Many people with homeowner’s insurance neglect to take the contents of their home into account when considering the amount of coverage they need. Items such as electronic goods, clothing, cookware, artwork, and furniture are certainly worthy of protection and need to be factored in to your policy.

How to Decide What Coverage You Need For the Contents of Your Home

These days, most homeowners have so much “stuff” that they barely know what is what. They do know, however, that their possessions are valuable to them and that they would be devastated if that property were to be lost. Following are some methods for determining what you own and how to cover it.

Keep Records

Here is a very important tip, and one that most homeowners don’t consider. Take photographs or videotape all of the valuable items you possess. This leaves you with a tangible record of your personal property – one that shows the item in full color and indicates their condition. Store the photos and videotape with your receipts of purchase for the items, and make a note of serial numbers and any other facts that may be useful if the items are destroyed, suffer damage, or are stolen from your home. Keep copies of everything in a safety deposit box.

Make Sure You Know the Limitations of Your Columbia Personal Property Coverage

You may not know that your homeowner’s policy contains a different limit of coverage for personal property than it does for your home as a whole. Sometimes this limit is a particular amount (for example, $25,000) or it may consist of a certain percentage of the value of your home (for example, “25% of Coverage A”). If, when you take inventory, you realize that you own more personal property than you thought you did, it’s a good idea to think about increasing the personal property coverage in your existing homeowner’s policy.

Some Personal Property May  be Covered in a Limited Way

Most of the contents of your home will be covered by your personal property limit, but some items may not be fully covered. Items that are especially valuable, such as certain types of electronic equipment, antiques, fine art, and fine jewelry might only be covered for a small portion of their true value. You do need to know what your limits of coverage are for all your valuables, and if necessary, you may have to increase coverage through an addition to your homeowner’s policy or through a separate policy.

Other items that may be covered in a limited way include those that are most often used when off the premises of your home, such as golf clubs or other expensive recreational equipment. Check on the limits for those items as well as the other valuables that remain in the home.

Don’t wait to find out about coverage for your personal property – get your no-cost Columbia insurance quotes right away.