This is a repost from one of my earlier blog posts:
You might not realize the importance of having a complete inventory of all your personal or business possessions. There are many reasons why you should have a complete inventory of everything you own. Here are some of the most important reasons to take stock of all your belongings.
12 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GET A HOME INVENTORY!
- Marriage: You’re getting married and joining 2 households.
- Divorce: Thinking of divorce? You should make sure that you have a record of everything so that you can split the contents of your home equally.
- Guardianship: You have a parent who is ill and you’re considering putting them in a facility where they will get the care they need. Now you have to go thru everything in their home to consider what to keep; sell or donate to family members or charity. Or, your parents live in another part of the country. Do you know what they have?
- Moving: You’re moving across the country or the city and you’re using a moving company. Make sure that what you put on the truck comes out in the same condition or, that it comes out at all.
- Second Home/Rental Property: You have a furnished rental property and you want to make sure that the state of any furnishings in the house, are in the same condition when your tenants moved in as when they move out. And, you want to make sure that nothing is missing.
- Pre-Nuptials: You’re considering marriage and you want to create a Pre-Nuptial Agreement. A full record of what you brought into the marriage would be an excellent way to CYA.
- Collections: You have a collection that is either valuable monetarily or personally. Have a record of those valuables in case you ever lose them, they get broken, stolen or destroyed.
- Storage Unit: Do you know what you placed in storage? Most people don’t have a clue and you could have valuable items just waiting to be stolen or ruined!
- Interior Decorating: You are having your house redone by decorators and contractors. Shouldn’t you have a record of all of your valuables and their condition? It never hurts to be sure that your valuables remain in your home and that you have proof of any possible damage.
- Mediation: a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or “appropriate dispute resolution“, is a way of resolving disputes between two parties. A third party inventory can help the parties come to a final decision based on the facts given.
- Disaster: A disaster strikes. Fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, theft, earthquake, sink hole. Do you have a record of all that you lost for your insurance claim? Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of chaos and beyond distressed to try to remember what you own.
- Renters: Need to have an inventory because they are responsible for the items in the house they are renting.
