The buyers even agreed to eat the difference if the house didn't appraise for the sale price (and it didn't).

Appraisals are not coming in at sales prices.  

On a $350K house you could say "I'll sell it to you for $10K (or $15K) below appraised value" and both of you would be better off in this arrangement.

Meaning that on the high end of an appraisal of 800k you would be able to refi a loan amount of 600k (75%) which is 30k less than your first note.

I had to get 2 bids to build new from 2 contractors, I had just had it appraised, plus a realtor wrote a letter of valuation.

The property appraised for $127,000.00 - our tenants are happy to not have had rents jacked Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

You can use apps like zillow or the county property appraiser's website to pull comps but you want to make sure that you are pulling true comps.

After the 10 years, it can move a max of 1% per year and is maxed out at a 6% increase over that entire 25 year terms. 1% total closing cost other than the appraisal fee.

You could ask for a discounted fee from the agent since the potential buyer will most likely accept the home 'as is' and won't be subject to an appraisal.

Bank fees, points, wire fees, appraisal, inspection (this isn't actually on the HUD-1 form), and the like are what we define as closing costs.