Legacy Screening Shouldn't Decide Who Gets a Home. Across Southeast Michigan, It No Longer Has To.

Cosign looks at real ability to pay so working renters from Ann Arbor can get approved

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- For hundreds of thousands of renters across southeast Michigan, the hardest part of finding a home isn't the rent. It's getting approved. Cosign, a mission-driven housing access company founded by a team with decades of experience owning, operating and leasing apartments, is now working with property managers across the region and around the country to give them a fair shot.

According to CoStar, apartment vacancy across the nearby Ann Arbor metro has climbed to 8.9%, its highest level in five years and a full point above the national average of 7.9%. The homes are available and rents have held steady, yet screening rules built around a single credit score still keep good applicants from signing.

The renters getting stuck are the ones who keep the region running. Teachers, nurses, servers whose tips never count, and contractors from Ann Arbor, many with years of on-time rent behind them, are being turned away at the approval stage. Not because they miss rent, but because one number decides before anyone looks at what they pay today, and most don't have a parent who can sign for them.

At Royal Glen Apartments, Cosign gives the leasing team another option for applicants who don't fit traditional rental qualifications. "Financial circumstances or credit history don't always tell the whole story," said Roxanne Robeck, property manager at Royal Glen Apartments. "Cosign allows us to look beyond those challenges and offer qualified applicants another path toward securing housing. From a leasing perspective, Cosign gives our team more flexibility during the application process and helps us deliver better customer service by offering solutions rather than simply saying no."

Cosign was built for exactly these renters by three close friends who saw the problem up close and joined forces to take it on, brothers Zach and Jacob Schofel and their friend Phillip Newsom. Co-founder and CEO Zach Schofel spent years buying and running apartment communities, growing Eastman Residential to more than 3,000 units, and saw rigid, one-size-fits-all rules turn away residents his teams knew would pay. Jacob, an engineer, scaled technology at a publicly traded company, and Phil built property management companies from the ground up. Today their team includes former leasing agents and renters who once struggled to qualify themselves.

For renters who don't have a parent or family member who can cosign, Cosign steps in and signs the lease as their cosigner. Rather than letting a single credit score decide, the company uses a dynamic, data-driven approach to approvals. As part of its mission driven principals, residents who fall behind are never sent to collections by Cosign. Now working with property managers across more than 800,000 apartment units nationwide, Cosign opens more doors for recent graduates, independent workers, immigrants, Americans rebuilding after a setback, and others overlooked by traditional screening.

"A credit score is one number, a late collection account or even any other one off reason that is leading to denial, is one stat, not a whole person," said Zach Schofel, co-founder and CEO of Cosign. "If you've paid your rent on time and you can afford the next one, you deserve a fair shot at a home, whether you live in Ann Harbor or anywhere in America. What's happening in southeast Michigan is happening in metros across the country."

For more information, visit www.rentwithcosign.com.

About Cosign: Cosign is a mission-driven housing access company that helps renters who can afford the rent get approved for the homes they want. When a renter doesn't have a family member who can cosign, Cosign signs the lease as their cosigner, using a dynamic, data-driven approach to approvals. Founded by a team with decades of experience owning, operating and leasing apartments, Cosign works with property managers on more than 800,000 apartment units in metros across the country to open doors for teachers, nurses, hourly workers, recent graduates, immigrants and everyone else traditional screening overlooks. Learn more at www.rentwithcosign.com.

SOURCE Cosign