An Easy-to-Follow Guide to Home Inventory List

Condo insurance, tenant insurance, and home insurance are all vital purchases no matter where it is that you live. These policies are critical for your peace of mind, ensuring that you, your family, and your personal belongings are protected. If you ever have to file a claim (although we sincerely hope you never do!), did you know that having a detailed home inventory list can expedite the process of receiving your settlement? Consider the following.

A cooking fire rapidly grows out of control and burns up a portion of your kitchen, including your shelves, décor, towels, and more. These items are fully destroyed. You file a home insurance claim, and your insurance provider asks for a receipt or photographic evidence of the items pre-fire. If you had created a detailed home inventory list with evidence of these items before the loss occurred, you could more effectively determine the overall value of what was lost. This ensures that you receive a more accurate settlement and can easily verify what was lost.

Why a “home inventory” list?

Whether you live in an apartment, a condo, or a house, having a home inventory that documents all your belongings is incredibly beneficial. You never know when disaster might strike – from fire to flood to unexpected break-ins. Accidents like these could be a huge wake-up call for how much your home, apartment, or condo’s contents were worth.

So, why a home inventory list? Well, because it can expedite the claims’ process. When you file a claim, it’s worthwhile to show this documented home inventory list to your broker or provider to help remove any guesswork from the final assessment. Even a rough estimate is better than no estimate at all.

How to make a home inventory list

Making a home inventory list is essentially a process of going through every room in your home, condo, or apartment and documenting each possession. This way, you can verify what was lost. For recent items, this could be receipts. Especially in the case of higher-value items, you may wish to keep receipts to verify a more exact value. This includes electronics, appliances, and so on. You also may want to create a spreadsheet so that you can check off every item.

You may want to print off the IBC’s property inventory checklist to document every item more accurately. When you are done, you’d be surprised at how much the total estimated value of your possessions is worth altogether. Bills, warranties, instruction manuals, and receipts are all valid documentation for any of your belongings.

For items that you’ve had longer, which you may no longer have a receipt for, you can take digital photos or videos. Use a colour camera or a digital camera that has a flash, and be sure to label every photo and/or video with the date that you took them. If you can, put a family member in the photo to further prove your ownership. Take pictures indoors and fan out your contents. For more expensive belongings, take a picture of the brand name, manufacturer signature, or other more specific indicators.

Ensure that your list includes images of any expensive appliances or power tools. Don’t forget about the basement and attic! When you are finished, you may want to back up the digital images of these photos on a drive or cloud-based storage. When you are uploading these, be sure to include a description of the item, the model and serial number, digital photo, date of purchase, and total amount paid (as well as any receipts, bills, warranties, or otherwise – if applicable) and the estimated replacement cost if you were forced to purchase a new one with today’s current market.

Keep in mind that you should add on any new purchases when you make them to your total list! This will ensure that your existing insurance coverage is always sufficient to cover a loss, and it ensures that your list is consistently accurate.

About the claims process –

While making a home inventory list is helpful in assisting the claims’ process and giving you (and your provider) a better estimate of how much your possessions are worth, it also helps to see how your insurance provider handles the claims process. Call up your insurance provider or broker to discuss how claims will be handled if you ever need to file a claim. This can ensure that the process goes smoother if you do ever need to make a claim, especially as accidents can be jarring and we’re rarely in the best state-of-mind when they do happen. Make sure that you ask your provider or broker what they will need from you in order to determine a full and thorough assessment of your possessions.

Although we hope you never do have to make a claim, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Hopefully, this guide has given you some insight on what to do in the event of a claim and how to prepare yourself for the unexpected with a detailed home inventory list.