The Basics of Home Inventory

It's been a while since I have spent any time reviewing the basic justification for a home inventory, and I know that we have a lot of new readers that haven't heard an explanation of what I do or what the home inventory industry is all about.

Let me start off by saying that home inventory goes hand in glove with good homeowners insurance coverage. I'd go so far as to say that one is incomplete without the other. Most of us have mortgages and are required to carry "hazard" insurance (Hazard is the mortgage industry's term for homeowners policies, and can include homeowners, condo-unitowners, or rental dwelling coverage depending on the occupancy of the home), but no one requires you to have a home inventory. Until, that is, you have a claim.

Claims adjusters require the completion of personal property inventory forms in order to settle those types of claims. Even if you have suffered a total loss and everything is gone, you will more than likely have to start completing these forms and continue until you reach your coverage amount (usually 70% of your dwelling, but varies from one company to another). It takes weeks or months to remember everything that you own, especially if your pictures, videos, or other documentation is destroyed in the loss. Our memories just aren't that good.

Home inventory solves this problem. A home inventory is a detailed list of all the items you own, and usually includes photographs of each item. We like to call it your life-collection. You can complete a home inventory on your own, or you can have an inventory professional like Farley Home Services do this for you.

Every insurance carrier suggests that you complete a home inventory and update it regularly. (Here are links to Allstate, State Farm, Farmers, and Nationwide's discussions of this need.) Your insurance carrier wants you to have a detailed inventory so that they can fairly reimburse you for your loss. (Most of us are under-insured when it comes to personal property, by the way.) If you have no inventory, you have a lot of work to do, and you may lose a year of your life in the pursuit of your claim. Do you have that time to spend?

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home Services, a home inventory documentation service based in Murfreesboro, TN. Visit his company's site at EverySingleItem.com for more information.