My guess is they are looking at your purchase price + improvements and putting a lot of weight in that.

Price drops in Texas are rare; in fact, during the housing crisis Austin prices barely dipped at all, before a really rapid rise. 

I am currently working to systematize seller and renter leads that we are generating rapidly.

Would you move forward with owner financing or would you put the most weight with the appraiser and stick hard and fast with the appraisal value?

The most weight will be the income approach on this property as the market will be difficult to value since it's unconventional. :)

The population is rapidly growing, land and home value are appreciating FAST.

So if I told you Columbus has better returns and is a superior city in every way to Cleveland, would you be convinced to invest in a better location...Cleveland is an ok city...still lots of old money, but the population is declining rapidly. 

We've lost three guys this week so the rehab is falling behind schedule rapidly.  

After witnessing the explosion of stuff rapidly accumulating in my house, I am not too thrilled.  

A good agent is worth their weight in gold.