For pretty houses a 3-10% option fee is reasonable with 3-5% being most common.

My goal is to have around 5 properties before I branch off into other investments such as note buying and multis.  

In 2017 our goal is to obtain one SFH rental property to test the waters.

Unfortunately this kind of stuff is fairly common.

From a high-level that process is: - know your goal and reason why - know the terminology - know how to run the #s - know how to find the good market and submarkets - build a brand - find team members - find investors - find deal - do right due diligence on deal -  close and do asset mgmt Investing in someone else's deal will be a little helpful just to see the process but I think the better approach would be to align yourself with the right people to help you work through the process I outlined above. 

I work with a lot of first time investors and the main way we get them started is by figuring out what their goals are in this business.

My goal is to build cash flow, pay off debt and be financially comfortable.

I currently work in the oil industry which has some serious ups and downs, so the goal is to replace my dependence on a company paycheck with income from my own business. 

It's common for them to be "missing" or blank. 

But with 1031 how would I be able to use some of the proceeds from the sale for my first goal of buying myself a primary home.