoes may require additional coverage, as do other certain hazards, you truly need to sit down with an agent and ask questions and answer their's as best you can to determine what fits your needs best.
http://www.ehow.com/info_###-###-####_renters-insurance-c...
http://www.naic.org/documents/consumer_alert_renters_0812...
http://personalinsure.about.com/cs/renters/a/aa102102a.htm
http://moneyfor20s.about.com/od/autohomeinsurance/bb/rent...
My place is smaller than yours and we too have musical equipment and I have 32000 in renter's - I also have some jewlery that I obviously do not wear to bed or often at that so, I would make sure you get your really expensive things appraised and know what it would be to relplace your home.
Sit down with pen and paper and write down all the things you own. How much in today's economy would it take to replace them including the spoons and cookware? Include your clothes/shoes/jewelry. Contact an insurance agent and speak with them. If your electronic musical equipment is high dollar they may want you to put that on a floater. Also you will need liability coverage in case someone visits and falls and sues. We can't tell you how much but it sure beats having nothing in the case of a tornado taking everything you own.
It will also cover your items when you are on vacation.
Get several quotes and go with the one you feel comfortable with. Who do you have your auto insurance with, do they also do homeowners/renter insurance? You could get a discount bundling the two together.
The other S.
