Inventory for Homeowners Insurance

[PRICEPLUS]

How many here have made an inventory of valuables in their homes? In case of fire, flood, or other catastrophe can you prove your losses to your insurance company? Would you even know what your losses were! Would you consider taking a photo of each valuable for insurance purposes?

[sweeps]

Even better, take a video of everything. As you walk around the house, read model and serial numbers out loud. Then keep a copy of the video offsite, like in a safe deposit box or at a relative's house. I've done this, but haven't done it for a while -- need to do it again.

[PRICEPLUS]

I would keep a hard copy as well should the insurance company want a written copy. The insurance folks can drive you crazy at times. The video is an excellent idea! Sweepsplayer you are spot on again in your advice!

[JanH]

A lot of our receipts and records are still in notebooks in a box for hurricane evacuation. But I don't have a lot of pictures or a video. Need to get on that and put that away from the house. Good ideas.

[creditcardfree]

This is a very idea and one that I should definitely do...here's why this is timely for me:

On Monday my parents came to visit me in my new home ( a 2 1/2 hour drive away). They left their house at 8am and arrived back home at 10pm. While they were gone they had a major plumbing problem. Water everywhere. They have a 4000 sq ft home, with damage to 75% of it. They now have to inventory everything that was damaged, while trying to dry out their entire home (with the help of a restoration company).

This is why one has insurance, but the more documentation one can have they better off you will be. The insurance company is going to help them do the inventory for their claim, but receipts of valuable items will be needed.

So...the moral of their story is...turn off your whole house water when gone even for a day and document your household goods and store in a safe deposit box or with a distant relative.

[genmed]

[quote=creditcardfree]This is a very idea and one that I should definitely do...here's why this is timely for me:

On Monday my parents came to visit me in my new home ( a 2 1/2 hour drive away). They left their house at 8am and arrived back home at 10pm. While they were gone they had a major plumbing problem. Water everywhere. They have a 4000 sq ft home, with damage to 75% of it. They now have to inventory everything that was damaged, while trying to dry out their entire home (with the help of a restoration company).

Ouch! I hope things work out for your parents and they didn't lose a lot of priceless treasures (pictures, letters, etc).

Just a general question as far as reciepts for insurance companies -- I had thought about taking pictures of everything and putting it onto CD to store with friends/family as a record -- Will scanned in copies of reciepts generally work for insurance companies?

[creditcardfree]

I would think copies of receipts would work. I suppose the best person to ask would be an insurance agent or claim representative.

[sweeps]

If you have property that is particularly expensive (jewelry, artwork, plasma TV), you'll need an additional rider to make sure they're full covered. A standard homeowners/renters policy only covers each item up to a certain amount ($1,000, for example).

[JanH]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

If you have property that is particularly expensive (jewelry, artwork, plasma TV), you'll need an additional rider to make sure they're full covered. A standard homeowners/renters policy only covers each item up to a certain amount ($1,000, for example).

This is a good idea. We have a separate rider for musical instruments since DS is a music major and owns several--one very expensive-- plus amps, and cases and whatall and it adds up to a whole lot of money. We crack up the insurance people every time we amend that thing. Plus the riders aren't that expensive.

[PauletteGoddard]

What would be helpful here would be links to shareware or freeware that allows one to categorize and record household assets.

Now that my contract is ending, I will have some time to make an inventory of our assets -- it's one of the goals I have for the year.