Loan Options using Navy Stipend

[Alex Fisher]

Hi all. To give a background on my situation, I am an incoming first year medical student at UNC Chapel Hill and am on the US Navy HPSP scholarship. With this scholarship the Navy pays for 100% of my medical school costs while also giving me a taxable stipend of $2870 a month for rent, gas, groceries, etc. I currently have no debt and have about 45k that I have saved in HYS and some index funds and such. After my first year of medical school I would like to potentially look into buying a duplex/multi-family home to house hack with my two roommates. I have fairly decent credit (in the 750s) and also have no debt. However, I am not sure how lenders look at the Navy stipend each month? It is taxable so theoretically could be looked at through that lens, but I am not sure the chances of getting approved for a loan with that income?  

I do not qualify for the VA loan because I am not technically "active-duty" until I finish school. I also am not sure if I would qualify for a physician loan until I have "MD" behind my name.

I thought I could attempt the FHA loan route, but again, I am not sure how someone would view the monthly stipend?

My thought is that with the amount of money I have saved and the amount of money that I am recieving each month on the stipend, it would be stupid for me to pay monthly rent when I could just buy and have plenty of money saved for an emergency fund in case of major expenses.

Any thoughts? Should I just keep saving until I finish med school and then buy once I start residency? Or is it feasible to somehow get a loan with my financial situation?