Do you accept Co-Signers on Leases? Why or why not?

[David Socia]

We own several rentals in an area of our town called Midtown Revitalization District. this district is sandwiched between 2 major hospitals and a junior college. All of our rentals are new construction duplexes and our target market is medical professionals "educated with and income". Every time one of our units turns over we have both medical professionals and college students as applicants. to qualify we require the tenants income to be at lease 3x the rent. College students do not meet this qualification and often times ask if their parents can co-sign. The last time we denied a tenant and did not accept a parent co-signer, the mother of the applicant got pretty ugly about it. My thought is that not only do I want to be paid on time for rent each month, but I also want the place to be taken care of. Its been my experience in life that when you don't have any skin in the game you are more likely not to care as much. Am I missing out on a different demographic of renters by disqualifying these colleges students. We typically find the medical professional we are looking for but it may take up to 2 months. Thoughts?