Home inventory business helping people track possessions

By: PATTY McCORMAC - For the North County Times | Thursday, November 8, 2007 7:38 PM PST ∞

Marcia Jacobs and Julie Meltzer have a growing business of providing itemized written, digital and photographic inventory for homes and businesses for insurance purposes. Though they knew the value of having such a record, it really got personal on Oct. 22, when both of their San Diego County homes narrowly escaped being destroyed by wildfire.

The call to evacuate her 4S Ranch home came at 5:30 a.m. that day for Meltzer. With just an hour to get out, her three daughters grabbed photos, her husband's important papers and Meltzer's other valuables, and her copy of her home's digital inventory.

"The flames were at our house at 10:30 a.m.," she said. "A neighbor who stayed behind and did not evacuate saved our house."

The Meltzers were lucky, but many of Julie's neighbors were not and are probably still sifting through ashes, trying to salvage what is left and begin settling with their insurance companies.

Jacobs' and Meltzer's company, Assure You LLC, is licensed and bonded, and can make things easier. If you have a record and photos of all the items of value in your home before a disaster, it is much easier and quicker to settle with an insurance company. They are among a handful of companies doing this in the area.

The women tell clients that no matter how large an insurance policy is on a home and its contents, when a disaster like fire strikes, it will be difficult to itemize everything lost at such a traumatic time.

"You're lucky to remember your own name," Meltzer said.

Unfortunately, not remembering could make a big difference in the amount of a settlement.

That explains why a neighbor described Jacobs as "eerily calm" after the evacuation of her Carmel Valley neighborhood in the path of the blaze.

"It's because I had this," she said, holding up her inventory.

"Assure You gives you peace of mind," Meltzer said.

The women come to a home and record everything in it, from furniture and appliances to clothing, art and jewelry and even priceless family heirlooms ---- everything. Then the client receives a hard copy of the inventory, a digital copy and a disc containing photos of everything. These should be kept off-site in a safe place like a bank safety deposit box.

Most people, after taking advantage of the service, say they never realized how much it would take to replace everything in their home.

"When they see the last page of the record that adds up the value of everything, people are shocked," said Jacobs. "They realize they are undervalued and end up going back to their insurance companies."

Meltzer said it is easy for people to forget how much they own because they buy things bit by bit over the years.

The service costs from about $500 up and is determined by a home's square footage. It takes about six hours to inventory a 1,200-foot home, the women said.

They can also customize their service if, for example, someone wants to document only their valuable art pieces or a collection of some kind.

Estate lawyers are beginning to discover Assure You and are asking them to document wills by having the person making the will face their heirs on film, telling them exactly who gets what.

"It cuts down on a lot of the fighting," Jacobs said.

The service can also be used in offices or homes to document possessions in case of a burglary, they said.

Insurance companies know the value of their service. In acknowledgement of the wildfires, Koneckie Insurance Brokerage has asked their clients to make inventories themselves or to contact Assure You.

Lawrence A. Weitzen, first vice president of Alliant Driver Commercial Group, said that his 30 years in the business, he has found the "most difficult task" is for a client to remember what exactly they had. Home inventories are highly recommended, he said.

Contact Assure You LLC at www.assureyou.com or call (858) 259-9891.