Feeling a little down in the dumps due to backed up credit card bills or a late mortgage payment? At least you aren’t a star on one of Bravo TV’s multi-million dollar franchise, “The Real Housewives.”

The show started as a spin off from the wildly popular fictional show, “Desperate Housewives” back in 2005 with “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” For months, camera crews followed the lives of overly privileged women and their lavish appetite for spending money.

The initial show’s success created a national franchise with Housewives of Atlanta, and New York City and New Jersey. The running theme throughout the shows was the same—lots of money and lots of bling.

However, how much “bling” and money do these women really have? Does art (if you want to call reality TV art) truly imitate life?

According to Zillow, many of these “housewives” have gotten into a financial pickle and are having their spending habits curbed by outside sources—such as lenders and the government.

For example, one New Jersey housewife, who travels with a rather large wad of cash in her pocketbook, is now facing bankruptcy and foreclosure on two of her three properties. On a “reported” $79,000 salary, her family debt looks like this:

• Credit card debt — $104,000
• Car payment — $1,280/month for their Cadillac Escalade
• Fertility clinic — $12,000
• Real estate — $2.6 million for eight mortgages on three homes (two were taken by lenders)
• Business investments — $5.8 million
• Phone bill — $2,300
• Home repairs — $85,600

The grand total is approximately $11 million! How did this happen? So many Americans got caught up in the whirl of living the high life several years ago and never stopped. According to a recent MSNBC article, household debt by the end of 2007 reached a record 133.7% of disposable income. The average household is nearly $10,700 in credit card debt.

Jeff Yeager, author of “The Ultimate Cheapskate” discussed with Today Show’s Matt Lauer how to avoid becoming a “Real Housewife” and live happily ever after.

The basis of his book is to live below your means instead of above—an unfortunate new American trend. He says that everyone should spend less than what their take-home pay is and save whatever they can for emergencies. Sounds simple, but is quite the opposite of what people are doing—as illustrated with reality TV shows.

He believes that Americans should spend and save money they way they did back in the early 1980’s; where homeowners would only purchase a new household item to replace one that has been worn out beyond repair. Instead, today most people simply purchase a new model or item simply because; “it’s better” or they “want it.”

Unfortunately fueling the fire of “I want” were subprime lenders. Only a few years ago, subprime lenders roamed the markets telling borrowers who clearly couldn’t afford to make monthly payments on their mortgage that they should purchase that multi-million dollar home. Today those lenders are few and far between but homeowners who bought their cheesy pick up line are now stuck with a home, most likely, in foreclosure.

AmeriFirst customers aren’t in that predicament. We’ve never been part of the underworld of subprime lending and are always honest and up front with our customers about what they can (or cannot) afford. We know that your lifestyle is more than just your home—its being able to take a family vacation, establish a nest egg and having the ability to provide the best education possible for your children. We take every aspect into consideration when it comes to mortgages so that you can live the American dream—not the American nightmare.

Sources:
Zillow: http://www.zillow.com/blog/real-housewife-of-njs-teresa-giudice-in-foreclosure/2010/06/07/

Today Show: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38034916/ns/today-books/