Why You Should Have One and How it’s Done.
Imagine arriving at your residence to see your home engulfed in flames or losing all of your prized possessions due to flooding. Your furniture, electronics, everything you’ve worked hard to obtain over the years including old photographs – completely gone or irreparable. The thought of it is daunting. Would you be able to afford everything you’ve lost? Hopefully, you would have previously invested in quality Home and Contents insurance that would help you to replace some of the items you lost.
While the extent of damage may be preventable to an extent, one key measure that is beneficial is to set aside some time to put together a home inventory. A home inventory is simply a comprehensive report of your possessions which includes detailed photos of the personal property in and around your home along with their estimated financial value.
Creating and updating an inventory of your personal possessions is one of the best ways to make the most of your homeowners or renters insurance, and makes filing a claim easier and more efficient.
This simple act can save you the distress of having to recall every item and its respective value. An up-to-date home inventory will:
You can create such an inventory in a simple, low tech manner by writing down everything in a notebook and keeping receipts in a folder. Or you can take advantage of technology and use a digital camera or smart phone to take pictures and/or videotape your belongings in order to have a visual record. There are several home inventory apps that enable you to create and maintain an inventory on a computer or mobile device. Consider using the free app Encircle which is available for both iOS and Android devices. You can add notes and details plus it allows video. It organizes all your insurance information as well, and you can download reports.
An up-to-date home inventory will:
- Help you purchase the right amount and type of insurance. Having an accurate list of all your possessions allows you to have a more productive conversation with your insurance agent or company representative when making decisions about homeowners or renters insurance coverage. After all, if you don’t know what you have, how can you insure it adequately?
- Make filing a claim as simple as possible. Most people cannot remember what they had for lunch much less recall the contents of their living room, kitchen cabinets or downstairs closet after a fire, storm or other catastrophe. Disasters are scary and stressful, which can make trying to list damaged property for a claims form even more challenging.
- Substantiate financial losses for tax purposes or when applying for financial assistance. Following a catastrophe, the only way to determine whether you may qualify for a tax break or disaster assistance is to substantiate your financial losses. A well-organized home inventory can be an extremely useful tool in this process.
How to do your Home Inventory
Set aside a day of un-interruption to go through your house and assemble all the information for your Home inventory project. The first time you do this may take several hours, however, once it is set up, maintaining it will be a breeze.
Gather these items before you start:
- File folder
- USB drive (optional)
- Receipts of purchases
- Model/serial numbers (if available)
- Purchase date
- Description of an item
- Total estimated value of purchases
- Smartphone or camera
Download our free Home Inventory Checklist here or use a Home Inventory app.
Create a file folder labelled “Home Inventory”. Dig up as many receipts and warranty papers you can find and file them and every time you make a purchase for your home, file the receipt away.
Using your smart phone, video your entire property, inside and out. Mention the date as you are making the video. Walk slowly, filming and zooming in on smaller items even old photographs remembering to capture items in drawers, cabinets, cases and under the bed. This will help with insurance issues in the event of a disaster or emergency in your area.
Also remember to document valuable intangible items such as important documents, your passwords, personal identification etc. These intangible items normally don’t have a value attached to them and are often hard to replace. Scan, video or photograph these items and either upload to the cloud or back up to an external hard drive.
No matter how you choose to do it, the important thing is to take action: create a home inventory and update it when you make major purchases.
Source: Home Inventory: Protecting Your Home Contents. http://yourcoloradospringshouse.com/home-inventory/