To me real estate investment represents freedom; The freedom from the workplace that keeps me away from being a father, Financial freedom to do the things I've always wanted to do as a kid but couldn't, Educational freedom to learn all the things I never was taught in school, Freedom of my time to teach others all the things I've learned and free them from Plato's Cave. 

My question is figuring out my next move.This house is solely under my name and I am probably at 90% of my max buying power due to my DTI ratio (School loans are a pain), so financing another property could prove to be difficult. 

Hey I'm Donta, I am from Chicago but moved to Nashville for college and grad school. 

Small town feel close to urban areas.The issues are very few jobs, not many commute to Vancouver/Portland, the water quality has issues, school and hospital quality is poor, HIGH poverty rates, and a general apathy about improving/changing the city.  

Eventually, I am interested in obtaining my RE license in CO.I became involved in real estate through the purchase of the condo, which I completed a full renovation on before moving to Denver to complete school.

This link has good info. http://www.anthonyforest.com/assets/pdf/sfpa-heade... your link actually helped, thank u. i was not more detailed in my OP because i really do not know what information is needed to make that decision, sorry about that.its a 1 story brick home, the wall runs down the middle of the house. the wall is about 20' long and i assume the studs are 16" on center. i want an opening of around 8ft or so.based on what chad posted, i am going with the roof ridge beams as the closest match. i am a mechanical engineer, but have never done these calculations in school, so it's a little difficult to admit i need another engineer's help. :)

Comparing notes with folks that went to other schools confirms this for me whenever it comes up. 

Basic me is this :) I been doing carpentry since high school back in 1999.

Maize - best school system ; largest number of nearby restaurants/shopping of the 3 areas you mentioned.

In addition paid off $12k in school loans.