This was a giant BS blanket moratorium that screwed over everyone like you 

It had a house and a giant barn with two commercial tenants in it.

We are trying to engage the European market more to fill those voids.

@Gerardo Varela think of a HELOC as a giant credit card tied to your property. 

Something she would readily grasp and provide a different perspective such as: making these sacrifices now will allow us to have money later so we can go on those awesome tropical beach or European vacations.

I have gotten maybe 12 inquiries rather than instant bookings from Airbnb the last 9 months and yesterday vrbo.com. responded professionally, and not a single one ever led to a traceable booking. Respond professionall...

Harris is a giant county, so they pretty much do every month.So take your list and research and have your minimum bid noted...go to the sales, but don't bid....watch, record, talk to people. 

The European economy may not be robust right now, but will become better and more attractive to investors (lenders) than the U.S. in the near future.

I know some of the people building those giant buildings downtown, and while I am not happy with the style of the buildings the city allowed them to build (I am extremely conservative when it comes to architecture styles, and would prefer they were 100% faced in brick and not these weird mishmash things everyone builds now a days), or what I perceive as a lack of parking and over reliance on a luxury market, they are going to do quite well for themselves, so on that front it is hard to argue.

If the euro collapses then european investors will throw their money at the dollar and foreign investing.