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How You Can Keep Your Home Insurance Rock Solid with a Current Home Inventory

Posted in: Home Insurance Articles

By Anthony M. Peck
Jun 22, 2009 - 10:32:29 AM

How You Can Keep Your Home Insurance Rock Solid with a Current Home Inventory

Do you know how much your home's worth?

Do you know everything you own? Can you name it, describe what it looks like and what it's made of? More importantly, do you have any idea how much the contents of your home are worth? Probably not. Most of us acquire so much "stuff" over the years that we don't even know what we own, much less how much it's (realistically) going to cost to replace it. But if your home insurance is going to quickly put your home, and your life, back together after a fire it's going to be important that you do exactly that.

That's why you need to keep a current home inventory.

When you first go hunting for home insurance quotes your insurance provider is going to ask you to list out a "guesstimate" of what you own and how much it's worth. This is important! The more your home's contents are worth the more expensive your insurance premiums are going to be. BUT you don't want to just take a guess and hope you've got it right. Whatever you've listed on your insurance policy is exactly what your insurance company is going to help you replace-and not a penny more.

Hint: The best time to make a video or photo log is when you're packing or unpacking to settle in to your new home. Write down what it is, where you bought it, when you bought it, any serial numbers you see and how much it cost.

There are a few tricks you can use to keep an accurate and current home inventory. First, take plenty of pictures. The best way to keep track of exactly what you own (and make an accurate list of exactly what it's worth) is to keep a photo or video log. Put those photo into a book with a listing of the item and its approximate purchase price.

If you can, experts recommend that you try to keep track of the serial numbers for your big ticket items, such as your radios, televisions, furniture and other electronics. There are some things, like artwork, that are going to appreciate rather than depreciate, and you're going to want to keep a separate listing of those. In fact, some home insurance companies may even require you to insure these items separately, so make sure you know what your policy covers.

Pro Tip: Don't forget your closets! It's easy to catch all of these things when you're packing or unpacking, but not so easy to remember when they've been hiding in the back of your closet for years. And don't forget to add new items to your log when you buy them. The last thing you want is to have to replace your $2,000 bed out of pocket because you forgot to add it to your insurance.

With an accurate home inventory you're going to be protected if anything happens to your home, because your home insurance will be able to accurately reimburse you for your loss and give you the resources you need to start putting your home back together quickly. The whole reason you bought home insurance in the first place was to protect yourself from disaster, but your insurer can't protect you if you don't give them the information you need.

So pull out your digital camera and get cracking!