The Truth About Marriage Or Mortgage's Nichole Holmes

Lavish wedding or down payment on a home? Well, if you're Nichole Homes, the real estate agent (and arguably the voice of reason) on Netflix's Marriage or Mortgage, you'll pick the latter every time. 

While Nichole's counterpart and wedding planner extraordinaire, Sarah Miller, is tasked with showing the reality show's contestants how they can use their hard earned money to plan the ultimate wedding, it's Nichole's job to show them how they can utilize that same nest egg to buy their own, well... nest. In the end, however, it's strictly up to the couples to make the big decision. "If there's a couple out there who's watching and sees that investing in a home isn't as daunting as it once was, then I've done my job," Nichole explained in an interview with Distractify. "I just want to impress upon people how important it is to put roots down to have a home that can [potentially] make you money in the long run ... If I can make that easier for any couple then I'm all about it."

But how did Nichole get into real estate in the first place? And has she always erred on the more practical side, especially when it comes to finances? Keep reading after the jump to find out more about the reality TV star.

As it turns out, Marriage or Mortgage's Nichole Holmes learned her lesson the hard way — and now she's made it her personal mission to impart that same lesson to other couples. 

In a March 2021 interview with SFGATE, Nichole shared that she has been married twice. "My first wedding was a very large and extravagant wedding, and my father came to me and said, 'Are you sure you don't want a big down payment on a house or two matching luxury cars in the driveway?' And I was, like, 'No, I've got to have my big day, Daddy!' Well, fast-forward seven years, and I got divorced," she said. "And then I was amortizing how much everything cost, and what it cost per year that the marriage lasted, and I was, like, 'Wow, that really wasn't a smart financial decision on my part!"

Her second marriage also ended in divorce, but not until after she and her second husband got hitched at the courthouse. "It was a very low-key wedding, but that one still didn't work," Nichole divulged. Still, that experience further solidified her stance about couples opting to forego a large wedding for something a bit more practical — like a roof over their heads. "Having gone through what I went through, it just makes good sense to me to take that money and put it into a down payment and find the dream home," she shared with the outlet.