An inventory equals less stress

Experiencing a disaster is horrible enough! Now, think of the aftermath when you’ll be asked to list everything, room by room, that was damaged or destroyed. Consider if you’ll be able to work through the stress and negative emotions to do that. Most people realize that they face the possibility of a fire, tornado, theft or other disaster. Unfortunately few have a thorough inventory of their belongings which results in a lower settlement than they expected.

Financials aside, the emotional stress you would experience is something few people think about until it’s too late. Without looking around, take a moment to list everything in the room. Now try to do that for all of your home’s contents. Impossible! Now think of how difficult it would be if you were not in familiar surroundings and under the stress of just experiencing a disaster. It can take months to list everything you own(ed), and you are in limbo while compiling this information.

Once funds are received, will your claim be sufficient enough to fully recover? Many disaster victims state that they forgot thousands of dollars worth of items. According to the National Insurance Industry, policy holders who have a thorough inventory not only receive faster results when filing a claim, they also receive greater settlements. If you don’t remember what you own, you won’t request replacement; thus, you won’t fully recover. And for high-dollar items, you will most likely be required to show proof of ownership (i.e., big screen TV).

Most people agree it is important, but few have this documentation. Reasons cited for not maintaining a personal property inventory are that are people are too busy, it takes too long, they don’t know how, or realize they will not keep it up to date if they do create one.

If you are in one of these categories, seek the assistance of a professional to provide the service for you. Verify they are bonded and insured. In addition to the inventory service, the provider should also include secure backup of your records and a process in place to update your records annually. Without the updates, the report will be outdated very quickly. The cost of a professionally documented inventory is minor compared to the loss you could encounter!