Maybe create a non-profit with the express goal of raising funds to bring the properties back... with some sort of low income housing component.

And this in turn will make the system run non-stop all the time which is going to crush my gas bills.  

A few of the units around me dropped their prices, but even then they wound up renting to people that I rejected due to any number of reasons, so the season has definitely thinned the pool of good prospects.My units show well and are all updated, but I have fairly high criteria (650+ credit, non smoker, 3x rent) so it may also be a factor.

One interesting story she told me was one obstinate seller, who is non wavering on his price.

I wouldn't shy away from the deal.. just realized you would have to give proper notice of non-renewal to that apartment and you also let sec 8 know the lease is not going to be renewed. 

As I mentioned my condo is 4600 sq ft, my brother in law just bought a condo in NYC for over $4500/sq ft, so a comparable condo in his building would be $20m in NYC vs $3.7M in Houston.Im not saying Houston is as good as those other places, but its still very cheap and we have plenty of non oil jobs.

HELOC will be harder on non-primary residence and a commercial loan would work but crush your profitability for no real gain. call a bundle of lenders until you have some options.

A private lender can be any non-traditional lender.

I don’t have a credit score, as I am from Europe and so no fico score. I do invest in US, I have 2 investment properties, cash deals in an LLC. They are cash flowing great:Asset 1 doing 775$Asset 2 doing 1150$Now I wo...

Bottom line though for a buy and hold investor Property tax's are an important component and all things being equal if your in non appreciating states. .Like Texas basically has been for ever and a day ( except Austin ) and the little bit of run up they have had..