Real estate is booming in Vegas, but it may be too late
(CBS News) SAN FRANCISCO - If you've been waiting to buy a home, you may have waited too long, at least as far as mortgage rates go. The 30-year-fixed rate rose to 4.61 percent this week, the highest since April 2011. Like the weather, the real estate market in Las Vegas has been red hot lately. But it's not hot enough for homeowners who bought at the peak of the last boom.
We first caught up with Dave and Cheryl Burton last year, when their home's value was in freefall. The house they bought in 2007 for $700,000 had crashed down to $325,000. In a dismal market, Dave was trying to keep his hopes up.
"When the market tanked," he told us in 2012, "our mindset was put your nose to the grindstone, keep working hard, and it will turn around."
Las Vegas a casualty of the housing bust
The market actually has turned around in the city once known as the capital of foreclosures. Up and down the streets, "sold" signs in Las Vegas are replacing "bank owned." Neighborhoods are buzzing again.
"Driving around with clients right now is fantastic," said realtor Kina Foster Theivagt. "Kids are running around playing with each other. It makes it feel more like home and less like a ghost town."
Like many in their neighborhood who had bought at the peak, the Burtons could have walked away. But they decided "it would wreck our credit," said Dave. "It just goes against every fabric of how we were raised."
Their new neighbors have been buying low and making money. But the Burtons still have huge house payments and they can't find a bank to restructure their loan.
"We've never been late," said Dave.
"We've never missed a payment," said Cheryl.
In just the last year, the price of a median home in Las Vegas has gone up nearly 33 percent.
The Burtons' home has also risen in value from $325,000 to $400,000. But for them, the recovery is coming just a bit too late. They will probably sell at a loss.
"We're trying to find that silver lining, but our hearts are heavy," said Dave.
