Pick a room, any room in your home.

Let's say you pick your living room. Get a pen and pad and move to any other room. Now try to write down everything you own in your living room.

That's the list you'll have to work with if a disaster destroys the contents of your living room.

"Since most people have a hard time recalling exactly what they have in every room of their house, a documented home inventory helps to easily identify exactly what was lost," said Candysse Miller, executive director of the Insurance Information Network of California.

Insurance experts say taking full, detailed inventory now, before disaster strikes, is the best way to protect everything you own in the event of a disaster.

If your home insurance policy has replacement value coverage designed to restore your home to its pre-disaster condition, you may not get all you are due if you don't know what you own. An inventory is also necessary for reporting tax-related losses.

"It can also help homeowners determine the value of their belongings and, with that, their exact insurance needs," said Miller.

Today, technology makes taking inventory easier than ever.

"By using some of the latest technologies, creating, storing and updating a home inventory is easier than ever," said Miller.

Home owners should conduct a room-by-room written inventory of everything they own from aprons to a zydeco music collection and back it up with visual images -- using a video or still camera. Digital devices make it easy to load the images onto your computer or a digital storage facility online.

Taking inventory

To take a complete inventory, for each item, whenever possible, include:

• Item name and quantity.
• Description of the item.
• Manufacturer or brand name.
• Serial number or model number.
• Where the item was purchased or obtained.
• Receipt or proof of purchase.
• Date of purchase or age.
• Current value and or replacement cost.

Next, provide an additional documentation of everything your own by creating visual images of your belongings.

If you're doing a digital video inventory with a motion or still camera, start in one corner of the room and work your way around until you cover the whole room. Don't forget to inventory closets, the attic, the basement and other storage areas. Don't forget to include items such as mattresses, luggage, clothing, small appliances, sports equipment and garden tools. Even carpets, drapes and flooring should be listed on the inventory list and photographed. Update your inventory list and image files after your make new purchases.

Store your inventory in a safe place, away from the insured property. If disaster hits and your list is at the disaster site, it could be destroyed. A secure Web server provides you with the means to store your inventory away from home.

"Digital photographs or videos can be uploaded into cyberspace for safekeeping. Internet service providers often include free Web space. Free, online 'communities' also can be created for this use. Managers can limit or prohibit access," said Miller.

Using digital technology to create and store a home inventory also helps speed the process when it's time to update your inventory once a year or after subsequent purchases. In the event of a fire or other household catastrophe, an inventory is only as good as its most recent update.

You can visually document your inventory without using digital technology.

Conventional photos can be developed and delivered on a compact disc. Older 16 millimeter and video tapes can been transferred to digital video discs (DVDs).

Tax experts say use the same inventory-taking techniques after a disaster to record the damage and to compare the condition of your home to its pre-disaster condition.

"It is very important that people take pictures or videotapes and do a complete inventory of damage before the mess gets cleaned up," says Marie Sternberger, a Sunnyvale, CA-based enrolled agent.

Published: April 18, 2002

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.