Potential tenant with awful credit

[Michael Nahm]

I have a property up for rent and received an application from a very eager gentleman. He gave a really nice impression, has steady employment and has been renting for a few years at the same place.

However, he has abysmal credit. There aren’t very many accounts on the file, however, everything on it, which is from the past couple of years, is in collections. EVERYTHING.

I don’t even know why I’m writing this, because I have a very specific process, and thus far, not deviating from it has worked extremely well for me (knock on wood). I already wrote and sent a rejection letter, yet he wrote back a very polite email asking whether a co-signer would be sufficient.

I’ve never added a co-signer and would like your thoughts on whether a stellar-credited co-signer would ease your minds if you were in this situation.