Protecting Your Home Possessions

Homeowners insurance is great for making sure that you can rebuild your house in case of a fire, earthquake or other serious disaster. But what about your possessions? If you want to ensure that you can get reimbursed for valuables such as rings, furs, artwork and family heirlooms, you'll want to take some these steps so you can have protection and peace of mind:

Videotape your house: One of the basic rules of receiving compensation for items in your home that are damaged or destroyed in a fire is to make sure you have documentation of what is in your house. After all, insurance companies don't want to pay you for items that you didn't actually own, and this type of fraud occurs more often than you might expect. So it's a good idea to frequently videotape yourself walking through your house and documenting the major items.

Get an endorsement: In insurance terms, an "endorsement" is an addition to the basic coverage that lets you insure additional, high-priced items. For example, if you have your great-grandmother's diamond jewelry collection, you can get an endorsement that extends coverage to it if it is lost, stolen or damaged in a disaster. This typically means having it appraised by an expert to determine its actual value and supplying your insurance company with this information.

Get a fireproof safe: One of the things that you can't place a value on is the emotional value of certain family keepsakes. In addition, every family has important documents (birth certificates, passports, medical records) that they will want to have available to them no matter what happens. These are two reasons why it makes sense to have a fireproof safe in your house to store these critical items.

Getting insurance for your home is one of the most important things you can do to protect your family and your valuables in case of a disaster. It's also important to make sure you are dealing with reputable, trustworthy companies. That's why you can count on HomeInsuranceQuotes.us to give you a home owner insurance quote that you can trust from the leading names in the industry.