<p>We refused to co-sign but S got his apartment anyway. He has a job on campus & a rental history, credit card & excellent credit rating so we balked about providing more info about ourselves, just out of principle. Perhaps his room mate’s folks were more accommodating, don’t know. I really find it offensive that they make parents co-sign for their adult kids when they have all of the above! It wasn’t like that when we were in college–my parents never co-signed anything for our rentals.</p>
<p>^^ We’ve found that co-signing can sometimes be avoided a couple of ways - either having x amount of money in the student’s account, or paying some more deposit money so it’s assured the apartment complex is covered in case the student flakes out or is late with a payment. This has worked several times in different parts of the country. By using the above I’ve never had to cosign.</p>
<p>Well, we co-signed, even though S has quite a bit of money in his own name. Maybe we should not have.
We spent quite a few days shopping, shopping, shopping. I now know the IKEA catalog by heart, though I had been inside one store only once before. H gave S a massive tool kit which came in very handy for assembling the furniture.
S called me tonight to ask what he should do with the half onion he did not use for dinner.:)</p>
<p>^ Put it in a ziplock bag and refrigerator to keep it moist. Wife unit does this all the time.</p>
<p>IKEA, Walmart, Target were the only stores we did the shopping.</p>
<p>S1 and his roommate are renting a townhome seen only online and 3 states away for an Oct. move, They don’t seem concerned.</p>
<p>Simba: I told S to wrap it in cling wrap and put it in fridge. I was glad to know that S was cooking his own meal instead of opening some ramen noodle or eating out. His budget would not accommodate it.</p>
<p>Yes, we went to IKEA, Target and shopped at Walmart for the first time in our life. Also went to Lowes and Best Buy. I hope I don’t have to shop again for a good long while, but I just realized that Christmas shopping will be happening soon. :(</p>
<p>Yeah, my son also realized that now he is on fixed income. Exactly Half of which will go to the slum lords.</p>
<p>Why are some people reluctant to cosign for an apartment? Is that bad to do, or is it just the principle of the thing?</p>
<p>I love the onion question. I don’t know if S has ever used one.</p>
<p>People asked why I paid to move S’s furniture across country; I didn’t want to go thru the hassle of shopping used stores, putting together furniture again.</p>
<p>S did rent sight unseen, but only places that had pictures. Neither time did I have to cosign, but they ran credit check on him, and did ask for work contract.</p>
<p>S did not have enough furniture to fit out his apartment, and what he does have is staying in his home bedroom (which is about to be used by a whole gang of cousins). Also, S is a champ at assembling furniture. Beginning at 3, he could read diagrams like a pro (his favorite subject is geometry!). As of yesterday, I’m told, his apartment is in ship-shape form.
I was surprised by the onion question, too. I did not even know that he liked them!</p>
<p>
Frequently there are roommates in the apartment and cosigning comes with a certain amount of liability (i.e. being responsible for everything) including if one of the other roomies flakes out. In addition, the cosigner frequently has to fill out the app and include a lot of personal financial info that some people would like to limit the disclosure of. The details vary by particular apartment complex of course.</p>
<p>My husband runs a property management company. He does not rent to anyone sight unseen. He is leery of anyone who would want to rent a place and sign a 1 yr lease on a property they have not seen in person.
Also after 25+ yrs in the business he is also not willing to co-sign for any of our children. He does what someone else suggested of offering a larger deposit or of paying several months rent up front. This approach has worked for us several times.</p>
<p>I really don’t have a high level of trust that the info we disclose will be kept as secure as I think it should be. I also feel that they have more than enough info with our kids’ info, especially when said kids have jobs and are enrolled at the U & have good references. If push came to shove, I might have caved but really resent them trying to get us to co-sign. </p>
<p>My kids prefer to see what they’re renting and so far only S has rented sight unseen (summer place for internship on East Coast when he was in LA). It was not a great experience because his landlord made him move in the last 10 days of his stay with no additional compensation & it was a hassle (plus he felt overcharged & wasn’t happy in general with landlord). He trusted NASA to steer him right & that was what they recommended & he didn’t really have many options, so it worked out OK.</p>