You didn't mention anything about life goals. Most folks on this board intend to FIRE, so I will assume that. Other people, however, want to live in a particular, specific place no matter what it costs them.
Assuming you want to FIRE, I suggest broadening the perspective. In Kansas City, Toledo, or Syracuse, a typical house goes for <$150k and your all-in payment would be half what you're now paying in rent, even on a 15 year note. If you like smaller cities and towns, the options are even more vast. There are cool little towns with rock-bottom housing costs all over the South, Midwest, Northeast, and even some mountain areas.
For example, I live in a secret LCOL area where my pre-pandemic commute was/is 10-15 minutes each way. My 3/2 SFH on a quarter-acre in a good public school zone cost me and is worth $160k. My all-in monthly payment on a 15 year mortgage + taxes is a little over $1k. I live within minutes of many miles of mountain biking or hiking trails, within a couple hours of seasonal white water canoeing/kayaking, and within 2 hours of large, clear freshwater lakes. My tap water tastes better than most people's bottled water. My city has hundreds of restaurants, a couple of comedy clubs, a couple of theatre companies, a symphony orchestra, My total annual family spending (3ppl, 2 cars, + pets) is about $50k, vacations included. Do some research on all these clues and you might narrow my location to a few dozen places. The point is, it's a big country.
Such a move would involve changing jobs and probably a pay cut, but you can snipe at jobs in a few targeted locales from the comfort of your rental property. If you do your homework, you'll be sitting in a nice house, with a high savings rate, FIRE within reach, and not worrying about if an interest rate hike or recession is going to chop $250k off the value of your home. IMO that beats the hell out of being house-poor or commuting 2-4 hours a day.