A haze of smoke and alarms sounding

A fire victim’s experience provides some insight of how important it is to have an inventory AND to keep it secured off site.

After 10 years of marriage, he and his wife purchased the house they planned to stay in for many years to follow. It’s a beautiful house with a touch of charming local history and plenty of breathing room for their four growing boys. As a child, his wife actually dreamed of owning the place!

Two months later, they woke in a haze of smoke with alarms sounding. Though the family escaped unharmed, an electrical fire left the basement completely burned out while the rest of the home and personal belongings were affected by heat, smoke and water damage. They are responsible people who were fully insured. In fact, most of their belongings were documented on a written report and also videotaped. Unfortunately, the documentation and backups were temporarily stored in their home due to the recent move.

The outcome of their insurance claim was somewhat unusual in that they recovered more than 90 cents on the dollar (most victims state they recover between 30% and 50%). But the claim required more than 5 hours of work per day, 7 days a week, for 16 months. The process left them, in his words, “burned out” as well!

This shows how important it is to have an inventory - just the financial recovery is worth the time and effort, and makes it obvious how easy it is to see the ROI when using an inventory service to do the job for you. Then, consider the amount of time and emotion it took to complete the claim.

(Thanks to Scott Shearin of New Media Marketing - (317) 506-0878 for sharing this story!)