That’s a great question, and it’s much better to ask this question now than after something happens. Have you ever wondered how the process works? Let’s say that you live in an apartment and there was a fire just down the hall from where you live. You come home to see fire trucks and a huge mess in the parking lot…what now? The Manager comes running over to you to let you know that the Fire Department put the fire out before it made it to your apartment, however, there is a lot of smoke and water damage. Did you realize that smoke and water can cause just has much damage as fire? It can, and in my previous Property Management career, I saw this all too often. Now you start thinking “what about my stuff”. You make it into your apartment to see everything piled up high, fans going, the carpet is ripped out and your heart just sinks. You start thinking, well, at least I have renter’s insurance. You also think to yourself “how does it actually work?” What did I lose? Later on your told by the Insurance Claims Adjuster to please make a list of what you lost or what is damaged. You start to think “are you kidding me? I can’t even think straight right now and if I could only look around my apartment maybe that would help but your apartment is in disarray.
Don’t let this all too real scenario happen to you. What you need to do TODAY is walk around your home or your apartment with your phone and video tape your belongings. You will want to talk throughout the video and say for example: “here are my 2 pairs of “Seven” jeans all purchased for $110.00. Here is my microfiber couch, my 55 inch LED Samsung TV.” Make sure you zoom in on your items so everyone can see the brands as well. The more detail, the better. Now please save this video to the cloud or to a USB drive and put it somewhere safe, in fact a fire proof safe is ideal if you have one. If you don’t have the ability to make a video, then write down a list of all that you own. I have a form available that I am happy to share with you. You can also google “home inventory forms”. Take a moment to do this today and then set a calendar reminder to do this once a year. If you have any other questions or concerns, please just let us know. We are here for you!