Taking Photos for Insurance Purposes
No one likes to think about the possibility of losing belongings to a fire, flood damage or natural disaster. Although not a pleasant idea, forcing yourself to think about this situation will help you in the long run. Taking photos of every room in your house or apartment for insurance purposes will save you money in the event that something unfortunate affects your property. Be proactive and take these steps:
Write down a list and then start taking photos.
Before you start clicking away haphazardly through your entire house, take the time to create a checklist of what items you want to photograph. Being organized will ensure that you don't miss an important item. Detail every room, closet, cupboard and area of your property. Areas such as the basement, garage and attic likely contain valuable things that could be easily forgotten. Once you have your list in hand, walk through every area of your property and start taking photos.
Take lots of pictures.
Don't be frugal with the amount of digital photos you take. Peeking through the doorway of each room and taking one overall photo is not the ideal way to handle this project. Processing an insurance reimbursement should not be a “Where's Waldo?” type of activity that forces the insurance agent to examine a single photo with the contents of an entire room. You should aim to be more thorough, capturing multiple viewpoints in each room. In addition, you want to take individual and detailed photos of items you want to highlight. A good suggestion is to take a general photo in each room, then zero in on each of the items in that room.
Take close-up photos and use simple backgrounds.
Smaller objects especially need close-up photos. Do you really think the insurance agent will notice the diamond necklace sitting on top of your dresser among other things? Place small items on a plain color background and use the macro mode feature on your digital camera when taking photos up close. Also, a good general tip when taking insurance photos is to eliminate any clutter in the background of the picture. A simple background will make focusing on the item of value easier.
Document the value of the items and keep the photos in a safe place.
Once you're done taking pictures, print all of them (or have them printed at a local store) and write the cost of each item on the back of the prints. If possible, save digital photos on a CD and keep the prints in either a fireproof and waterproof safe in your house, at a friend's house or in a safety deposit box at your bank. Don't forget to take photos of any valuable purchases you make in the future to add to your photo collection.
Creating a photo inventory of your possessions may sound time-consuming and overwhelming. At the very least, take a few digital photos of the corners in each room to capture a general idea of what items you own. You can also break up the project into parts and photograph one room per day. The time you spend now could be to your advantage later. And in the process, maybe you'll even rediscover items you forgot you had!
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