Cosign targets apartment vacancy gaps in Atlanta

The Atlanta apartment market is currently facing a notable misalignment between supply and occupancy. While roughly 90,000 units have been added to the metro area over the past five years, vacancy rates remain at 10.9%, well above the national average of 7.9%. Despite this surplus, property managers continue to struggle to secure tenants, leaving over 15,000 newly completed units empty.

The core of the issue lies in standardized tenant screening, which often relies on limited credit score metrics that exclude individuals with thin credit histories or temporary setbacks. Renters such as recent graduates, nurses, and independent contractors often possess the income to cover rent but are automatically rejected by automated leasing systems.

Cosign has introduced a third-party guarantee service to bridge this gap. By operating as a co-signer through a data-driven approval model, the company allows property managers to accept applicants who would otherwise be disqualified by traditional screening tools. The service is currently integrated across portfolios representing over 800,000 apartment units nationwide.

CEO Zach Schofel, who previously founded Eastman Residential, developed the platform to address the inefficiencies he witnessed while managing his own properties. By shifting the focus from static credit scores to dynamic income verification, the company seeks to reduce vacancy rates while providing housing access to credit-worthy but underserved demographics.