SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa - Being prepared for any event takes time and energy, but it can also take a lot of stress out of a bad situation.
What if your home burns down? Are you sure you have the coverage you need? Home Safe Inventory Services is helping its clients prepare documentation of their assets in case they need to make an insurance claim.
“It’s a hard situation to deal with in the first place, let alone trying to deal with all the emotional trauma as well as dealing with the insurance company and trying to remember every single thing that you owned,” said Haley Rothstein, project manager at Home Safe Inventory Services. “Just being prepared for that, it can be a daunting task.”
Rothstein said the process is pretty simple for her clients. First, they will have an interview with her to find out what they want cataloged. Home Safe Inventory Services charges an hourly rate when Rothstein goes to the client’s home or small business.
From there, Rothstein will go through all possessions with the client and will take video and pictures of the items, writing down the serial number (if applicable) what the clients paid for the item and what they believe is the current value.
Rothstein then creates a spreadsheet and finds the estimated net value of all cataloged items. She keeps all the information in a binder and also places the same information on a jumpdrive for the client to keep somewhere safe, like a safety deposit box.
“We recommend that once the inventory is done, they take the hard copy into their insurance agent and have them look over it,” Rothstein said. “Sometimes you underestimate what you’ve got. ... You want to make sure you aren’t underinsured or overinsured.”
She said it’s really easy to underestimate everything one owns. There are many small things, she added, that people don’t seem to think about that will cost money to replace - like bed sheets and that big box of tools.
Rothstein believes home inventory services are important for many reasons, not just fires or floods but also for estate planning or a divorce - whether the client is a homeowner or renter.
“An elderly person could take this inventory and go to their children and say, ‘Let’s sit down and figure out what is going to you and what is going to them,’” Rothstein said. “It’s even good for divorce. … It’s a little bit of a bummer, but it seems that this is good for all of these very negative things.
“Nobody really wants to talk about it, but it can make a world of a difference.”
Rothstein said she spent a couple of weeks getting certified by the National Association of Home Inventory Professionals for both homes and small businesses, and she is now excited to see the business flourish.
“We set a high standard for the work that we do,” Rothstein said. “We are really excited to get the word out about this. There’s not anyone really within a number of states around Iowa and Minnesota that are really pushing this.”
To find out more about Home Safe Inventory Services, contact Rothstein at (712) 336-2355.
