The problem was the transfer of Church property. Compulsory clerical celibacy was implemented to stop the transfer of Church properties from father to son and it was also implemented to give the hierarchy more control over the clergy. I think in our current era we can allow for vocations in which priests can be married without placing in jeopardy Church properties just as the private sector does, just as the government does, just as other Churches do, including the Orthodox Church and other Catholic churches in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
OK, so supposing we go ahead with this, what about the 400k or so priests who are currently serving? What will we do about paying for entire families to live in a rectory? What will we do about clerical divorce? Will we completely sever ties with the Orthodox and have married bishops? If not, where will we get our bishops, and what justification will we be able to use? What about bad PKs (priest’s kids), what do we do about their fathers?
Have you polled your local priests, are you ready for the vacuum that will hit us when thousands of them leave the Church or enter monastic life?
I think this is an urban legend. The "Church properties" didn't belong to the priest in the first place, nor do they now.