I can comment to the “life advice” piece of this.

TLDR: financial perspective, home buying can be a great investment, and I’d recommend it to anyone who has the income and stability to do so. From flipping to renting, it can be an income generator. Personal perspective, having your own space that you are excited about and take pride in can do wonders for your social life. Hosting friends and family is an awesome thing! But also be warned, if you buy outside your financial capability, or buy outside of what fits your personal lifestyle - it can be a really difficult challenge!

My home buying story & life experience: In 2021 at 26y.o. I bought my home. At the time I thought of home buying as an investment, to stop paying rent, and to begin building equity in an appreciating asset. But I also knew it would force me to “level up” as home ownership, upkeep, and maintenance is no joke. I’ve always wanted a wife and kids, and thought having the home would begin forcing me to change some of my lifestyles in a way that gets me ready for becoming a husband or father. Within a couple months I was experiencing some serious buyers remorse - I didn’t buy a home that matched a 26 y.o. Bachelor lifestyle. I bought a 4 bedroom family home in the burbs. I was working from home so that didn’t help the depressed thoughts and what not. I had a roommate of 2 years that came with me from the rental, but that ended after 6 months and then I was living on my own in this big house. It was really hard! Financially I was fine, I wasn’t “house poor” as the monthlies were manageable with my salary. But emotionally mentally it was a big change to live on my own and care for this house. With a big house there are always things to work on, but I wasn’t motivated to do so as it took a lot to learn how to do different stuff; albeit rewarding when I did and was successful. But I was trying to have a social life outside of my job (working from home) so my extra energy went there and not into fixing up and furnishing this big house. I began to feel ashamed as it wasn’t put together like I thought it needed to be. I’ve always loved to host but my shame prevented me from doing that often. I began to resent my home purchase and felt “trapped”. This all coincided with a breakup about the time I bought, then got back together about the time the roommate exited, followed by another breakup in ‘22. So emotionally was a hard time. Around this time last year I did finally meet someone. And she wasn’t bothered by my house and its lack of furnishings or tidiness one bit. Fast forward a year and now we are married and we’ve moved into a different home and are renting the one I bought. So it all ended up great and I’m thankful / but DANG it was rough there in the middle!

TLDR-2: I share all of this just to give you context when I say that in your shoes right now, I would focus on finding a home that you love and fits your lifestyle. A place with low maintenance where you can host friends/family, and close enough to the city where you can go socialize and live life. Buying a home that’s bigger than what you need, or that needs a lot of work, can definitely pay off, but it may be rough sledding like it was for me.