After our last batch of tenants moved out, I decided it was time to sell this rental house and simplify my life a little. It was our first home when my husband and I moved back to San Antonio, and it became our first rental property when we found a better home for our needs. It's in Oak Hills Terrace, a quiet neighborhood close to the Medical Center, with big, tree-filled yards and actual 2-car garages, so I hoped it would sell quickly.

I replaced the vinyl flooring downstairs with ceramic tile, totally repainted the interior of the home, and replaced all the carpet. I refinished the counter top in the guest bathroom and updated several of the light and bath fixtures. I also did some "light" staging, and made sure the sprinkler was keeping the grass green.

My favorite thing about this home was the beautiful, stately oak trees in the front and back yards. We had planted some crepe myrtles and a sweet olive tree in the back yard, and they had grown in the last few years. We planted a jasmine vine at one corner of the patio, and it had grown up over the pergola to shade quite a bit of the deck.

We also planted daffodils, and some of them actually came up and bloomed before the squirrels ate them. Vividly colored bluejays hung out in our back yard. We had a resident possum who performed acrobatic feats on the back fence. We had enjoyed this home, and some good (and not so good) tenants had enjoyed it, too.

Anyway, after listing the house for 12 days at the higher, but not the highest, side of the price range of the comparable sales, but not getting much activity, I lowered the price to $145,000. Ten days later, we had a full-price contract for $151,000, including our $6000 contribution to the buyer's closing costs.

Today, the buyer's agent passed on the news that the house appraised for $155,000. So what did I immediately think?

"I priced the house too low! I'm givin' it away!"

...instead of thinking, "Yay! It appraised out!"

So, just as I would with my clients selling their home, I reminded myself of three things:

1. Lenders' appraisals do not reflect market value, and sometimes bear no resemblance to reality either.

2. There is now a happy home buyer who will be very unlikely to back out of the contract if something goes wrong, because she has "built-in equity."

3. And the most important thing: I am one step closer to moving on with my life.