You add no value by needlessly locking up a property that has already hit the largest buyer's list on the planet.  

You may also be able to find Unhappy landlords by calling the For Rent BY OWNER signs on houses that look a bit rough around the edges -when you see that, you are probably going to be looking at a person who is not meant to be landlording, and is probably up to his/her ears in deadbeat tenants! 

If you have any other advice, I'm all ears!

I've listened to 30+ podcasts (ear buds while I mow the grass every week), read several books from REI strategies to property management and several topics in between. 

Use your lock box and make sure you or your assistant is the point of contact. 

Or, in the end, is it just smarter to rent, not lock myself in, and buy myself some extra time?

So I think your realized / unrealized is almost moot.If you have $300k equity in your property, and you know the market / value of your asset, you can lock in a HELOC within 1 day.

You are certainly on the right track.  98% of success happens in between the ears, the more and sooner you work on that aspect (the inner game) the faster you will succeed!! 

Appraisers are normally the eyes and ears of lenders.

If that's the case,  you have locked in a low property tax base, and a fantastic (high paying, easy to find, easy to manage, etc.) tenant profile, which I would not want to loose.