Guest Blogger: How to Accurately Calculate your Home’s Content Value

Guest Blogger #257, Entry #763, November 15, 2011

Many home insurance policies require recipients to calculate the value of a home and its contents. It’s usually simple to assess the value of a home and its property — this information is available in public tax records. Calculating the value of a home’s contents can be more time consuming, but is essential if a homeowner’s claim is needed.

Calculate the contents of your home

Gather purchase receipts for all large items in a home. It’s important to have a proof of purchase for all major appliances, furniture, electronics, and other equipment inside a home. Anything that can be easily removed should be inventoried. This includes kitchen cookers, refrigerators, beds, and sofas. Go around the home, and take pictures of every room. Make sure to take photos of all valuables in a home too.

For homeowners who don’t have receipts, make sure to estimate the value of appliances. Find the make and model of an appliance online, and find out the price it would have cost to purchase it.

Create a spreadsheet with all contents of a home, divided by rooms. This spreadsheet should contain a description of the item, the date the item was purchased, a photo of the item, and a digital copy of the purchase receipt (or estimated price). While this can be a time consuming process, it’s essential for ensuring a rapid reimbursement from an insurance company.

Using the spreadsheet, add up the total value of all large goods in a home. After this is completed, it’s important to create a rough estimate of smaller goods in a home. This includes items such as lamps, pillows, silverware, DVDs, and other low-priced goods.

Make sure your homes contents are well accounted for

While it isn’t necessary to price each of these items individually, it’s important to have a rough idea of their value. For a large DVD collection, estimate a price of 10 pounds per DVD, and count the number of DVDs. Make sure to take a photo of the collection too. For antiques and silverware, take a photo each drawer, and provide an estimated price.

It’s not easy to calculate the total value of thousands of small items in a home. However, by creating a rough estimate, it’s possible to speed up the processing time of an insurance claim.

After calculating the value of all goods in a home, create a digital copy of all relevant documents. These should be stored off-site using an online backup, and in a safe deposit box at a bank.

Guest post provided by Home Insurance provider Policy Expert.

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