As responsible homeowners, we all have insurance policies that are designed to cover our homes and their contents. However, it’s not enough to just have a homeowners insurance policy. You’ll need to ensure that your policy coverage matches the value of your home and its contents.
Are you 100% sure of what’s in your home, as well as the value of those items? If not, it may be time to conduct a ‘home inventory list.’
A home inventory can do two things for you:
- In the event of a disaster that is covered under your particular policy (e.g, burglary, wild fire or house fire), you may need to file an insurance claim. Having a home inventory can help your claim move along a lot more quickly and smoothly.
- Not only does having an inventory of the contents of your home help in the event that you need to file an insurance claim, it can also help you to figure out how much insurance you actually need to purchase in the first place.
There are a few different methods that you can use to conduct your inventory.
Record a Video
Begin at one end of your home and take a video of all your possessions. You don’t need a professional video camera for this. The camera on your cell phone will work just fine. While recording, talk through what you are seeing on the video. If you can remember where/when each item was purchased, note that as well. Be sure to open closets, cabinets and any other place that valuable items are stored. If your home includes a garage, basement or attic, you’ll want to take a video inventory of those areas as well.
Keep your video safe by uploading it to a flash drive and keeping it in a fire proof safe or safety deposit box. You could also consider loading the video to Google Drive and/or Dropbox, so it is saved in the cloud.
Take Photos
Go through your home one room at a time and take photos of each area of the room. Pay particular attention to valuable items, and take separate photos of each one. Be sure that you are getting clear photos that show each item in full.
You can then print your photos out and notate any important information on the back of each photo. Or, you can choose to upload your photos to a flash drive and keep it in your fire proof safe or safety deposit box—or in the cloud online.
Receipts
Remember to keep receipts for any valuable items that you may purchase. This can serve as proof as to the value of each item. You can take photographs of the receipts and upload them to your flash drive or to the cloud online, and/or you can keep hard copies of your receipts in your fire-proof safe or safety deposit box.
*Please contact your insurance agent to find out their particular policies regarding documentation.
