Imagine this: today is the day after your apartment caught on fire and you lost most of your possessions – clothes, bedding, TVs and computers, jewelry, or perhaps family heirlooms. You have to purchase replacement items and are wondering how you will afford to re-purchase these items. Your insurance company is willing to reimburse you with the financial value of the items lost but you need to provide a list. Would you have a list of your valuable items ready to provide? Would you be able to create an accurate list in the midst of the already chaotic situation?
Be Prepared For a Property Loss
Disasters happen. While we may not want to think about the potential that one could strike us, we’d be remiss not to plan for one. “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst” may seem like a negative approach to home living, but it’s also a realistic one.
Should you find yourself in an unfortunate situation, having access to thoughtful emergency response plans and recovery solutions will make you better equipped to assess property loss and move forward. To help with that, we want to share some advice on how to do inventory for a property insurance claim.
1. Keep a List
What type of a list? Everything that is important to you and replaceable in the event that it’s all damaged in, say, a flood. We’re talking about serial numbers, equipment models, and even receipts. Of course, the best way to do this is to keep it all digitally, since a hand-written accounting of it all is just as likely to be lost in the same event that takes your belongings. Using a cloud-based service can help you account for everything, so when it comes time to file a claim with your insurance company, you aren’t left scrambling to remember what was there and trying to prove that it was even in the house to begin with.
2. Take Photographic Evidence
It’s also a good idea to regularly take photographs of your home so that you’re able to show insurance companies hard evidence that the items you’re listing on your property insurance claim were not only purchased by you, but that they were in fact stored in your home. Anything you can do to avoid giving your insurance a reason to suggest doubt is going to save you time and energy in the long haul, allowing you to move forward with your life sooner.
3. Record Item Locations
The photographs will help with this, but you’ll also want to have a record of where each important item is. This can help with any potential investigation, leading anyone to where the remnants of said items are.
Additionally, for items that may be damaged but not lost for good, consider working with a company like RestoreCore. They can help you account for salvageable belongings and work to restore those items that don’t have to be lost for good. While it’s essential to know how to do inventory for a property insurance claim, it’s also good to know you have options to help minimize that loss.
Learn more about how disaster preparedness software can help you manage your property. Contact SecureCore at 800-231-1281 and request a software free demonstration today!