Tuesday, February 22, 2011

HO-4 Coverage for You When You Rent

 
When you rent a place to live, it becomes your home, albeit whether for a short time or for a long one, as is often said, ‘home is where you hang your hat’.  Whether you rent a Mansion a flat or anything between, you’ll want coverage for your contents. Chances are you’ll never have to collect on your policy, hopefully you never will, but should disaster or catastrophe strike, you’ll be certainly glad you had coverage.
An HO-4 policy, often called a renters insurance policy is just what you need to cover your stuff. Depending on your landlord, you may or may not be required to have your own insurance. And there are plenty of reasons for this. At the very least, you should have a bare minimum amount of coverage, because believe it or not, whether you have a Coach purse, or a cute bag you picked up at Target, if it gets consumed in a fire, and you don’t have insurance, you’ll be forced to go without, or buy whatever replacements you need out of your own pocket.
A lot of young and single people don’t even give it a second thought, a popular misconception is that they don’t have anything worth insuring or that the insurance can cost too much.  Now, without an absolute inventory, which is highly suggested, how would you know what you really have in your home?
Consider this, if there were a fire, at night, and you had to jettison your home to survive, and all you had on your person were your pajamas, what would it costs you to replace every single thing you own? Bedding, blankets, pillows, furniture, kitchen appliances, electronic devices and electronic games, televisions, and all your clothes, and accessories can add up to a lot.
If you are lucky enough never to have a fire in your own dwelling, the water damage that can be caused by firefighters putting out a fire in proximity to your home, could  be as devastating as fire itself.  The cost for a renter’s policy likely less than a dollar a day, for Fifty thousand dollars of coverage; after you complete your inventory, you may find you could even need more.
If you are renting, the owner of the dwelling will have coverage for the building, but they will not have coverage for your contents.  An HO-4 policy will cover fifteen perils; it will also give you coverage for your personal property, however there are limits for cash, securities, firearms, watercraft, jewelry, and property away from the residence, and has some limitations on electronic equipment. Your policy may also include coverage for loss of use, if you are unable to use your dwelling, it will cover the costs of either Additional living expense or Fair Rental Value, under Coverage D.  There are also coverage for reasonable repairs, unauthorized use of a credit card and transfer of funds. If someone slips and falls while at your property, you will be covered up to the limits of the policy.
Since we live in such a litigious society, it just makes sense to insure your assets whatever your home rental size is.  There are too many things that can go wrong, and you risk losing everything that is yours already. As is often said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And in this case for every single person who has rental coverage in place, it’s one less thing you have to worry about if something catastrophic should happen to your home. You can rest assured that you will be indemnified and made whole, up to the policy limits. If you are wondering about what an HO-4 policy will costs you, feel free to visit www.homeinsuranceinsurance.com to find out.

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