Peace of mind doesn’t cost as much as you think
In a matter of minutes, smoke and fire can severely damage or destroy everything you own and leave you out on the street. But for about $250 a year in NYC apartment insurance, you can buy peace of mind for your home, your things and a place to lay your head.
Whether you rent or own, your apartment insurance will replace all of your possessions up to your insurance limit. This is why it is so important to maintain a digital inventory of your home’s contents and how much it will cost to replace them. Store the inventory in a cloud server or download any number of free mobile apps that will help you take a home inventory to provide to your insurance agent if your home is damaged or destroyed by fire. Before you buy a policy, share your digital inventory with your insurance agent to make sure you have the amount of coverage you need to replace what you could lose in a fire.
If you own a condo or co-op, your policy will help to pay to rebuild your unit. The question is whether your building’s master policy will cover some of the expenses or nothing at all inside your individual unit. You can find out by getting a copy of the building’s master insurance policy so your broker can help you determine how much coverage you need to rebuild your home.
While you’re rebuilding, or if you are a temporarily displaced renter, your policy will pay for a certain amount of living expenses such as a hotel stay, temporary rent on another apartment, and some restaurant costs up to certain percentage of your policy limit. Save receipts for everything that you buy related to your fire loss. Your insurance company may require them or you may need them to prove your losses during income tax season.
Your insurance company may also be able to help you find and pay for the cost to repair or restore certain items that you can’t easily replace — a family heirloom like a steamer trunk, perhaps, that wasn’t touched by flames but suffered heavy smoke or water damage.
There’s no better way to respect the money you earn than by insuring what you spend it on, from your home to your wardrobe. One fire could completely wipe you out. A good insurance policy can guarantee that won’t happen.
Gotham Brokerage, a family-run business in New York City for more than 50 years, can match you up with the right agent. For more information, give us a call at 212-406-7300 or fill out the form at right.
