My goal right now, is to find my first single family home for buy and hold investing.  

Nowadays, whenever I talk to someone to see if we can do business together, I always ask them what their goals are to see if I can help them get there.I have someone on my team who has been looking to buy a home, but can't get a loan right now since he just started his own business about a year ago.  

There are many facets and I would recommend to absorb all elements of investing and not just what pertains to your specific goals.

We both got our houses a couple years ago, but I did not use my VA loan at the time and both want to invest in multi family units.Our big goal with REI would be to invest in bigger multi family units but for now start with a 4plex and go from there. 

Going to local events/meetups and telling other investors about my goals has definitely made me feel more accountable - every time I run into them I want to have made more progress!

Based on our goals, we will be flipping but do have plans for multi family rentals in future.

We have set a 5 year goal of purchasing a beach condo in a resort that we frequent on vacation every year.

If your goal is buy and hold, you are already in arguably the best area of the country (Midwest).

Overall, my short-term goal is to have invested in my first property before 2018.

I've heard of people having the funds within a day or two of applying.The loan is direct deposited into your checking account and can be used pretty much however you see fit.