Take inventory of your valuables

By David Colman Special Columnist
Sunday, November 25, 2007

Can you name all the valuables in your home? You might remember Grandma Betty's pearls and the antique dresser in the foyer, but what about the make and model of the kids' computer? Or how much would it cost to replace all the tools in the garage?

An inventory of your belongings is vital if you have homeowner's or renter's insurance and you want to recover your losses from a fire, tornado, flood or burglary.

Just ask the 1,800 homeowners and renters in the Southern California hills devastated by the recent brush fires, or the victims of the tornadoes that have ravaged the Southern and Mid-Western states this year.

A detailed home inventory should include an itemized description of your belongings room-by-room and photos or video of the items in each room.

Home inventory software is available free from the Georgia Insurance Information Service at www.giis.org. Find the blue button on the left side of the screen, click on the "download" button and follow the directions.

After the software is installed, a separate section can be created for each room in your home. Identify each item and fill in the information about its description, initial cost, where purchased and manufacturer, make and model and serial numbers, if possible. After your items are entered, you also can add digital pictures of each item.

At the low end of the technology scale, just use a note pad and list each room.
Then list columns with the same headings as discussed in the inventory program.
Remember to take pictures all the way around the outside of your home to document how the building looked before the incident so it can be rebuilt the way it was.

Under a renter's or homeowner's policy, your belongings can be covered in two ways: actual cash value or replacement cost. There is a significant difference between the two.

ACTUAL CASH VALUE is less expensive when purchasing your policy, but each item claimed in your loss is depreciated based on its age and condition. For instance, your reimbursement for a 5-year-old 26-inch TV would be pennies on the dollar.

REPLACEMENT COST COVERAGE would allow the policyholder to replace the item and then be reimbursed by the insurer for its cost.

David Colmans is the executive director of the Georgia Insurance Information Service, a nonprofit, nonlobbying trade association of property and casualty insurers doing business in Georgia. Contact him at dcolmans@giis.org.

From the Monday, November 26, 2007 edition of the Augusta Chronicle