All Good Things Must Come To An End

Hi folks.

After seeing the light of day, I have decided to close Farley Home Services, and consequently the Home Inventory Matters blog.  I have enjoyed providing the inventory service to my clients and the blog to my faithful readers (many of you are both!), but I simply can not continue in this business at the present time or for the foreseeable future.

Proverbs 16:9 says "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."  I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve so many of my friends and neighbors, but the time has come to serve in a new capacity. I have recently accepted a role as the youth leader and outreach coordinator at New Heights Chapel in Murfreesboro, TN and I am excited about this opportunity.

Blogging  is something I very much enjoy, and I have begun a new blog called Worn Out Bibles in conjunction with this new role.  I would appreciate your continued readership at that site if you are so inclined.

May God bless you all.

A. J. Farley

NAIC says Inventory When You Get Engaged!

Just got engaged?  Congratulations!  You've got some work to do, hm?  Here's another thing to add to your list:  Home Inventory.  In the course of establishing one household, you are going to need to know how much coverage you need for your contents wherever you decide to live, particularly if you have been on your own for a while.  The National Association of Insurance Comissioners (NAIC) has some great tips for how to put your insurance households together, and one of them is to inventory your goods.

Make an inventory of all of your belongings you'll be combining to determine how much coverage you'll need. Be sure to update your inventory as you purchase new items, or with wedding gifts.

Check out this article after the shock of your engagement wears off.  May God bless your union!  Get to work!  We can help!

A. J. Farley, a hopeless romantic in his own right, owns Farley Home Services, your home inventory professionals.  Please visit EverySingleItem.com for more details.  Thanks!

It's Not A Party Until...

Allstate Insurance has some good tips published in the Dalton (GA) Daily Citizen for those of you planning a Super Bowl party.  The big game is this weekend, so you better get busy!  The first step is to call your agent.

Worried about a raucous guest falling and injuring himself in your home? Check your homeowners policy to make sure you have personal liability protection that provides adequate coverage for your home and assets.  (emphasis added)

Remember, your liability coverage needs to exceed your net worth.

What if that guest breaks your pricey antique vase in his fall? Will your insurance replace it? Protect your home valuables — like fine art, collectibles or sporting equipment — with a scheduled personal property endorsement to your homeowners policy.  (emphasis added) 

This endorsement is also know as a personal articles floater or inland marine coverage.  These are all basically the same thing.

The article also goes on to discuss the need for discipline regarding the amount of alcohol your guests have had.  Please don't let someone leave your home when you know he or she has no business being behind the wheel of a car.  This is not just an insurance issue, it's the right thing to do.

A. J. Farley runs a home inventory provider named Farley Home Services in Murfreesboro, TN.  Please visit FarleyHomeServices.com for more information.  Thanks!

Rare Picasso Damaged in Accident

The New York Times reports damage to Picasso's The Actor, incurred when an art student stumbled and fell into the work while visiting the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The Times says that the fall caused a six inch tear in the canvas along the lower right-hand corner.  The student was not injured.

“The Actor” was painted when Picasso was only 23. “He was very poor, and these canvases were expensive,” said John Richardson, the Picasso biographer. He explained that if Picasso made a mistake, he couldn’t afford to throw out the canvas, but rather painted over it. “Nearly all these early canvases have something painted underneath,” Mr. Richardson said.  He added: “There are few major paintings from this period and” — at 4 feet by 6 feet — “this is one of the biggest. It’s very important.” Dealers say a painting of this scale and period could be worth well over $100 million.

A skilled restorer can repair a work like this, using a mixture of old and new techniques as well as new technology.  The Met's Conservation Laboratory is on the case.

Like a gifted plastic surgeon, a seasoned restorer has many options these days and a host of materials and instruments at his disposal, even acupuncture needles. They are not used as they would be in Asian medicine, to puncture a surface, or to sew a canvas, but rather are applied from behind to keep a tear flat.

I feel for the person that stumbled into this piece.  Can you imagine damaging something that valuable?  That's a bad day right there.


A. J. Farley owns Farley Home Services, a home inventory service.  Please visit FarleyHomeServices.com for details.

Boston Residents Catch a Break

Boston.com says that Boston residents who have homeowners insurance through the state's FAIR plan (insurance of last resort) will see a decrease in premiums this year, while the rest of the state will see relatively flat rate changes for the coming year.  The FAIR plan had requested a modest increase, but Joseph Murphy, the state's acting insurance commissioner, said that the rate increases did not appear to be justified.

Insurance rates in coastal states are a difficult nut for insurance carriers to crack.  They have to balance the higher risks associated with coastal properties (usually wealthier policyholders) with affordable rates for inland policyholders (everyone else).

(Boston.com apparently will not allow me to include excerpts of the article, so you'll have to follow the link for yourself.  Sorry for the inconvenience...)

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home Services of Murfreesboro TN.

eHow Says Home Inventory Essential

eHow says home inventory is one significant way of being prepared for disasters like fires, tornadoes, etc.  Here are some snippets:

A good inventory will help you determine how much insurance your need to protect your possessions and it is an accurate record of what you have should you need to file a claim.

When you buy something new update your inventory.

Some good, basic information here, that almost sounds like I could have written it.  Acually no, it's better written than if I had done it!

Haiti Tragedy:  Earthquake ravaged Haiti is in dire need of medical supplies and triage care.  The sheer number of victims is making it dificult to handle even stabilization of the injured, much less provide proper medical treatment.  Just a terrible situation...

The Desiring God blog has links to charities collecting for Haiti here or you can give to the Salvation Army here.  Please give if you have the means to do so.

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home Services in Murfreesboro TN.

True Bicycle Insurance on the Horizon?

Lindsay Caron writes an interesting piece on bicycle insurance, a surprisingly scarce commodity, on BikePortland.org.  You would think that since a bicycle is a means of transportation, you should be able to insure it like you would a car or a motorcycle, but this is not the case.

Bicycle insurance that is similar to auto insurance already exists in England, Australia, and New Zealand. It covers policyholders’ medical bills resulting from bicycle crashes, as well as covering bicycle repair or replacement and lost wages from serious injuries.

Not only can you not purchase this "bicycle as transportation" type of policy here in the states, it's difficult to find true, all-peril "bicycle as personal property" insurance either.  


Here's what I mean:  When you purchase high value items, such as jewelry, fine arts, and the like, you need to purchase a special policy that provides Inland Marine protection, often referred to as personal articles coverage.  Personal articles policies broaden your coverage for those specific named items to include pretty much any type of unintentional loss, and you need that type of policy for just about any collectible item.  Without that type of policy, you are limited to your homeowners insurance, which provides "named peril" coverage as opposed to all peril.  Insurers don't like to cover bicycles under personal articles policies, and collision is not one of those named perils on your homeowners coverage.


So, if you are in a bike accident, you have no coverage for your high dollar bicycle replacement or lost wages.  You may have coverage for your medical bills through your health insurance, but many times health insurers will decline losses relating to accidents up front until they find out if a car policy will pay something.


The good news?  The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) is hoping to bring this type of coverage to the USA soon.

The catch: in order for the plan to be affordable to its members yet not pose a serious financial risk to the underwriters, it would have to cover a large pool of members outside of the highest risk group — cycle-commuters with no other insurance options.   The LAB would have to include this insurance as part of their base membership fee. Even as supplemental insurance, the proposed plan was a screaming deal at only $10 a year, which would be added to the annual fee for members. Such a plan, [Portland insurance agent, Jeff] Lang argues, could potentially make a LAB membership more attractive to new members as well as providing a basic service.

The LAB hoped to bring this coverage about in 2009, but the poor economy, decreased donations, and decreased membership during that year scuttled the plan.  The new year brings new possibilities though, and hopefully this thing can come to fruition in the near future.

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home Services, a home inventory provider based in Murfreesboro TN.  Please visit FarleyHomeServices.com at your leisure.