These tenants have been a nagging pain since lease signing day.  

I fear if he does not get some honest feedback and help this person will lose if not all but the majority of his investment..

I think what took me so long to actually get started was fear of not knowing what to do.

My thought on a co-signer is that it just puts extra pressure on the primary signer(s) to do the right thing and pay the rent for fear of negative impact on and feedback from the co-signer if not...

Make sure you do extensive Due Diligence but don't get "Paralysis Analysis", the over analyzing of something which causes enough fear to  stop you from taking action and making a move.  

Then join a local REI group and begin using this formula to overcome your fear of the unknown....Definite Goal/Plans + Faith + Emotion + Action  = All Human AccomplishmentFaith = Knowing you can accomplish your goal / Self ConfidenceEmotion = Feeling you can accomplish your goal / objectiveIf you feel that you are deficient in any element, focus on working on that until you feel you're ready to take action.I wish you the best.

This group helped to learn the steps of risk mitigation, wealth  and real estate opportunity assessment hence gave me the tools to put "fear" under control.Like the say ....

Obviously my biggest fear is a bad tenant.

@Presh DineshkumarMost of the Plus and Pro membership "perks" are very U.S.A. focussed - even the on-line calculators - and have less practical value to Canadians ... even those unfortunate enough to be stuck in the GTA ;-)Some Plus/Pro features .. such as the search members by zip or postal code now work (sort of) for Canadians (polite nagging can pay off ).If you are a flipper, or offer a real estate related service (architect, trade, etc), then the ability to post advertisements to the Real Estate Marketplace is a benefit.I upgraded to a Pro membership early on to support the site and its growth as I found it to be a credible venue for exchanging knowledge and making contacts with respect to real estate. 

However, my biggest fear with staying is stagnation (my "IT" job doesn't deal much with IT) and the opportunity cost.My InterestsMy interests are varied, really varied.