Northeast Tarrant County Real Estate Experts

San Diego Real Estate, Why Spending As Little As $149 Could Save You Thousands $$

I was reviewing my home replacement policy insurance and ever since the wild fires that struck here in 2007, once a year I video tape my home and all the contents through out the house. Inside of drawers, storage area, closets, clothes, shoes, under sink art work on walls, cabinets, garage, etc to record the contents of the house accurately.

There are a number of inexpensive hand held video recorders on the market ( I use the FLIP video recorder) and having one could save you thousands of dollars in losses of your home contents that you may not be able prove otherwise existed . With home insurance costs what they are, it is important to buy home replacement insurance and also to be able to prove possessions should you have a catastrophic loss of your home. If you have the right insurance that takes care of replacement costs, how will prove your contents. WILL YOU REMEMBER EVERYTHING?

Insurance companies have a specified coverage formula but how do you know if the amount is enough? And can you itemize every single item in your home. Probably not.

Using a hand held video you can scan in detail everything in your home without specifically itemizing it. All those storage areas. What's in them? Did you forget? How about the garage or basement.

While replacement insurance on your home is the best insurance, the insurance coverage will get your home rebuilt. But when it comes to the contents, there could be a dispute  that without this video, you may have a hard time proving exactly what you lost.

If you home is like most, things are tucked away for safe keeping all over the place. In drawers, cabinets, under furniture, closets, basements and especially, don't forget the garage.

What if your home wasn't destroyed but you had a burglary? Beyond the obvious, what else was taken? Once again a video of your home contents could be very useful in determining what has been lost.

One tip you must do if you are making a video. Simply storing it on your computer or external hard drive is not the best thing to do. If you have a fire, chances are it won't be accessible and if you are burglarized, chances are the first item to go will be the computer and the drive. Make a copy on a disk and store it in your safety deposit box.

And one more tip: Make a fresh new copy every year. Submitting an old copy will not show the new things in the home.

Hear yourself explaining to your insurance agent this argument. Yes, but I took that video 2 years ago and bought a new TV, lots of new clothes and the kids had a great Christmas. They they each had their own new computer, cell phones and a lot of new electronic games. They were all very expensive and I want them replaced. "Hummm says agent, there seems to be a bit of a conflict here with what you submitted as proof of content and what you say you lost in that burglary". " Did you happen to retain the receipts?"

The cost of ownership of all our wonderful possessions in life goes beyond their actual cost. There is of course a required maintenance for most everything in our lives and there is also the being responsible to prove their existence should you have a loss. Make that video and don't put it off. Besides having one of these inexpensive video recorders can also record golden moments that should never be forgotten.

As consumers, we need to keep our priorities straight and the video that proves your home contents has to be YOUR PRIORITY.

If you are Buying, Selling or Relocating to San Diego and  need help from a professional REALTOR®, give me a call or visit my San Diego Real Estate website and 
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I specialize in Single Family Homes and Condominiums 
throughout the coast and inland areas of San Diego.

William Johnson, Certified Residential Specialist 

 
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