Renter's Insurance and how it works

By: Michelle Carolla | SCNow
Published: September 16, 2009

In today's real estate market, there are more renters than in years past. Many who never rented before find themselves in new territory. There are also a lot of college students renting. One important part to renting is renters insurance. It can save you thousands of dollars if anything were to happen with your rental unit.
Tyler Anthony, a senior at Coastal Carolina University just moved into his new apartment a month and a half ago. He's one of more than 200-thousand students in South Carolina who headed off to school this year. He said he and his roommate investigated renters insurance, but didn't secure a policy yet.
"She thought it was a really good idea because she bought a new TV that we have in the living room,” said Anthony. “We're waiting for new couches and chairs to arrive so when we get those I think we'll start to consider it a little more since we just spent a lot of money on these new products.”
-Renters insurance covers personal property such as electronics, furniture and even your kitchenware.
-It's very inexpensive. A typical policy can run between 15 and 30 dollars a month.
-Before you shop for a policy, take a complete home inventory.
"For the price of a pizza basically, monthly, you can buy renter's insurance and it covers your personal property for fire, theft and vandalism,” said Wade Davis, an insurance agent with State Farm.
A policy also covers for flooding, liability and will pay your living expenses if you're displaced. It's not just students, more than half of all people rent. If you're counting on your landlord’s policy, you're not covered. Their policy covers the building and common areas.
You can shop rates online. There are several sites which compare rates between companies. You want to first check with your current insurance agent because most companies offer a discount to existing customers.