First house advice

[James Cheatham]

My wife and I are looking to purchase our first house. We really like the "free duplex" idea and had some questions. We will be using a VA loan but we don't have a ton of income. I am estimating our VA loan approval around 120-200k no money down. We are looking to purchase a duplex/triplex in Virginia beach but the prices our going to be way out of our range. How are other newbies able to purchase a whole unit with a low loan approval? The goal would be to pick up a duplex/tri and love in it for 3-5 years. After that we could hold into it and possibly refi to pull equity into our own sfr. But how do I hold both properties? I would assume banks won't fund us a whole new second mortgage with a low income. Thank you for any help/advice.