Co-Signer.com helps people get new lease on life

Las Vegas businessman Mike Chernine has started a company to help good people with bad credit get a place to call home.

Co-Signer.com aims to help those who have lost their homes to foreclosure or short sale get past the resulting hit to their credit rating as they fill out rental applications, said Chernine, who founded the company in October.

About 5 million former homeowners have become candidates for rentals in the past year alone. Once considered solid citizens, landlords may view them as "flight risks," he said.

"A lot of people I know had houses and the bank told them the only way to modify their loan is to miss payments," Chernine said. "Now they're out in the market to rent. They've got cash, just bad credit."

Co-Signer.com eases the landlord's concerns by guaranteeing rent payment should the renter default or skip out on their lease. So far, the company has written 39 contracts in nine states, with no defaults as of last week, Chernine said.

Co-Signer.com collects an upfront fee from the tenant of 9 percent of the annual lease for single-family rental homes and higher-end apartments, and 5 percent for apartments with lower rents. One product pays the rent for as long as 180 days, the other for 90 days.

On a typical home that rents for $1,000 a month, the tenant would pay a one-time fee of $600 to $1,080 for the service. The landlord selects the product they want, based on the tenant's credit history.

Principals of Co-Signer.com come from diverse backgrounds in real estate development and management, law, finance, credit and insurance. They understand the relationship between landlords and tenants, as well as credit risk management, said Chernine, principal and founder of Land Baron Investments.

He formed the company through a Newport Beach, Calif.-based hedge fund that raises capital for business ventures. Should a tenant default, payment is made through Provident Trust Group, a licensed and bonded Las Vegas company with more than $1 billion in assets.

The Provident Trust account is funded by Co-Signer.com and supplemented from every contract in order to cover each new guarantee, Chernine said.

Applicants are screened through the National Tenant Network, which looks at credit, rental and eviction history, as well as criminal and terrorist databases. Co-Signer.com goes further by reviewing the applicant's banking history, tax returns, community ties and income analysis.

"We're very selective in approving the applicants that seek our services," Chernine said. He said he gets about 30 to 40 applications a week from across the nation, and most of them are denied.

Chernine said he recently signed on with Stout Management, which has about 11,500 rental units in Las Vegas. Benefits to the landlord include decreased risk of income gaps between tenant defaults; increased occupancy and property traffic; and smaller legal fees associated with pursuing judgments on broken leases.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.