Rental Property Investor · Brewer, ME · Member since 2016 · 45 posts · 20 votes
I tried this question in "Property Insurance Questions & Discussions" but don't think that category gets as much traffic sorry for the duplicate post but hoping for feedback.
Closing on a SFR Friday and in the process of getting insurance our agent asked if I wanted to insure contents. We have a couple mixed use properties and do not have contents covered. I asked if I was missing something and she said some people like to add some just to cover appliances. I'm sure the additional premium would be pretty insignificant to add 5-10K but if not needed why spend the money.
Ask to see the proposed insurance contract. Depending on which form the agent is using you may have quite a bit of the home's contents covered already. Try reading this article:
my last appliance package that I ordered for a rental was $2200 to include all black kitchen appliances and laundry pair. We always provide our rental units with all appliances included. Others with stainless could be 3k-4k all in. Those count as personal property based on my understanding. If the house burned down, I'd prefer to have the minimum contents coverage (usually the min is 5k) so I would be reimbursed for buying a new set of appliances when I rebuild. Maybe you bought used appliances from Craigslist for pennies and don't need the coverage. I personally prefer to have a small amount for the contents coverage.
Depending on the policy, it may be built in. Our landlord policies have them built in, however Foremost, a company that Farmers owns has that coverage as electable? I guess its a matter of personal choice. The additional premium is very little. So are you willing to trade a little for quite a bit more?
I would just look to the overall coverages on the policy and compare prices. By the way.....Load up on the liability coverage, this is what saves your bacon!!! Maybe even follow them up with an umbrella. Regardless of the amount of assets you have, I think you should have an umbrella policy!!!