Graduate students in Little Rock, Arkansas, face a housing decision that many will get wrong, according to Jerry Larkowski, Managing Broker at ESQ. Realty Group, LLC and a licensed attorney. With the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences training physicians, pharmacists, and nurses, UA Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law downtown, and the new Lyon College School of Dental Medicine in Riverdale, the city hosts a large population of students in long professional programs. Most are in town for three or four years and rent the whole time. Larkowski says that is often the right call, but not always, and the implications for students who plan to stay in Central Arkansas are significant.
The first question, Larkowski says, is whether you are staying. Someone headed to a residency or job in another state after graduation may be better off renting. For those who plan to remain, the case for buying gets stronger. A house offers privacy and quiet that most apartments do not, which matters for someone studying for boards or the bar exam. There is also a long-term benefit: when income grows and it is time for a larger home, the first house does not have to be sold. Larkowski says these homes can become good investments as rental houses.
For students not ready to buy, Larkowski suggests making it a goal for the next 12 months and using that time to learn Little Rock. Pay attention to different areas of town, visit open houses on Sunday afternoons, and look through homes currently for sale beforehand to decide which ones are worth the drive. Walk the neighborhoods you like, shop at nearby stores, eat at local restaurants, and talk to people about what living there is like. Talk to lenders and realtors early, long before you plan to make an offer.
Heavy student loans are the norm for medical, dental, and law students, and they are often what surprises students most when they first meet with a lender. Larkowski puts it plainly: student loans affect your debt-to-income ratio no differently than a car loan does, including loans in deferment while you are still in school. A $0 payment on your credit report does not mean a lender will count it as $0. FHA guidelines generally count 0.5% of the outstanding balance each month when no payment is reported, so a $200,000 balance could be treated as a $1,000 monthly payment. Under Fannie Mae guidelines, a deferred loan can be counted at 1% of the balance or a fully amortizing payment. That makes one question worth asking any lender before you tour a single house: how will you count my student loans? The answer can change your budget by hundreds of dollars a month. On the loans themselves, Larkowski advises choosing the repayment plan with the lowest monthly payment, though a lower payment can mean more interest over the life of the loan. Federal loans made on or after July 1, 2026, also come with fewer choices.
Some students buy during school and rent out part of the property, a strategy often called house hacking. That might mean a duplex where you live on one side and rent the other, or a house with spare bedrooms for roommates. FHA financing can be used for an owner-occupied property with up to four units, which puts a duplex within reach for some buyers. Larkowski says the duplex house hack concept looks good on paper and to do it if you can make it work, but he attaches two conditions. First, hire a property manager and never tell the tenant next door that you own the building, because if they know, there is too much risk they will skip the manager and come to you every time. Second, put roommates on paper: be sure to have a lease, no matter how good a friend they are. Whether a student buys during school or two years after graduation, his advice on timing is the same: you can start too late, but you can’t start too early.
