As a city with a transient nature, Hoboken is home to thousands of renters, many of who are recent college graduates living in their first adult apartments away from mom and dad. With checks from their first high-paying jobs, these young adults can afford to fully furnish their own households.

Compared to owners, renters can save money by escaping the upkeep necessary with owning a home. But just like every prudent homeowner buys home insurance, so too would renters be wise to consider insuring their possessions in case of a disaster.

That's a lesson that four young Hobokenites recently learned. Save for the clothes on their backs, four women lost all of their possessions in a fire that destroyed their apartment building. None of them had insurance. Though the community responded with a wave of donations, the women are left having to hope that charity can help them recover what they took years to accumulate.

Theirs is a situation that justifies renters insurance. According to Hugo Gonzalez, an agent affiliated with State Farm who maintains an office at 129 Washington St., renters insurance pays against sudden and accidental personal property damage, even up to the loss of an entire household.

“The object is to bring you back as close as possible to where you were before the loss,” Gonzalez said.

Many renters can insure themselves every month for the price of a fast food value meal. Gonzalez said he estimates the amount of coverage a renter should have based on the size of their unit and the average condition of their possessions. The lowest price he offers, $126 per year, still covers $20,000 worth of damages.

Gonzalez said that in addition to protecting lost or damaged property, renters should consider coverage for two additional circumstances. To start, they should consider a policy with that pays for temporary housing such as a hotel in case of displacement.

Gonzalez said renters should also consider liability coverage in the event they are held responsible for causing an accident within their rental unit, and are later sued.

He also advises that even if multiple roommates share possessions such as furniture, each renter should have his or her own policy, to minimize confusion over ownership, and also to maximize the money sent for reimbursement.

If they plan to purchase insurance, Gonzalez recommends that renters take photos of their possessions and store the images in an accessible place online so that they have proof of ownership in case they ever need to make a claim. He also suggests writing down an inventory. In lieu of storing photos and the inventory list online he suggests using a fire proof safe.

The list should include everything. “Most people think only of the big items,” Gonzalez said, citing televisions or computers as examples. “They don't think of all their other items like utensils or clothes.”

According to Gonzalez, renters who buy a policy should be aware of what situations may or may not be covered. State Farm renters insurance for example, covers water damage due to broken pipes, but not from floods.

In addition to fire, renters insurance could potentially pay for damages due to wind, lightning, smoke, falling objects, vehicle collision, vandalism, and theft among other circumstances.

That there are so many potential situations covered shows just how many ways a renter could lose his or her possession. Deciding to get insurance is a matter of weighing the costs paid up front through a premium, factoring in the potential for damage, and imagining the cost of losing everything in a catastrophe.