Home inventories and proving what you owned

Contents claims are settled on what you can substantiate. Adjusters are not doubting you; they are following a process that requires documentation.

People who lose everything and have no inventory routinely recover substantially less than their coverage would have allowed.

Why memory fails

Try listing the contents of one kitchen drawer without looking. Now do it for an entire house, from a hotel room, three days after a fire.

Studies of contents claims consistently find that claimants without documentation list a fraction of what they actually owned.

The items forgotten are the ordinary ones — linens, kitchen equipment, tools, cleaning supplies, seasonal decorations, books, the contents of the garage — which collectively represent a large share of the value.

The video method

The fastest approach and adequate for most purposes.

Walk through the house with a phone recording video, narrating what things are as you go.

Open every cupboard, closet, drawer and cabinet. Film inside them.

Include the garage, basement, attic, shed and any storage unit.

For anything significant, pause and film it closely, including model numbers and serial numbers.

Narrate details — brand, approximate age, what you paid if you remember.

An hour for an average house.

The written inventory

More work, more useful at claim time.

By room, list items with: description, brand and model, quantity, approximate purchase date, purchase price, and current replacement cost.

Spreadsheets work. Several inventory apps exist and are convenient.

The replacement cost column is what matters for a replacement cost policy, and researching it at leisure is far easier than doing it under pressure.

The items that need special attention

Policies impose sublimits on certain categories regardless of the overall contents limit.

Commonly limited: jewelry and watches, particularly for theft; furs; silverware and goldware; firearms; cash; collectibles and fine art; business property; and electronics in some policies.

For anything in these categories exceeding the sublimit, scheduling is required — listing the item specifically on the policy, usually with an appraisal.

Scheduled items generally receive broader coverage, frequently including mysterious disappearance, and often without a deductible.

Get appraisals for jewelry, art and collectibles, and update them periodically since values change.

Documentation to keep alongside

Receipts for significant purchases.

Appraisals for valuables.

Photographs of serial numbers on electronics, appliances and tools.

Original packaging photographs where available.

Manuals and warranty documents, which establish model numbers.

Credit card and bank statements, which are a fallback source of purchase evidence — worth knowing, since these can be obtained after a loss.

Where to store it

Not in the house.

Cloud storage is the obvious answer. Email it to yourself. Store a copy with a family member or in a safe deposit box.

An inventory that burns with the house has accomplished nothing.

Updating it

Annually, or after significant purchases.

A short update — film the new items, add them to the list — takes minutes.

Also update it after selling or disposing of significant items, so the inventory reflects reality.

How it is used at claim time

The insurer will request a proof of loss listing damaged and destroyed property.

With an inventory, this becomes a matter of identifying what was lost from an existing list and researching current replacement costs.

Without one, it becomes weeks of recalling and arguing.

Note also that under a replacement cost policy, the insurer typically pays actual cash value first and releases the recoverable depreciation once items are actually replaced and documented.

Which means keeping receipts for replacement purchases as well.

The coverage limit check

Building the inventory has a secondary benefit: it tells you whether your contents limit is adequate.

Contents coverage is frequently set as a percentage of the dwelling limit — commonly fifty to seventy percent — rather than calculated from actual contents.

Households with substantial possessions, collections, tools or equipment frequently find they are underinsured once they add it up.

Adjusting the limit is generally inexpensive relative to the exposure.

The afternoon

Video walkthrough. Note the valuables that need scheduling. Photograph serial numbers. Upload it all to cloud storage. Check the contents limit against the total.

Three or four hours, once, updated briefly each year, and the difference at claim time is measured in tens of thousands of dollars.

General information about insurance concepts, not insurance advice. Sublimits, scheduling requirements and settlement provisions vary by policy. Read your own policy and consult a licensed agent.