Good to be here!

Thanks for the intro Mary! Please allow me to formally introduce myself
as Steve D'Amico, a Mortgage Consultant with First Rochester Mortgage Corp., located at 2024 W. Henrietta Rd,
Rochester, NY 14623, (585) 427-9200 (sorry, couldn't resist the shameless plug). The company I work for is a
Residential and Commercial Mortgage Broker. I'll write more about the benefits of working with a broker in a future blog.

For my first post I thought I might bore you with a little bit about myself and my background. Don't worry, I'll keep in very
brief. I was born and raised here in the Rochester area until I ventured off to college. I went as far away as I could go, but
close enough to run home for dinner and be back to the dorm by 8pm, so I
went to Buffalo. My parents were starting to wonder why I wasn't simply commuting to school, because I came home almost
every weekend that first year, not to mention all the laundry I brought with me. Anyhow, I received a B.S. in Health Science from
S.U.N.Y. Buffalo, and a B.S. in Physical Therapy from Daemen College. I worked as a PT for 8 years at a large local hospital,
before joining the Mortgage business 4 years ago. Why I left health care industry is also for another time.

Let me salvage this blog and save myself with some actual useful information. I often get this question, "Is there a rule of thumb with
regards to how much I qualify for?" The answer is simply "No". There are many factors that come into play when one is trying to
determine how much house the "bank" feels one can afford. Credit scores, down payment, debt-to-income ratio, and reserves such as 401k
to name a few, are just part of the overall picture that determines what an individual can "qualify" for. I think a better question is, "What can
I afford?" In most cases, especially with all the the different mortgage products
out there, one can qualify for a lot more than what one can actually afford to pay.
Banks over qualifying people is one of the factors that has led to all the recent foreclosures. Personally, when I sit down with clients, we'll
spend a majority of the time figuring out what their comfort level is with regards to a mortgage payment. At the end of the day, its all about what
your comfort level is and not what you "qualify" for.