Need help buying my first duplex

[Neco Long]

Alcon,

Military soldier needing help buying my first duplex, my credit not that good (student loan)

[Nathan Gesner]

Former military myself. Your best option is to house hack. You can use your VA loan ($0 down) to purchase up to four units. You can live in one unit and rent the others out. Here's an example:

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...

Let's say your loan is $170,000 at 3%. Your monthly mortgage payment would be about $720, plus you have to pay insurance and taxes. Your total payment will likely be less than $1,000 a month. You live in one side and rent the other side out for $1,000 a month. Based on my quick research, this looks pretty close to market rate. The Army pays you a housing allowance which will easily cover your mortgage and utilities. The second half is rented for approximately $900 - $1,000 a month which you can pocket and put towards another investment at your next duty station.

Want an even better return? Buy a fourplex so you're living in one unit and renting out the other three:

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...

Your mortgage would be around $2,000 but you can probably get $2000 a month from the three rentals, plus your monthly housing allowance from the Army.

These numbers are based on my limited knowledge of the housing market out there, but you should be able to quickly research this and see what the possibilities are. Read House Hacking by Craig Curelop in the BiggerPockets bookstore or Set For Life by Scott Trench.