The best piece of advice about renters insurance is to buy it. When we rent an apartment, condo, house, or mobile home, we sometimes feel too safe knowing that the property isn't ours. We don't own it, so we aren't responsible for anything that happens to it besides the damage we might do to it ourselves.
If the plumbing is broken, the landlord will replace the pipes and clean up the small lake in the kitchen, right? If a storm throws a tree through the living room window, the landlord will clean up the broken glass and replace the window, right? If faulty wiring causes a fire that burns down the building, the landlord will just build another one, right?
Even though it is the landlord's or property owner's job to fix the damage you didn't cause, it is not his or her job to replace or fix your broken or lost things along the way. So, who will replace your kitchen table if it gets ruined by water, your TV if a tree falls on it, and everything else you own if your house burns down?
If you have renters insurance, it will be your insurance company.
A renters insurance policy protects your belongings against fire, water damage, and theft, just like a homeowners insurance policy does. When buying renters insurance, you should do the same things you should do when buying homeowners insurance: make an inventory of your belongings, decide how high or low you want your deductible to be to get a premium you can afford, and look into a "floater" policy if certain valuables aren't covered by the renters insurance policy.
Don't let the fact that you don't own the place where you live give you a false sense of security. Remember that you do own the things you moved in with!
