Most homeowners fall short when they have to put in a claim for personal property that is either damaged or stolen. It’s understandable. Most of us have a lot of “stuff” in our homes and its spread all over the place. But what happens if you have a claim and all your stuff is smoke damaged, water damaged or burned up? And, even if it’s not a major event like a fire how do you prove your ownership of the new computer in your son’s room or the sewing machine you gave your wife last week that was just stolen by a burglar while you were at the movies?
Three things to do.
One: Take your Smart Phone and create an album in photos for pictures of your home. Start by standing in the center of each room and take four pictures. One in each direction. In the kitchen open the cabinets and drawers and take photos of the contents. Do the same thing in bedrooms with closets and dresser drawers. In the bathroom take a photo of what’s in the medicine cabinet, in the drawers and under the sink.
Two: As you buy new large or expensive items take a photo of the item and the receipt.
Three: Set a calendar reminder to take new pictures once a year.
We recommend you save these pictures to cloud type storage as well. If your cell phone is lost, damaged or stolen, you have not also lost these valuable pictures.
This is simple, not too time consuming and it will save you so many headaches if you ever need to file a claim.
Contributed by Victoria Sutherland, Licensed Insurance Agent