Home Inventory – Take Pictures and Video
Would you be able to remember all of your possessions accumulated over many years if your home was destroyed in a fire? If a pipe burst and filled your basement with water would you be able to add up the value of the items ruined?
Orcutt Insurance Group recommends that all of its Colorado and Denver based homeowners insurance clients create an up-to-date inventory of the possessions contained in their home and we hope ;they never have to use it. There are a few reasons for the list including: to ensure you are properly reimbursed when you file a claim, to make certain you are properly insured for value of your possessions, verify losses for income tax purposes, and to speed up the claim process.
Below we want to provide a few tips for creating a home inventory that we hope you will find useful.
- Ideally you will want to create a list that contains description of each item, date purchased, purchase amount, and any other relevant information. We understand that this can be a daunting task but an incomplete list is better than no list at all. Start with the expensive items then work your way down.
- If you can, do an inventory room by room. Don’t forget to include hallways and closets. This will break up the process and keep the list organized.
- Some big ticket items, jewelry for example, may need to be insured separately or properly accounted for in the policy. We suggest making a separate list of these items and check with Orcutt Insurance Group to make sure they are adequately insured under your policy.
- Don’t forget clothes, dishes, and other items that may be easily missed or not thought of.
- We highly recommend that you take photos of big ticket items and every room in the house.
- If possible walk through your house and photo or video tape each room. This may seem a bit overboard but come claim time it will help to trigger your memory of items that may have been overlooked.
- Once every 6 or 12 months please update your inventory. Even better if you can keep a list of newly purchased items that includes a description, date purchased and purchase amount it will help to keep your list up to date.
- Lastly, please store the list at your place of business, a safe deposit box or electronically. The list does no good if you kept it in the now flooded basement.
The Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Society has an informational page that offers more details on creating a home inventory. It also includes links to a home inventory word document and software that will help guide you as you create the inventory. The link is below:
http://www.rmiia.org/homeowners/Walking_Through_Your_Policy/Home_Inventory.asp
If you have any questions or need anything please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your consideration.
The Orcutt Group Team