Which path for First investment?

[Edward Webb]

This may be a long post so I'll leave a TL;DR at the bottom.

About me: I'm a 6 year Navy vet separating in April. I don't have a job lined up and currently the goal is to go to college and earn my Texas real estate license. I don't plan on selling houses as my primary source of income. I intend to use those resources to build a strong investment team and build a rental property portfolio. I hope that I can ALSO sell properties to my investment team and also to other investors. My endgame goal is to teach others, young and old, to invest and never struggle for money again.
I am stuck between a few options. I've read several books, listened to some podcasts and read some forum posts. I've come to decide that I am interested in either commercial multi-family, or BRRRR; or both. I think a good idea for me would be to invest around military bases. I understand the way service members pay works, and I understand what happens when they choose to skip rent.

Path 1(cheaper): go back to college on my GI bill and purchase my first single family home with VA loan. Do some day trading and build an online business and presence to pay anything extra. Do not pick up rental income yet. Possibly find a job in a brokerage pre-license as an assistant and begin to build my network. Once I'm licensed and depending on the success of my business I can purchase my first properties.

Path 2(employee mindset): get a job, likely in the upper 5 digit range and look to purchase a 4 unit property with my VA loan. I have to live in 1 unit for a minimum of 1 year and I'll be picking up rental income fairly quickly. I'll have a larger nest egg. But I'll be delaying my licensing and schooling. I'm also worried that I will grow comfortable in the employee mindset and get myself stuck in that life style.

Path 3(furthest out of comfort zone): purchase my own home with VA loan, as in path 1. But add syndicating a larger multiunit property. I have no experience syndicating something like this and very limited knowledge of the way this works. I also don't have many contacts in my network that would be financially able to involve themselves in such a deal. I could attempt to gather enough for a 10-20, or more, unit property. This would allow me to go to college and get ready for real estate licensing. And I'd already have my first team built.

TL;DR: Should I buy a single family home and put off buying my first rental, get a job and buy a quad, or do path one + syndicate a larger deal with no syndication experience?