When purchasing home insurance or condo insurance, you’ll eventually be asked to place a value on the entire contents of your home. Many homeowners don’t often have a definitive answer because they have never taken the time to figure it out. Most homeowner’s policies allocate either a set amount to cover contents or use a percentage of the cost of rebuilding the home. However, before finalizing your policy, do the arithmetic needed to determine whether the contents insurance coverage is sufficient. Think about all of the items in your home you would need to replace and then put a price on them. Even if you don’t own many high-value items such as jewelry, electronics, or artwork, the total may be surprisingly higher than you thought.
Make a List
Take an hour and go through your home, room by room, to make a list of all of the things that you would need or want to replace if your home were completely destroyed. Keep that list in a safe place so that if you ever need it you won’t face the painful task of making it after the fact. What should you include on your list? Well, pretty much everything.
If It’s Not Nailed Down
The contents of your home include everything you would take with you if you were moving. List every piece of furniture, kitchen items, books, toys, and clothing. Also include items like bedding, towels, everything in your basement, closets, stored in the attic, and in the garage and shed. Don’t forget the barbeque, any outdoor furniture, and landscaping tools.
List the More Permanent Items
Even the items that would typically stay if you moved need to be included in your contents. For example, list the kitchen appliances, washer and dryer, air conditioning units, the furnace, light fixtures, and window coverings. These are items that you would certainly need to replace, and the cost can add up quickly!
Expensive Stuff
Your insurance provider may have a threshold for the maximum value of any individual item on your list. Items worth more than the threshold—typically jewelry, artwork, or antique items—will be listed in your policy as scheduled personal property. In some cases, they may not be replaceable but still have great value and should be included. List these items and their values separately. Keep the receipts if you purchased the items yourself; otherwise, you may need to get an appraisal to get a realistic estimate of the worth of heirlooms and antiques.
Creating a list and valuing your home’s contents is a wise step to take before purchasing home contents insurance, condo insurance, or renters’ insurance. The cost of replacing everything in your life may in fact be much higher than you thought. So, make the list today, revise it now and then, and keep it in a safe place in case you should ever need it.
We can help you find the right insurance provider and policy to protect your home. Call us, and let’s talk!
