Taking care of your property doesn’t start and end with acquiring property insurance. You should always make a property insurance inventory list. That way, if an unfortunate event occurs, you and your insurance company will have an accurate and detailed inventory of your possessions. This will also help the insurance company to give you a more accurate replacement value for your personal property. The first step is to list down everything you own, starting from the most valuable such as jewelry, furniture, etc. Take pictures and make a video of your inventory as well. This will help to validate your claim. It’s easier to claim that you have a 2-karat diamond necklace if you have a video and photo of it. Next, make an estimate of how much these items cost. Keep it real, and don’t forget that some items can appreciate in value while some items depreciate. It would also help if you keep the sales receipts of the items you’ve bought. Finally, store your inventory list, along with the photos and videos, in a safe place, away from your home. You can also give a copy to your insurance agent for safe-keeping.
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Finding cheap house insurance is easier if you know what you are looking for. It also depends upon whether you want buildings insurance, contents insurance or both. If you are looking to take out both building and contents insurance then the cheapest way to do it is to take out a joint policy with the same company. Most companies offer discounts if you use them for more than one type of policy.
The main thing that will affect the cost of your insurance is what you want covering. If you take out contents insurance do you want to cover everything in the home? If you take out cover for every single item that you own then it could add up to quite a lot of money! However, if you choose to only insure your most expensive items then that could lower your quote. It would be a good idea to go through your belongings and see which things would be the hardest to replace if anything were to happen. Generally computers, audio equipment and televisions are the most expensive to replace.
Any extras that you want insuring will also obviously higher your insurance quote. If you just take out basic insurance covering flood, fire and theft damage then your quote will be the lowest on offer. However if you want accidental damage, replacement door locks in the event of lost keys, or insurance in case you need to stay somewhere else whilst repairs are being made then it will cost you extra.
Did you know that there is actually a chance that one can spend less money for home insurance? All you have to do is review your policy when there are big changes in your dear home. You can do this once annually. It is about time that you evaluate if the expensive fur coat that your relative gave you is as expensive as the original price.
You can also lessen your coverage with the same percentage. This will happen if the coverage decreased in value. It will be a big help to you in terms of saving and at the same time maintaining your coverage.
by: Christine Zafra
The promise of getting something in return if you invest in home insurance policy blinds us of the negative aspects of these policies. It is true that you will have something and you will not be totally broke if something unexpected happens to your house. But the process of getting it is not that easy. In order to claim it, companies require you some proof, showing the worth of your property. But what if your list or video or pictures got burned too? What will happen to you? What will they ask from you now? Testimonies of people who have visited your house/apartment/condo stating all the properties you have in that structure? Buying the policy is easy, but claiming it is not.
Photo taken from http://aggiefamilypack.ucdavis.edu
Do you know what a home inventory is? It is a detailed list of the personal property found in your home. It also includes the contents of your other home property in another location. The list is usually comprised of the different kinds of carpets, computer equipments, furniture, jewelries, art pieces and even snow equipment tools. Why do we need to have a list of proper inventory? It is really needed so that just in case any of your prized possessions is damaged, you will be required to recall the price of that item. If you dont have a proper inventory prepare, that will be a burden for you to find the price of the item later on.
