The Importance of Homeowners Insurance and Renter's Insurance

By Tim Simmons

If you own a home you should have home owners insurance. If you rent your home, you should have renters insurance. If you do not insure your home and its contents, you could lose it in the event of a tragedy, or at the hands of a burglar, or due to a natural disaster.

Many people think that this will not happen to me, but it can, and if you are not insured, you will lose what you had. If you are buying a home you are required to have homeowners insurance. If you are renting your home, many landlords require it as they do not want to be responsible for your personal property in the event of a fire, or other disaster.

You should have your property insured for replacement value. In the case of your home that should be what the cost would be to rebuild your home. As for contents for both renters and owners that should be what it would cost to replace the items in your home such as furnishings and appliances. If you have collections of fine art, jewelry or other collectibles you should have them itemized and have appraisals or receipts for these items.

Do not leave things to chance whether you are a home renter or a home owner. Be prepared for the unexpected. You can help to lower insurance rates by having an alarm system, updated windows and doors with good locks. Having smoke detectors and fire extinguishers also is a help. Insure for the price to rebuild your home and replace its contents.

Often if you have one insurance company to cover all of your needs such as Auto, Home and Life, you can get a bigger discount. Be sure to shop around. Make sure to get appraisals and keep receipts for all purchases you make so that they can be presented to the insurance company. These should be kept in a fire-proof lock box or safe.

The main thing is to make sure you are insured. It is important, because if some tragedy does strike and you have no insurance, you have lost everything, and if you are buying your home, you will still owe that loan. You will have no money to rebuild, and everything you had in the home will be gone as well. Get the insurance and have peace of mind.

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