House Account:
Take Stock of Stuff
By EILEEN P. GUNN
September 22, 2006; Page W10

Last year's calamitous hurricanes and floods caused many people to think about how they would cope if their own families and homes were hit by such devastating events. Several home-inventory software programs are now available that allow homeowners and renters to create itemized records of their worldly possessions. Taking advantage of the ubiquity of digital cameras and the Internet to aggregate photos and information, the programs help people turn boxes of receipts and other materials into an orderly, up-to-date account of what is covered by their insurance policies.

Intuit is the latest to come to market; the software giant rolled out Quicken Home Inventory Manager (www.Quicken.com; $30) last month. Elms Publishing, in San Diego, and Liberty Street Software, in Toronto, already sell software for people who collect things like coins or rare books and came out with general-inventory programs several years ago, My Home Inventory (www.elmspub.com; $25) and HomeManage (www.libertystreet.com; $35), respectively. Each company has seen interest in these products take off only recently. "We've tripled our business in the last year", says Marc Slott, president of Elms.

In addition, some 230,000 people have downloaded free Know Your Stuff software (www.knowyourstuff.org), created by the Insurance Information Institute, an industry organization, since it was launched at that end of 2004. About 150,000 of them have done so since September 2005, says John Spagnuolo, the institute's director of new media. "After Katrina hit, so many people came to our site we had to add more bandwidth. It's been pretty steady ever since."

After a fire in his building caused considerable smoke damage, Joe Martinez, a 37-year-old special-effects designer in Los Angeles, cobbled together a makeshift system to document his guitar collection. He says he was happy to trade it in for My Home Inventory when he found it. "I realized that if something worse happened, I'd be sifting through rubble trying to remember what I own."

Each product lets users list information such as when a possession was purchased, how much it cost, its replacement value, whether it was repaired or upgraded -- even to whom the owner would like to leave it. Users can also attach digital photos and images of warranties and receipts to the list. Intuit's and Elm's programs allow homeowners to run their inventory lists against their insurance policies to make sure they have the right coverage. Of course, the data have to survive the event that necessitates a claim. The software makers recommend leaving a copy on a compact disc or zip drive with a friend, relative, or at the office. Intuit offers online backup to its customers for fees starting at $9 a year.

The biggest downside to the software -- or upside, depending on how you look at it -- is that you could wind up wanting more coverage and paying a higher premium. When Mr. Martinez ran his personal inventory against his policy, he says, "it pointed out a glaring problem: I was underinsured -- by a lot."