Renters Insurance Can Help Ease the Pain of a Lost Home

By Avrielle Suleiman
Rotunda ReporterIn wake of the disaster at the Poplar Forest Apartments where 32 residents lost their homes, with 8 of them being Longwood students and faculty, questions about renters insurance have come up.

In general, insurance is "protection," according to Daniel McCarty, an insurance agent for State Farm of Farmville, Virginia. There are three main types of insurance for a home. There is renter's insurance, which covers your personal contents in a home that you are renting, homeowner's insurance, which covers the residence itself and your personal property, and renter's dwelling insurance, which covers the person who is actually renting out their home.

Renter's insurance is for people who do not own their homes but want to protect the personal contents of a home they are renting. This includes items such as: TV's, sofas, tables, chairs, and even clothing. If it is unsafe or impossible to live in your home, according to different policies, the insurance company will cover the cost for you to live in a place comparable to your home until you are able to return to your own home.

McCarty says that once you get your insurance; "To go home, take pictures, take inventory.make a list, buy a firebox.put all of your important papers in that." Model numbers of TV's and stereos are what are needed to make sure you receive the dollar amount of what it is actually worth. There is a underlying trust that you will not lie about what you own, but the insurance company will investigate if what you are claiming to have lost doesn't fit in with your home or lifestyle. Buying a firebox is a point that McCarty is very adamant about after having lost his own mother in a house fire. Thankfully, all of her important papers were saved because of a firebox she purchased.

A typical stereotype of any type of insurance is that it is always too expensive. According to McCarty, "The renter's insurance is on average is $8.33 a month." While this price may go up in more populated cities, it is not too significant at around $15.00 a month. When you pay that, your renter's insurance will cover up to $25,000 in damages to your personal property. "That's a lot of DVD's, and school books, and things of that nature."

McCarty goes on to say "You are looking at about 1,800 people in this area who have fire policies." These are different policies offered in renter's insurance, homeowner's insurance or renter's dwellings insurance that can cover any damage your home or personal belongings sustain while involved in a fire. Every insurance company has different policies that you can add to the standard to make it exactly what you want, and has options to help you out specifically.

Many people who rent out their property to students at Longwood make it mandatory in their contracts that those renting must have renter's insurance in case of legal and liability reasons. It protects them against lawsuits that could be brought up if a student does not realize that what they own is not protected in some kind of disaster.

While talking to a current renter, Ayo Agunbiade, a second year graduate student at Longwood, says he is not worried about not being covered. When asked about thinking about getting insurance after learning about the Poplar Forest Apartment fires Agunbiade said, "To be honest, I thought about it briefly but I didn't really take any action. At this point in my life, there are certain risks you have to take as a young adult before you are completely established and can afford to do a lot of those things."

Kevin Rich, a junior at Longwood, who is currently renting on Appomattox Street, is worried about his personal belongings. "The main thing I'm worried about.is between my neighbors and my apartment we have about 30 some sprinklers.and if something did go wrong and the sprinkler system did go off, it would soak everything." While he doesn't have renter's insurance, he is covered. "I have some stipulation of my parent's home owners insurance that extends to me."

With only two people involved in the Poplar Forest Apartment fires being covered by State Farm, the others have lost almost everything they own, without having a safety net to fall back on. Longwood has been aiding these victims by giving the residents places to live, meal plans, and any clothing they can provide.
With situations like these happening everyday McCarty thinks that everyone should have renter's insurance because "you need protection.