For the thousands of medical, dental, and law students who arrive in Little Rock each year for three- or four-year professional programs, housing is usually a temporary arrangement. Most rent for the duration and leave. But Jerry Larkowski, Managing Broker at ESQ. Realty Group, LLC and a licensed attorney, says that default assumption deserves a second look for students who expect to stay in Central Arkansas after graduation.
The distinction matters because Little Rock hosts a dense cluster of long professional programs: the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences trains physicians, pharmacists, and nurses; UA Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law sits downtown; and in 2025 the Lyon College School of Dental Medicine opened in Riverdale as the state’s first dental school. Students in these programs face the same rent-versus-buy question, but the answer depends heavily on where they plan to practice.
Larkowski is clear that not every student needs to buy. Someone headed to a residency or a job in another state after graduation may be better off keeping things simple. For students who plan to remain in the region, however, the case strengthens. A house offers privacy and quiet that most apartments do not—advantages that are not small for someone studying for board exams or the bar. “If one knows they will remain in Central Arkansas after school, it makes sense to start early,” he says. There is also a long-term play: when a graduate’s income grows and it is time for a larger home, the first house doesn’t have to be sold. Larkowski says these homes can become good investments as rental properties.
For students not ready to buy, Larkowski suggests setting a 12-month goal and using that time to learn the city. Pay attention to different areas of town, think about where you would want to live and where you would not, visit open houses on Sunday afternoons, and browse homes currently for sale beforehand to decide which ones are worth the drive. “The best way to get to know a neighborhood is to walk it,” he says. “Drive there, park your car, and take a stroll.” Spend time there as a customer—shop at nearby stores, eat at the restaurants, and talk to people about what living there is like.
Heavy student loans are the norm for these graduate programs, 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 touring a single house: how will you count my student loans? The answer can change a budget by hundreds of dollars a month.
On the loans themselves, Larkowski advises choosing the repayment plan with the lowest monthly payment. “You will be able to ‘buy more house’ when it’s time,” he says, though a lower payment can mean more interest over the life of the loan—worth discussing with a financial advisor. Federal loans made on or after July 1, 2026, also come with fewer choices: a tiered standard plan or the income-based Repayment Assistance Plan.
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, putting a duplex within reach for some buyers. “The duplex ‘house hack’ concept looks good on paper; if you can make it work, do it,” Larkowski says. He attaches two conditions. First, hire a property manager and never tell the tenant next door that you own the building—otherwise there is too much risk they will skip the manager and come to you every time. “The first time it happens for a burst water pipe at 3 a.m., you will wish you had used a ‘PM,’” he says. 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.”
