Divorced and I don't want to buy a house.

Titles a little clickbait, sorry. I don't want to buy a house... yet.

Divorced earlier this year. 39 years old. My ex was a shopping addict and finances was one of the reasons we divorced. She kept the house/equity and her retirement. I kept my retirement, unvested RSUs, and what was left of our brokerage. We had to sell a lot of it last year and also balance out in cash. Spent the last 5 or so months building it back up.

I feel like I am starting over, but obviously not in a bad place to be.

Here is my current situation:

Cash

Checking: $5k
HYSA (Emergency Fund): $35k

Investments
Taxable Brokerage: $48k
401k: $363k
HSA: $16.5k
Roth IRA: $7.5k (I'm dumb and didn't know about backdooring until May of this year)

Potential

Unvested RSUs: Current Day Value $215k (~$90k in 2027, ~$50k in 2028,2029, ~15k in 2030). I know this can go up and down. My cost basis was $190/share in March of this year. Currently $270/share (growing tech company).

Debt

None

I have a paid off 2026 VW GTI. My daughter has a 529 that my ex's father opened up and funded when he passed away, and when my dad passed, we added a decent amount as well. I put everything on a Chase Credit card for 5% cash back if quarterly bonuses line up, everything else goes to a flat 2% cashback on Fidelity card and rewards dumped into taxable brokerage. I pay them off twice a month with each paycheck.

Income
Salary: $212k/yr
Commission: $63k/yr (depends on attainment, obviously)

I max out my 401k and HSA every year (and will do my Roth IRA as well since I learned what a backdoor was. Whoops.)

I sweep an extra ~$3k/mo into my taxable brokerage after paying off my credit cards every check. Same with quarterly commission checks (anywhere from $2k-11k, depending how attainment was that quarter) that I just view as 'extra' and don't factor into my budget.

I do pay $1k/mo alimony (2 more years) and $1.4k/mo child support (until May 2031). Those and rent ($2.9k) are my biggest fixed expenses.

So the rub...

A few people have told me to stop renting and buy a house. I am "throwing away my money". But I don't see it that way, but I want to make sure I am not being dumb.

I don't want to stay in this city/state long term and plan to relocate after my daughter goes to college (2031). I like the flexibility of renting the next 5 years. I can move if I want to change it up, not worry about maintenance, etc. I could always shave off my rent payment if I want to go back to a more suburban area, but I like living in a walkable urban area right now. I also don't have a lot of liquid to put towards a down payment right now. I'd certainly be paying PMI and interest rates aren't stellar.

I am also still on the mortgage/deed for the marital home. My ex-wife has about a year and a half to refinance or sell, so I am carrying the debt right now on my credit report as well.

My plan is to simply sell off RSUs at vest and dump it into a second HYSA as my "house savings" account over the next 5 years. I figure this second HYSA should have a decent size amount of cash in it in ~5 years. Considering dumping all commission checks in there too.

I won't have to worry about selling a home. And can move wherever I want and put a large amount towards a 15-year mortgage. I'll be 44 at the time, which puts me at a paid off home at 59.

My goal is to get out of tech by 50, so I am contributing as much as I can to retirement/brokerage.

Am I being dumb by planning to rent the next 5 years? Is there a better way to optimize this?