Rock musicians cram into Allston basements so they can afford to pursue their art. Boston idol wannabes congregate in the cheapest Cambridge digs they can find. Life is all about the music.

But what happens when those musicians eventually decide to settle down?

Kevin Patey is there, man.

Patey, 35, moonlights with the band The Raging Teens -- ''The Aging Teens," he quips -- and manages the bands Darkbuster and Emergency Music, plus his wife, singer-songwriter Mary Lou Lord. But for the last year he's also worked full time for Northeast Lending as a mortgage consultant, telling rockers they can buy a house, even with no day job and no savings.

Patey's two paths sparked the idea for Rock & Roll Refinancing, a seminar that drew a dozen renters to Central Square club TT the Bear's Place last month. It was the first of what Patey hopes to be quarterly sessions. The meeting at TT's paired hard-core financial advice with a short set from the band Blythe Hollow.

While targeting a particular audience is nothing new in real estate, Robert Authier, executive vice president of the Mass. Association of Realtors, thinks Patey may have cornered the rock-musician market. More typical are agents who focus on vacation or retirement homes, Authier says. Still, realtors ''tend to target the people they know first."

Authier adds that he and his realtor brother performed as ''The Midnighters" in the late '60s and early '70s -- clear evidence that rockers can reform.

At the TT session, modern midnighters express concerns that range from improving credit scores -- maxing out the plastic to put together a CD can do a number on them -- to documenting income and having less than $2,000 in the bank.

In response, Patey and realtor Stephen LaBollita, Patey's partner in the seminar venture, suggest such options as interest-only mortgages and loans that don't require income verification. LaBollita owns property in Attleboro, where he runs the small label Rotten Drunk Records. Patey and Lord own a home in Beverly.

Patey's day-job boss, Northeast Lending's co-owner Geoff Ricks, 28, explains to a reporter, ''It's not that you want to be in [those loans] forever, but you get in the door."

Says Patey, ''You can always refinance down the road." In the meantime, ''Spend the money on other stuff, like Pabst Blue Ribbon, supporting local rock bands that don't make any money."

It's this attitude that makes Patey -- with his slicked-back hair, heavy glasses, and turned-up jeans -- think rockers will feel more comfortable with him than with ''the guy with a suit and tie."

TT's bartender Shari Eleftherion, 37, agrees. With conventional real estate brokers, she says, ''You can almost hear them in the back of their head laughing at you."

Eleftherion hopes to buy in the next three years, and after the presentation, homeownership seems more realistic. Her off-duty colleague Joanne Miller, 35, shares her reaction.

''It's time to grow up," Miller says.

Asked later about ways to entice reticent rockers to join the ranks of homeownership, Patey e-mails, ''I suppose I could throw a free house party with Darkbuster playing live upon moving into their new home, but the odds are fairly high they wouldn't have much of a house left by the time the party was over. They certainly would have house guests till all the beer was gone!"

Danielle Dreilinger can be reached at ciweek@globe.com.

House hunting 101

These tips inspired by the Rock 'n' Roll Refinancing seminar are aimed at rockers, but some advice is just as good for the Mozart crowd -- or the tone-deaf. Some examples:

Choose a home that fits your lifestyle. If you're going to want a home recording or practice space, you've got to think ahead.

Look at the big picture. Consider where you want to be in 5-10 years and which house will help you get there. A little place out in the 'burbs might given you more house for the money, but how easy will it be to work into the club scene from there?

Down the road your house will be your most valuable asset. You can use that equity to pay for college tuition . . . or recording an album.

Explore mortgage options. Don't settle for a loan you're worried you won't be able to afford if the gigs stop coming.

Negotiate with the seller. They may pay your closing costs-- or leave their motorcycle behind.

DANIELLE DREILINGER