Wondering how to estimate value of personal property? This article is for you.
The percentage of renters in America who have Insurance is less than 45! That should be hard to understand for those who are conversant with how insurance works. However, for the majority of us, insurance for people who rent (HO4) is not essential.
Looking deeply into it, we could find a couple of reasons as to why this is happening. For example, most people are not aware of the benefits of having insurance, or the amount of insurance cover they need. There are also issues with overestimating the policy cost.
Among the significant reasons people refuse to take up cover is because they lack knowledge of Renter’s Insurance.
Even after going through the entire process of getting a quote, people still lack a proper understanding of the personal property. Majority of renters find trouble answering basic questions such as what is the worth of their property and the amount of insurance they would need.
In the United States, average apartments with two bedrooms have close to 30,000 dollars’ worth of bikes, clothing (including inner garments like tank tops with built in sports bra, the best bras for low back dresses, etc), jewelry, and electronics. It looks like it’s time for people who rent to get back their inner peace and learn how to protect their property.
How Much Property Do You Have?
You may have more property than you imagine.
I know you are not sure of this. Take a look at your house.
It’s crystal clear that you have a lot of personal property you love. For example, you could be having a laptop, phone camera, watch, bike, and a T.V. Almost everything in your house has value, and this adds up quickly.
Do not underestimate the value of your property when you want to get renters’ insurance. Otherwise, you will be left dry and high in case of any eventuality.
Being aware of your property’s worth and the amount of cover you will need will not only make sense when it comes to your wallet, but it also achieves considerable success in giving you inner peace in future. You will want to ascertain all your personal property is has a Lemonade cover.
How to Estimate Value of Personal Property
Go through these tips as they will help save money and time in the future;
- Take your time and walk around the apartment, taking videos and pictures of anything you love.
- Create a list of the everything you have in the video or image of, and approximate their cost;
- Take photos of the receipts of the items, in case you would want to replace using the given warranty or make an insurance claim
- For costly stuff and electronics, knowing where you bought them from, their make and model is crucial
- For the shoes, items in your kitchen that do not use electricity and other bulky stuff put them together and estimate their cost.
- Get the sum of all these things and voila, you get the value of your property (the amount of coverage you’ll have)
Most insurance policies begin with 10000 dollars’ worth the coverage of your personal property, known as the contents insurance. People are different, and you can, therefore, tailor the coverage to suit your lifestyle. Get the exact figures below.
Amount of Renter’s Insurance You Require
The amount you got from the calculation you made, add 10,000 dollars to it for every member who stays in your house. Don’t forget to include yourself. It covers clothing, furniture, and small stuff. If you usually go for brand names, fancy electronics, and expensive cookware, we recommend you get the 15,000 dollars coverage instead of the 10,000 dollars.
Below is the amount of coverage you’ll require for all your stuff;
Example 1
Say you live in the city, and you have a sound system worth $1,500, a ring $ 5,000, bike $1,500. Your spouse also has a motorcycle worth $2,000, and you both love brands.
The amount you’ll get for your coverage for these stuffs would be:
$1,500 + $1,500 + $5,000 + $2,000 + ($15,000*2) = $40,000
Example 2
Say you are a university student; you might think you have very few things. Rethink!
Laptop $1,250, bike $1,500, phone$ 850, and your clothes. Your coverage amount for these properties would be;
$850 + $1,500 + $1,250 + ($10,000) = $13,500
Several financial planners would suggest you round off the figure you come up with to the nearest $10,000. Always remember to be realistic in the long run.
The best thing to do is to pay up a monthly premium you’ll be comfortable with. Also, consider the amount you will be able to afford when paying out of your pocket after some time.
This trick can come in handy. In case you lose everything today, how much will you be able to pay from your pocket? If your answer goes below the figure above, you should think of more coverage and vice versa. If the number is high, go low.
Note About Expensive Items
Sub-limits are some of the things people often miss when they sign up for the renter’s policy.
Okay, a basic insurance policy covers at least $1,500 worth of items like jewelry, bikes, fine arts, musical instruments, and cameras. However, the value of your expensive items is likely to be high. It means you have to schedule those things by adding extra coverage, to include their total cost.
To add to the renter’s Insurance, these typically translate to some extra dollars and maybe less, on your monthly premium.
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