The reason why we have decided to create an article about this is because some of us have gone through that situation and you need to know what you can do to actually mitigate the damage that can come out of something like that. That’s why it is so important that you protect yourself and your belongings with a ‘Renters Insurance’ in case of an unexpected situation like a robbery.
This situation is why you should know how important it is for you to get renters insurance, because that could save your life.
An important thing to do if your house is robbed, is to get as much evidence as you can, because that’s how you will prove what happened. Remember that many people try to take advantage of this kind of situation.
First of all, you, as a homeowner and as a real estate investor, might definitely want to consider suggesting your tenant to get renters insurance for the following reasons:
- You get coverage. At the first moment you realize your house was robbed, you need to call the cops. You need to obtain a police report and yes, the cops come in, they try to do the fingerprint thingy and try to see if they can find anything that will lead them to the people who actually broke into your house and after you get that police report, the next thing you need to do is to call the insurance company.
- The insurance company that it’s offering you the renters insurance, of course, they’re going to interview you. They’re going to ask you what happened, they’re going to ask you for evidence of the police report and at the same time, they’re going to require you, they’re going to ask you to provide a list of the items that were lost and to also provide receipts that can actually support whether you in reality made a purchase of that or not.
What you should do if your house was robbed: Get as much evidence as you can
If you’re into the habit of buying everything cash, this can be extremely difficult for you to be able to prove because for the most part when we buy for something we get a receipt, but most of us just throw it away the minute we know that we’re not going to go back and return it, but if you manage to do a purchase with your credit cards, you can easily find in the statement and show that proof of purchase and also show the date that you actually purchased that.
You can actually put up a list, take screenshots of the price of the items in the company’s website and at the same time, provide a copy of the statement that shows that you, in fact, purchased some of those products that they wound up taking away with them.
Ads
After a couple of weeks, what they do is that they do an evaluation, they check the evidence that you provided, and they should be sending you a check. They send you a check for the money of the stuff that you lost and if you come to think of it, this is not so expensive and in case you’re wondering who pays for renters insurance, you as the renter, have to take care of renters insurance yourself and it’s not that expensive.
It’s only $200 to $270, more or less, and it’s super easy and you can definitely check it out on the internet. You can see, on average:
- How much renters insurance will wind up costing you in the event that you decide to go for one of these
- You don’t damage the relationship with your landlord, because relationships are important. You’re definitely living in their property and the least thing you want is to create any sort of tension because you didn’t protect yourself even though the landlord suggested that you do so.
What you should do: Real Estate Investor Side
That’s on the renter side, but if you are on the real estate investor side, same thing, we are talking about liability, but in this case, you’re actually shifting it. You might probably be wondering: “well, I do buy insurance. I buy insurance for my properties. How come I still need my tenant to purchase renters insurance? Well, your insurance, it’s only covering physical damage to the structure of your property.”
Anything that happens to the wall, or anything that’s part of the foundation in itself on the house and depending on the type of insurance that you buy, you can also get rental loss coverage, but none of that covers anything that’s located inside the property in terms of furniture, electronics, computers, you name it. Things that people can have inside the house.
In essence, you’re actually shifting liability from you because what happens if somebody breaks into your house and you didn’t have any renters insurance? You are going to get very upset. But if you have insurance, what you need to do is call your insurance company right away and have them take care of it.
Ads
In the state of New York, landlords typically recommend that their tenants purchase renters insurance.
What you should do if your house was robbed: Is it mandatory to have this kind of insurance?
It’s not necessarily mandatory but for the most part of the United States, what they do is that they recommend their tenants to always carry renters insurance. Now, whether you do it or not, then that’s another story. Think that $200 a year is actually not that bad for something that can cover up to thousands and thousands of dollars of losses.
You got it, as a real estate investor you’re shifting liability because there’s something that your insurance doesn’t cover and then at the same time, relationships, because real estate is a relationship-based business. The last thing you want is to get a tenant that is very pissed off. It’s not your fault that this person got robbed. It’s also unfair that you will have to pay for their missing items because at the end of the day, they’re not your items, but if you want to maintain that relationship, you will probably want to pay that but if you don’t do it, then you’ll probably be facing a very unhappy tenant.
Someone who could potentially destroy your property or just start defaulting on the rent because they’re thinking, “well, yes, I’m living under their roof but why should I continue to pay rent for someone who doesn’t even look out for my safety or doesn’t even care that I’m actually losing money and still expects me to pay them rent in the long term?” What incentive do they have to stay in your property instead of moving to another property and having a safer living environment?
FREE REAL ESTATE WEBINAR
