The dry wind blew in my bedroom as the clock radio (yes I still have one of those) spoke to me this morning. The Santa Barbara County Fire department today declared the 2021 high fire season began May 3, and extra vigilance is required. Forty-seven percent less of our region’s average rainfall during this Pandemic year led to drier fuel, and drier seasonal grasses. As I write this, our fabulous fire department courts on the grant money offered by the State of California to build upon FIRE prevention programs.
Also today I conducted an appraisal in a family home in Montecito where they evacuated during the 2017 Thomas Fire. They returned only to have both the home and collections decimated by the mudslides. The client said, “I WISH I’d made an inventory.”
In the light of the dangerous summer approaching…
I offer you my suggestions for building an inventory of the contents of your home:
Do it this weekend.- Make it easy. Use your smart phone and do a video of each room and narrate the contents.
- Don’t worry too much about finding receipts. If things are LOST in a fire, insurance companies MAY take depreciation (based on the type of insurance) upon the prices paid on your receipts. Just document visually WHAT YOU HAVE NOW. Don’t worry about finding receipts at this POINT, and you can usually find them. This client asked COSTCO for a printout and THEY provided one for a WHOLE year of purchases.
- RECORD the contents of YOUR HOUSE, and augment that recording with still photos. Get yourself or a family member in the PICTURES. Show that you OWN those things….
- Make a digital file and STORE it somewhere where SOMEONE else (your heirs, your attorney, your accountant) has access to it.
- Make sure to include a voice narration and date stamp in your video.
Don’t worry about the stuff in closets and drawers. Open them all, and film a quick view—and take still photos.- Aim for this video and still photography to stand as a “snapshot in time.” Add to it later. Record this suggested TOUR of your house and call it a JOB DONE, for now. If you remember what you paid for things or what you think they are WORTH, recite that on the video.
- Store the video and photos on your computer and offsite. Use Google docs, and of course include receipts, but as I said THOSE aren’t always necessary. Also a cool new app I discovered called AIR TABLE allows you to upload your still photos and descriptions.
- Send this video and still photos to your insurance agent. ASK: do I need RIDER and/or scheduled coverage for the BEST of these things?
A Note About Insurance
Some clients say they’re scared to ask their agents about riders and scheduled coverage because so many of us LOST coverage due to the High Risk of Santa Barbara insurance. I get it, but ask anyway. You’ll feel better knowing your options. If your agent can’t insure things for you on rider coverage, perhaps you can do what I did, have the best things covered by a company such as Chubb, for ONLY the best things.
If You Need Help With Your Inventory
Please let John and I help. John is our staff professional photographer, and he has an inventory system called SMART TAPES, where he documents in high rez all the things you want to insure. He stores it in the CLOUD and on his massive inventory system. If you’re so inclined ask me to come visit and discuss a FORMAL appraisal of your objects.
This isn’t the POINT of this article. I want YOU to make an inventory! I want you to document THIS WEEKEND what you OWN. OK, I talked you out of hiring me, but you’ll be happy you did the inventory for YOURSELF. If you need an appraiser I’m HERE.