Home Inventory Template

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From
Karen Weldin Stewart,
CIR-ML
Delaware’s Insurance Commissioner
A home inventory serves two main purposes:
To help you estimate the value and replacement cost of your possessions in order to ensure
that you have sufficient coverage under your homeowners or renters insurance policy; and
To create a record of what you have in case disaster strikes and you need to provide your
insurance company with a comprehensive list of what needs to be replaced.
A proper home inventory will create a record of what you own and what it’s worth. To perform an
exhaustive home inventory, you should:
1. Make a list. Go through each room in your house and list every piece of furniture, every
appliance and every item. Include art on your walls, lamps, curtains or blinds on the windows,
dishes and silverware, even the number of CDs, DVDs and videos you own. For clothes, count
the number of shirts, pants, dresses, pairs of shoes, etc. Cover your attic and/or basement.
Make sure to include the tools, equipment and other items in a garage or shed. For as many
items as possible, list model names, serial numbers, purchase dates and prices. For the
purpose of determining if you have adequate insurance coverage, you may want to figure out
what it would cost to replace your possessions, at least for furniture, appliances and other
items. You want your inventory to be as complete as possible — imagine how might you spend
replace all these items without being reimbursed by your insurance. Use the attached home
inventory forms to help go through your house and make your list.
2. Take video or photos. Videotape or take photos of all the rooms in your house in order to
document what you have. Record each room from different angles. Videotape or photograph the
contents of closets, drawers and cabinets as well. Put the date on the videotape label or on the
backs of the photos if it’s not automatically recorded.
3. Safeguard your inventory. Place your list and your video or photos in a safe deposit box at a
bank, in a fireproof and waterproof container in your home, or have a family member or friend
hold on to them.
4. Update once a year. It’s important that your list be kept up to date. Once you make an initial
list, it won’t be hard to update.
For a version of the home inventory form you can download to fill out on your computer, and for
more tips and information about homeowners insurance, visit the Delaware Department of
Insurance on the web at or call 1-800-282-8611.

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