What's your dilemma? If you're gonna live there for 10 years, get a large utility out of the house in general and also owning your own place, then just go for it.
My dilemma is balancing inflation risks through all this increased government spending, with short-term market timing. I think that these risks are more likely than ever, and imminent.
On the inflation risks. I really wish the Democrats would cancel all their ideas about child care and what not, and just shift the tax burden from the working class that punch a clock, to the investment class that live off of IRS-defined unearned income. So much easier, simpler, doesn't engage in designing society, rewards working, helps the economy more than anything else you could do through increased spending, and would be far more popular. But that's an aside.
The specifics of your aside aren't especially interesting here, but they are quite important to you before making such a large investment. My time machine's just as good as yours, and anyone that claims their's is any better is trying to sell you something. Risks is inherent in everything. If I were trying to sell anything "rock solid" in Feb 2020; it's possible time would have proven that to be a total lie.
If you have a great mistrust of the future, then there's never going to be a good time to buy a house. If you think politicians are going to mess things up yet again, buying a house is foolish. Hanging off every word the next three or four presidents make is going to make your heart sink and your blood pressure rise on bad news, and curse the name of whomever convinced you to buy an millstone of a house to hang around your neck.
If, however, you're convinced that buying a house (for you to live in, not as part of a basically-liquid REIT) is your path to financial freedom, then when the refrigerator or other large appliance breaks, that's just part of owning a home, and you'll relish in picking the one you want.
How do you want to live for the next few years? (One thing to keep in mind is that houses can be sold before the full 15-30 years is up, which may be advantageous, depending on your finances.)
I definitely have a great mistrust of the near future. It just seems pretty ominous right now. We'd be lucky to have mere stagnation, but I'm afraid these "bad times" are about to be made to look like child's play soon, by at least 2026 and likely sooner.
You raise really good points. Insightful, like many of the responses here. My main thought in reading is this is why I'm buying as cheap as home as I can that is functional. My strategy is just to buy the cheapest home that I'm happy with. If things go to hell, and I really don't have much to lose with the anchor around your neck that home ownership is. If the fridge breaks that's annoying, but I've been renting a long time, few to no landlords want to spend a dollar anyway. They don't lose so owning is the ticket to financial freedom, even if it's not a money maker and merely a way to get expenses down to taxes + utilities. Which is how I see it.
If you're buying just to buy, then hold off.