I realize it's a bit more complex because we're foreigners... we've been told it's best to deal with Canadian banks that do business in the US.

As an alternative you may want to look at some of the Crowd funding short term debt deals I think foreign citizens may be exempt from the accredited investor US regs..and or Look at investing in some mortgage funds here I the states..

Renting WAS MY LIFE i lived w foreign buddies in beijing for scrap change rent but the shower essentially was a hole on the floor above clubs, music banging all night. in london i lived for 6months w some pakistani family and their crying kid every night for a few hundred w a room next to hallway light was 24/7on..ust moved to nyc 2yrs ago rent out two places to 2 tenants now.

In one, I make all the decisions, in the other, I have to hope China doesn't reposition their currency.

Try reading this book by John Bogle:Enough.You clearly have more than enough money to do a blend of passive index investing and summarily discard the notion that you need to spend any additional effort for the rest of you or your family's life on anything as banal as the pursuit of additional pieces of currency that add no real value to your life.  

Unless of course our illustrious leader has suddenly become Machiavellian after multiple foreign policy debacles and convinced the Saudis to put some pressure on the Iranians, so they will actually negotiate nuclear issues rather than to pretend that they are.  

The real reasons behind our foreign policy are explained in papers such as "A Clean Break:  A New Strategy for Securing the Realm". 

Just a few options you have to invest in are: residential and commercial real estate, undeveloped or raw land, real estate notes (mortgages and deeds of trusts), private limited partnerships (limited liability companies and C corporations), tax lien certificates, foreign currencies, and oil and gas investments to name a few.

I personally own (in a top secret location) $500,000,000,000,000.00 in Zimbabwe currency.  

One property In Detroit its common for the Policed to relocate the elderly or those that have lived on one of these blocks for years that has turned Ghetto. they don't have the man power or resources to protect the innocent.. so they pay to move them.Its a very sad commentary on the war zones of the us inner cities.. and the poor people that have lived in the neighborhood for 30 years or more only to see it turn and decay to an extent that the government can not protect you anymore.And then you take the lovely Flippers that buy this crap for nothing and sell it to unsuspecting out of state investors or foreign investors and the cycle of greed and is complete.