Doing these make their job easier which will benefit you. 

Additionally, the macroeconomics here has seen significant growth - population and jobs are both growing, and major companies started moving and developing here (Intel, Google, Amazon, FB, etc).

Good job!

Do we really want the government to rely on getting more people to smoke more marijuana in order to do their job protecting us and maintaining our infrastructure and schools?

Your new potential guests are insurance companies for homeowner displacement (flood, fire), buyers looking to move to the area but not sure where they want to be, sellers who want to sell but have nowhere to go, contract workers in the area, adjunct professors on a semester job, etc.

My overall reason for being in real estate is long-term wealth building as I have a decent job for now so I don't need real estate revenue to live off of.It sounds like investing in a condo in a place like Branson may be one of the only viable options for me, basically I'm looking to diversify to have more than just LTR's at this moment.

It might not need a full replacement if it's still doing its job—keeping the rain out and protecting the structure.

Research markets, consider factors like job growth, population trends, and property prices.

In the next 1-2 yrs I'd like to move out to either a bigger place or a new new city (job related relocation etc).

Even though I have a great corporate sales job with a W2 income over $200k annually, I've always known I didn’t want to rely on that income forever.