Similar story. I have been remote for a decade, acquired real estate in LCOL locales, and have prioritized financial independence so that if I ever end up not being able to find another remote job after my last, I don't ever have to go back into an office. It is about having agency over how one wants to live their life and the freedom one wants. You will never get that time back. Life is short, and a commute is a waste of life. I prefer to not waste life for corporate upper management feels about in person work.
What we save on living in a HCOL locale, we can spend on traveling several months out of the year while I work remote.
I live close enough to access an expensive metro but I'm far enough out my property isn't that expensive plus I bought it a long time ago. Only commuted in for while and, then, not every day. Other commutes--when I've done them--have been reasonable drives.
Over the years I occasionally toyed with buying a small city place but, in addition to the increasing real estate prices, I always came back to the fact that I can always get a hotel or whatever in that or any other city if I want to spend some time in an urban location.
What we save on living in a HCOL locale, we can spend on traveling several months out of the year while I work remote.