I have a number of friends/family/coworkers offering to invest in our business, so I am leaning strongly toward using their money for transactional funding which does not appear to be very common.  

I am not certain for personal mortgages, but I believe 1 year is the most common and have heard 6 months as well.

I've seen individuals jump right into investing by working with a mentor and essentially learning on the job.

I have an excellent day job that will afford me time to research and find properties (online) but i do not have any money for a down payment right now and am trying to dig out of CC debt right now that was necessary for me to buy my own new house and move.I gave my other house to my wife, we are amicable.

Learn from your mistakes and turn any fear into something positive.You did not mention if you still have a W-2 job that alters your position.  

A bit of background first; Myself and my friends are about to finish university, and will be working our first 'real' jobs beginning in 2017.

Is this common?

I'm currently still active duty military, and my goal is to get my real estate business firmly established in the next four year so that when I get out of the service I don't have to apply for jobs unless I really want to (probably not).

Also, take photos of the house, measure the square footage,and send this  to all the guys interested in the job. 

I would love to get to a point where I can quit my job or go PRN couple days a week to keep skills sharp.