Cataloging a Home Can Save You Big Time

Cataloging a home and its possessions can be an important task for a variety of reasons, and it is an activity that shouldn't be delayed. While we found ourselves busy upon the arrival to our first home, I still made time -- although a bit later than I'd hoped -- to sufficiently catalog our home and the majority of our possessions.

It didn't take nearly as long as I expected, and while I probably worry more than many homeowners, I found it provided some nice peace-of-mind knowing that should something occur that involved filing a police report or insurance claim, I had a video that documented our holdings safely stashed away in our safe deposit box.

How I Cataloged

It wasn't as difficult as I thought to catalog and document our possessions and property. I simply used my video camera and did a sort of slow walking tour through our home. As I went, I did a general inventory of furniture, antiques, valuables, and other items, commenting with as much information as I could about higher value possessions. I also made sure to get shots of our home's interior, exterior, and surrounding grounds.

Even for those people without a video camera, a digital or even regular camera can work to document your valuables in the event that a disaster should claim them or do damage to them or other property. And even if you don't have a camera of your own, a disposable camera and a list of possessions and collections, associated values, serial numbers, makes, models, and ages could help you should you have to file an insurance claim for the loss of such items.

When complete, I put the inventory disk in our bank safe deposit box, since it wouldn't do me much good if our home burned down and all that remained was a melted disk.

A House

As I mentioned earlier, my cataloging and documenting process for our home didn't take that long -- maybe 20 minutes at most. While I probably wasn't as thorough as some, I made a pretty good inventory of the majority of our noteworthy possessions (noting and giving special attention to certain antiques and collections) as well as documenting our home (the interior and exterior of the structure itself), as well as the fence, garage, and even trees.

Not only was this inventory nice to have in the event of a disaster or accident in which we might have to file an insurance claim, but it was also a good 'before and after' record to have on hand for resale purposes, insurance or appraisal values, and just our own personal memories.

Apartment or Rental Property

Making a catalog of personal possessions and property might not seem as important when living in an apartment or rental property since you likely won't have any investment in the actual property. However, documenting your possessions and even the property itself can still be a good idea.

Should you have a flood or fire, you might have to file a claim through your renters' insurance, and being able to document possible hazards on the property could help you avoid liability should an accident occur due to an issue with the property that was beyond your personal control.

Having a record that shows a property's condition upon your arrival can also help protect you upon your departure if the property owner claims you've damaged or altered the property in any way. Having a time-stamped record of issues or damage that was there upon your arrival can help back up your story if a landlord attempts to charge you for or withhold a security deposit because of damages for which he or she says you are responsible.

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Disclaimer:

The author is not a licensed financial professional. The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Any action taken by the reader due to the information provided in this article is solely at the reader's discretion.