Chicago Home Buying For Regular People, Week 2: Navigating The Mortgage Hellscape

By Sponsor in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 10, 2015 5:00AM

It seems like a far-off dream, buying your own space in Chicago—somewhere out there with misty visions of backyard treehouses, vacations to Venice, and your hypothetical kids in tire swings. But here's the thing: it doesn't have to be that way. To help squash those youthful misconceptions, we're running a series with marketplace lender SoFi on just how you, Regular Person, can actually own your own home before the big 3-0.

Last week: down payments get the axe.

This week: paperwork is stupid.

GRIPE #2: Buying a house is top-5 on the list of Life's Little Nightmares.

THE TRUTH: No one in 2015 should be scheduling time for paperwork.

Finance in general is confusing, slow, and seemingly opposed to good sense. Then suddenly, you're in the housing market and it's worse than you imagined. The traditional lending process can be archaic and mind-numbing; you might need to file tons of paperwork, track down fax machines, and take long phone calls in the stairwell at work.

Don't own a printer, scanner, fax machine? Looks like you'll be getting to know that sketchy internet cafe on 8th!

Wanna submit a form as a PDF? Better figure out where to buy stamps instead!

Expecting to meet a loan officer outside bank hours? What are you, a princess?

FINE, SO WHAT'S THE ANSWER? Ditch the old process. Buying a home is not like it was when your dad did it.

Lenders like SoFi have taken the headaches out of the process. With SoFi, you don’t need to talk to anyone to see what you qualify for. You can do that on your own time right on SoFi.com right from your laptop or phone, and—when you’re ready to pull the trigger on a home—upload and submit your application documents online.

Having a place to call your own in a treacherous market like ours really is attainable. We don't bank, watch TV or order food like our parents, so why buy a house like they did?

Ready to save on paperwork headaches? Experience the SoFi difference yourself. See what they can offer you in 2 minutes at SoFi.com.

Stay tuned next week for another common anxiety about home buying and to see how SoFi is subverting a murky industry with affordable rates, way less paperwork, and—who knew!—transparency.

This post is a sponsored collaboration between SoFi and Gothamist staff.

SoFi Lending Corp. NMLS # 1121636. Terms and conditions apply. See SoFi.com/mortgage for eligibility and licensing details.