Don't Be Victimized Twice

When our home was robbed in 1996, my husband and I not only had to deal with our own feelings of victimization and violation, we had to rationally explain things to our children and help them regain their sense of security in our home.

The robbery taught our children that bad things happen to good people for no apparent reason. The robbery also taught my husband and me that we weren’t even remotely prepared for anything like this. Being that we’re only human, we forgot several important and expensive things on the claim forms - we didn’t realize this until well after the claim had been settled and there was nothing we could do. We were victimized twice: once by the burglars, and again by our own lack of preparation and foresight.

We had great insurance, but we discovered that that no matter how diligently you review the insurance claim forms, something is bound to be omitted or overlooked. The circumstances are just too stressful to rely on your memory.

In an effort to regain control in our life, I began keeping lists and picture of everything in our house. I also began compiling lists and photos for others. After doing this for over 15 years, I have developed such an efficient and effective system, I have started a business called Home Inventory Experts to help educate people about the importance of keeping an up to date home inventory.

With home burglary rates on the rise once again, we all must take extra precautions to protect our home, our possessions, and most importantly: our families. Homeowners without a current home inventory are betting that after a fire, robbery, or other disaster, they will remember everything they owned.

One of the most important things I have learned is that your insurance coverage is only as good as your ability to accurately file a claim. Here are a couple things to consider when starting your home inventory:

The most important thing you can do is start your inventory! Don’t wait another day. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, inventory one room at a time. I work my way around the room from left to right. Write down and photograph everything. Take note of measurements, serial and model numbers, condition, value, date purchased, and a brief description. Take photographs of several angles of everything including any identifying numbers, features, or marks. Make sure to include receipts of everything – since receipts become less legible over time, I recommend saving receipts in a PDF and including them in your inventory.

Don’t forget the everyday stuff. You will remember the big screen TV and refrigerator, but will you remember everything under the bathroom sink, your sheets and towel sets, or all of your DVDs and CDs or even all of your board games? Will you remember the new bakeware or the license numbers for all of your software? How about your exercise equipment and yard tools? Where would you begin if you had to list all of your holiday decorations?

I know from experience that when you complete home owner insurance claim forms, you aren’t able to think straight and your memory goes down the tubes. Ideally, you should be able to sort your inventory category and room.

I use a database that I wrote specifically that provides reports by category and by room, but a spreadsheet will work fine for the average homeowner. You should be able to cross reference photographs so they can be referenced with each item. If you have TVs in your house, you need to be able to produce accurate descriptions, serial and model numbers, and matching photographs for each item or your inventory is useless.

Equally as important, don’t store your inventory in your house – I store all backups in the safe deposit box and give an extra CD copy that my customers can keep at work, send to a relative out of state, or give to their insurance agent. The important thing is to keep it offsite. Sounds simple right? Of homeowners that have an inventory and of those, less than 25% store their inventory offsite. If you take the time to get an inventory, take a couple extra minutes to protect it. When you protect your inventory, you protect your family.

Taking a full inventory of everything you own can be a daunting task; but after securing your house, this is the fastest way to ensure that if you are victimized, you will be able to get life back on track and focus on your family quickly.