Will Latinos Lead a Real Estate Recovery?

Like many aspiring home buyers, Gil Lopez, 29, is striving to find the right neighborhood for his young family. His bank has qualified him for a loan large enough to buy a $300,000 home, but he has set his own price cap firmly at $230,000 as he searches through north San Diego County. Affordability is his mantra, having had a front row seat to the the darkest hours of the housing crash. Both his parents and his sister's family lost their homes to short sale and foreclosure, and now live in an apartment rental with "only one bathroom."

Yet Lopez escaped the crisis relatively unscathed and has spent the last few years building his credit and his education. Today, he works as an investigator for the district attorney's office. His wife is in school and works part-time, and they both take care of their 3-year-old daughter. The combination of housing affordability, low interest rates, life stage and ambition for building a nest egg have come together to lure Lopez into the housing market this summer.