@Nate P.Your profile hints that you are living abroad.If you are a US citizen - you want to make sure that the CPA you work with understands the foreign earned income exclusion(FEIE).If you purchase a property and are expecting valuable feedback on how that property will impact your tax return, you will need to provide a rough profit and loss projection(rental income and expenses) along with purchase price to have a conversation with your accountant so that they can provide you good feedback. 

Houston and Dallas accounted for over 60 percent of the state's construction value.Median Home Prices Fall Despite Big Four RisingDespite a rise in the Big Four, Texas' median home price fell by 0.7 percent to $332,300.

Working with design-builders can be incredibly expensive.

He also breaks down the time & expense between hiring someone & doing it yourself.

They might want to hold the property in an LLC, and have its own bank account for expenses

You realize stepping out of the 9 to 5 means incurring your own retirement and health expenses, go ask people north of 55+ that are on their own how much their health insurance costs.

Net Operating Income is simply your income left over after all business expenses, not including principal, interest, or any reserves (since those aren't expenses yet). 

You think $535k median price in Denver's high?

Does anyone know of a way that I can service the loan myself with some great software out there that's not crazy expensive? 

When you draw down the reserve you count it as income but offset it with the expense causing the draw.