Before the Loss: Homeowners and Renters

I recently had the chance to move and with moving comes one of my favorite activities: purging.Now I am not saying my wife and I are hoarders but like everyone, we accumulate a lot of stuff over the years. 

35% of the stuff we had in our home I had either forgot about or most likely wouldn't remember we owned if we suffered a total loss. Why is this a problem? Lets pretend a loss occurs, such as a fire. The insurance adjuster gets in touch with you and wants a list of everything in your home destroyed by the fire. So you start to make a list and before you know it, you have everything you remember down. 

Well a few months down the road you go to use your waffle maker because you love waffles and only make them on special occasions. Problem is you forgot you had a waffle maker that was destroyed in the fire. So instead of enjoying your waffles you become frustrated as this is just one of the several dozen items you forgotabout whilst making your list. 

Since 99% of us will only remember 65% of the stuff we own, I always advise clients to document all that they own, as a way to avoid waffle maker mishaps. 

A few great ways to document what you own:

1) Make an Excel spreadsheet with each item that is in your home. Go room by room and get a good idea of exactly what is in the room and the approximate cost to replace it. If you can, be specific, get the makes and models of items.  Save this file and e-mail it to yourself, this way if your computer is destroyed in the loss, you will still have access to this information. 

2) Take photos of everything you own. This might not mean everything but go to your closet and snap a few photos. Walk around your place and take photos of the rooms from various angles showing all four corners and the room's contents. For higher priced items, such as electronics, appliances, or  furniture make sure you take photos of the brands. Again, e-mail these photos to yourself.

3) Make a video. Walk around the house with your camcorder (they still have those, right?) and capture all of your belongings.  I am sure a lot of people will not use a camcorder, as smartphones are highly capable too, but it is still important to either e-mail yourself this video or store this information in a place protected from potential perils. 

Being prepared with this information before the loss will greatly reduce the stress you might feel after it. 

Have a recommendation for another way to track everything in your home/condo/apartment? Leave a comment.