My opinion is that it is all up to you and how involved you want to be.

I'm new to these forums, so apologies if this is the wrong section or a repeat (I'm betting on repeat).  

Now that you have achieved the goal of paying down debt you can leverage your good credit to obtain either personal lines of credit or if you have equity in your personal home you may leverage that as down payment money on a acquisition loan or use that to purchase low costing investment property, depending on what market(s) you are looking to invest in.I've personally was in your same position and used personal loans to outright buy investment properties in various markets and I wish I would have known about lines of credit prior to getting involved with loans.

Multi is your best bet.

My wife Aradia and I are a few years out from retiring from the military and have decided to get involved with real estate investing.

The IRS generally opposes self-dealing and can assess sizable penalties on both the business entity and the individual involved in the transaction. 

That will be your best bet.

If your primary focus is to flip housing then a hard/private money lender is your best bet. 

However, I have to scrub through all the notices to check if there is any real estate involved in the distribution. 

.- I made the transition from residential to commercial a few years ago and I love it, because of the more passive aspects involved.