The economy won't be wrecked forever, this will be a temporary blip that is hard for many but we will get through it together!

There's no such thing as a free lunch obviously, but if she's busting her butt trying to get a temporary replacement job, offer to defer her rent one month. 

Bad public policy to decrease value of an investment while the debt increases. 

At this point I will be implementing a few temporary changes to help.1.

Now I am not huge fan of buyback either, but they are not as evil as everyone makes them out to be...they decrease the share count which means me as shareholder I own more of the company. 

So even if there is a temporary slowdown, once the overblown mass hysteria dies down things will likely return to normal with a bunch of pent up demand that's been shut in doors the previous few months.After all, it's not like housing demand is suddenly going to go away.

If I do not buy down the loan, I do not receive the increased cashflow of $700/mo from reducing the mortgage expenses over the lifetime of the loanI’ll go pull some of the numbers to show my decreased interest over the three year span and follow up.

Note if you refinance them, your cash flow situation is likely going to be about where it was prior to the value add but your equity has increased and what you have actually invested has decreased. 

I do know, as a land investor, that more of us who buy and sell vacant land are avoiding "buildable lots" or "infill" lots because new construction generally decreases in a downturn, and therefore the demand for land which can only be used for a spec home decreases and is hard to sell.  

I believe so, I have pulled equity out of properties (while still allowing for cashflow should rents decrease... conservative is good!)