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Friday, November 12, 2010

House Insurance and Home Video

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house-insurance-tip
House Insurance, it’s not just about paying your premiums.
A Home Emergency from a house fire, flood water damage, earthquake damage, tornado damage, hurricane damage, or home burglary, begs a form of house insurance.
Even for the fully prepared, having house insurance will usually provide some relief immediately following an emergency, followed by the balance after the full affects of the emergency and damage have been determined and documented.
Most of us know that house insurance is a requirement pretty much everywhere, but how many of us know that paying the house insurance premium is often not enough to ensure that you recover all of your losses?
For example, if your house burned down, do you think that you will actually remember all of the things that were inside? Chances are you will not, especially during the trauma and aftermath of the emergency. You will be in no state of mind to think clearly.
The best way to be sure that your house insurance will pay for your lost items is to have proof that these things were actually there inside your home. The most tedious method is to document all items in a listing (paper or computer record) and keep it off-site or in a very good fire rated safe.
However, since most people do not take the time to list their things, a very simple method is to video document everything in your home. This is so easy that there will be no excuse not to do this once you have read this post. If you don’t have a video camera, then take pictures of everything, and I mean everything.


house-insurance-video-inventory


Be very methodical about the video or picture process so there will be no question regarding your house insurance.
One room at a time, video and pan the entire room, s-l-o-w-l-y. Then, open the closet and do the same. Then, think about contents in drawers or boxes and open each one of them and video document the contents within. Open jewelery boxes, look everywhere, think about anything of value. You will not miss anything so long as you systematically go through each room and every space in the room.
You will be surprised at the countless trinkets and objects that you have tucked away here and there, many of which have worthy tangible value, items that you would probably have forgotten about after-the-fact while trying to document items under stress and pressure for your house insurance claim agent.
Now this is the most important part… when you are done with the documentation, you must secure the documentation from potential damage from the very emergency you have house insurance for.


house-insurance-safe-documentation


If using a video camera with “tape”, or a digital model with a removable storage, simply store the tape or storage medium off-site in a safety deposit box or in your home inside of a good quality Fire-Safe.
If the content is typically downloaded to your computer, then buy yourself a portable USB hard drive to keep a copy of the house insurance video or picture files. Again, don’t leave this in your desk drawer, use a safety-deposit box or good quality home safe.
Protect yourself and avoid conflicts with your house insurance in the unfortunate aftermath of a home emergency.



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1 comment:

  1. Good post, however use something other than a local safety deposit box. If there is a local disaster like an earthquake or tornado, you might not be able to get to your bank/ credit union to get your documentation. Make three copies, 1 give to your agent, 2 gets stored local but off site, 3 gets stored some where else, like an out of town or out of state contact/team/family member.

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