If you rent an apartment, condo or townhome in Washington, Oregon or Idaho, you need renters insurance. Add up the value of all your belongings. You’re probably looking at thousands of dollars. Could you afford to replace your property if it were stolen during a break-in or damaged during a fire?

Think about it – all your electronics, computers, jewelry, clothes, and furniture. Maybe something even more valuable like an engagement ring, art collection or musical instrument. Add up the value of all your property and you’re probably looking at thousands of dollars. Could you afford to replace it all if it were stolen or damaged in a fire? A Vern Fonk representative in the Pacific Northwest can help you get cheap renters insurance in Washington, Oregon or Idaho.

You don’t own any of the building or the substances that make up its structure.  But just about everything else is on you. Let’s get a quick idea of what renters insurance covers and how it could save you significant sums of money with a few brief scenarios:

1. Someone in the apartment above you leaves a pan simmering on a stove and falls asleep. The fire is minor, but smoke pours into your unit from the ducts overhead. Your landlord might pay for odor removal and to repaint your walls, but not for the computer that’s damaged and bed linens and curtains that must be tossed.
2. A burglar breaks into your duplex while you’re at work and steals your antique jewelry. Your landlord will replace the broken door and install better locks, but won’t pay for your personal loss.
3. Someone throws a rock through the window of your rented condo and hits an expensive china cabinet, smashing several vases. Your landlord replaces the window glass at no cost to you, but not the pricey cabinet and chinaware.
4. Your landlord’s furnace dies during the coldest weekend of the year. By the time you get home, your rented house feels like a skating rink. The pipes burst in the cold, which cut the power and spoiled everything in your refrigerator. The landlord will replace the furnace, patch your walls and repair any damaged surfaces, but not for all the spoiled food.

The point is, you and your family potentially have a lot to lose. Affordable renters insurance for Washington, Idaho and Oregon residents will cover the cost of items damaged, destroyed, or lost to theft. You’re covered for most natural disasters and any deliberate or accidental human-caused actions (including your own accidents).

Perhaps the best news on this topic is that renters insurance is quite reasonable. In Oregon, for instance, the average cost is just $13.75 a month, and very little more for even triple that amount of coverage. Around the country, the average cost is only about $179 annually.

You then determine the amount of your deductible. The deductible — usually for $500 or $1,000 — is the cash amount for which you’ll be responsible before your insurer starts to cover the claim. For example, if you have a $500 deductible and a fire causes $40,000 in damages, the most your insurance company would pay would be $39,500 to settle your claim.

The higher the deductible you assume, the lower your monthly premiums.