It specifically says it is not for real estate investment, but I believe you would be buying an operating business vs just real estate.This is so helpful Michael, thanks so much!  

Your VA loan will be crucial to your real estate investing growth, especially since it affords you the potential opportunity to own more than one property, depending on your overall allotment.For active military personnel, that conundrum of where to invest and where you will end up is always part of the issue that sometimes causes analysis paralysis so it's great you have one in VA Beach already.

As far as meetups go, you can find a lot of local events posted here on BiggerPockets: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-real-estate-events-...I also have a list of Chicago meetups that I can share with you as well.

@Audris TienIt Is known in the industry - read the website - logically two people could not manage $1.4B in real estate?

@Edgar Duarte Depends on if you prefer owning real estate or want to be invested in the stock market.

There are all kinds of plans and ways to “make it” in real estate.

If you track listings a full lap around the calendar, you get a real idea of the revenue comps in an area.

Real Estate is a large asset class that has many different strategies inside of it. 

I also hold a couple of real estate forums in the area for people like yourselves to connect with service providers, GC's, etc. 

To thrive in real estate investing, you must maintain a firm grip on your finances.