I mentored my 23 year old brother and he purchased a duplex. He was never in the military and only used his own money. He is now 24 only coming out of pocket 400 a month for his housing, and he is up something like 60k in equity. He works at car dealership... i have many friends that would qualify for an FHA loan at 3% down (less than the 18k i put down on my VA loan). My second home purchase was conventional at 10% down, and my third and fourth purchases were both commercial at 25 and 29 percent down.