A Home Inventory For Home Insurance
If you own a house, then homeowners insurance is a necessity. Homeowners insurance provides you protection in case you experience property damage or in the event of some type of liability. The purpose of insurance is to make you whole after a loss and homeowners insurance is a vital piece of making sure you are made whole. After some losses, it is quite easy to determine what needs to be done to help make you whole. If a window or your roof is damaged by a storm, then it is fairly easy to know what needs to be replaced. But, what happens if you have an insurance claim that damages the contents of your house and not just the structure? What happens if you suffer a fire or flood and it’s hard to even tell what was in the house? In these instances, it helps to have a home inventory.
What is a Home Inventory?
A home inventory is a list of your personal possessions and their value. A home inventory is a vital part of making sure you have the right type of insurance coverage with your homeowners policy or renters insurance policy. Having a complete list of the contents of your home and their values will help you understand how much coverage you need for personal property. Not only is a home inventory helpful in selecting the best coverage for your home and your possessions, but it also helps if you file an insurance claim. Having a complete and up-to-date home inventory will make insurance claims go much smoother and be resolved more quickly. Experiencing a loss can be scary and frustrating. Having your home inventory will help make sure an already stressful situation does not become even more stressful. Here are some helpful tips for making a home inventory …
Show, Don’t Tell
A home inventory can be as simple as a written list of items in your home with their values. This is a simple approach and it will be sure to make filing a homeowners insurance claim easier. However, you can improve your home inventory by adding images and videos. Go through each room of your house while using the video on your phone. Take a video of each item while you narrate for the camera. List the specific item, its brand, and its value. If you do not want to make a video, then simply take pictures of each item and provide a description. If you want help organizing your video or photo home inventory, download one of the many fantastic home inventory apps that are available. These apps help you organize your photos, videos, and items, along with letting you know what details to include about each one.
Keep Redundant Copies of the Home Inventory
Storing multiple versions of your home inventory in different formats is always a good idea. When disaster strikes and you need to file a homeowners insurance claim, you want to have easy access to the inventory. First, it is a great idea to have a physical copy of the inventory. It is always good to store this copy offsite in a safety deposit box or in a fireproof safe. Second, you will want to have digital copies of your inventory. Storing a digital copy on a cloud-based service, such as Google Drive or Dropbox, will allow you to access the inventory no matter where you are. Even if your entire residence is destroyed along with all of your contents, you will have access to the digital inventory to help move your claims process along.
Inventory Along the Way
The easiest way to have a complete inventory is to make it a consistent part of your routine. If you move residences, complete the inventory as you are unpacking. Everytime you make a purchase, add it to the inventory. Getting used to adding to your inventory everytime you bring a new item into your home will make it more likely that there will not be any gaps in your list of contents. Additionally, it will make it much easier to have complete information. It can be difficult to keep track of lots of different receipts. However, if you snap a photo of the receipt at the same time you update your inventory, you will have all of the important information in one place.
Final Thoughts
Losing a home and all of your personal items is a traumatic experience. Thankfully, having home insurance with a quality carrier can ease the pain and replace what you’ve lost. While insurance is always there to make you whole after a loss, making the claims process as easy as possible is always a good idea. There is no reason to add additional stress to an already stressful situation. Making an up-to-date home inventory is a great way to make sure your home insurance coverage is complete and that you will have the protection you need. If you have questions about making a home inventory or about homeowners insurance coverage, contact us. The insurance professionals at Streamline Insurance can help find you a policy that will give you the coverage you need at a price that works for your budget.
