I also lived in the DC area before Austin, and it's quite common for people to have a 1.5-2 hour commute.That said, the price difference between Austin and SA isn't really high enough to justify that kind of commute for most people.

If the homes are in the same area you would need to buy something with more bedrooms, more bathrooms, more space, a better neighborhood, better schools, OR some reason that is justifiable to the lender as to why you are moving but staying in the same area.

Look at rates of appreciation  for your area see if they justify holding  or If you maybe want to give it a year because of concern on your own situation may change you could rent it.

To justify a $490k valuation using rent as the income, and a 10-cap, you can work backwards.

Replace rent with gasoline and justify a 50% increase.

My view is that you cannot find comps of properties that can be used to justify the value that makes it worth it to you, then do not proceed.  

Fees should be clearly stated, easy to understand, and justifiable.

I have incentive to find and justify damages because of this. 

If you do the "sweat equity" work, then you can justify getting 20-30% of the deal.

United States, 467 U.S. 1, 9-10 (1984)So Forky, Ownership gives you the rights to possession and use of your real estate BUT, yes, there are forces that "could" impact that ownership, because we live in a society who like every democracy on earth has laws and mechanisms in place that afford the governance the powers to impact those ownership rights when the ends justify the means for the public good.