Over time, fine particles fill the pore space in the soil. 

Typically, I'd keep taking out mortgages with 25% down until my fund were about dry, but that strategy is getting old and boring to me (though it has been successful over the years).

If you have no problem doing lawn where there is far more black mold you should have no problem ripping out moldy dry wall.  

@Trevor Murphy if the ceilings are high enough dry over it.

I'm not sure about the soil conditions in your area, but the soil type could also be an issue.For the structural repair itself, the engineer recommended a few different options: 1.

It's not a ship or a submarine, which stays dry if submerged: there are many water entry points between the floor slab and the wall system, expansion joints and relativley normal hairline cracks. 

The soil is now getting tested and the utilities company is getting called.

Another option is to install supports on the outside wall where supports are driven down until they hit soil / rock that will provide the needed support.What we found is that the repairs are possible but they are costly . . . one property we looked at called for $35K in repairs making the deal a non-starter.For houses on concrete slabs, there are similar repairs but the key is to get someone that knows the issues and solutions. 

Austin is a very saturated rental market, so it makes sense that bookings are drying up a bit during the slow season. 

The time share resale industry was where the 50s land sales guys/gals ended up. when land sales started to dry up they moved to timeshares/  and in the industry they call it crimeshare.just like in the industry low end rentals can be called Trashflow..