You've made some decisions, so I don't know if the following is too late. We homestead, but for a number of reasons (mainly the oil/gas industry in our county), we haul our own water.
What I can tell you is that it is feasible, at any scale, if you haul it yourself ...
I found that when we owned a home in the city, or rented in a smaller community nearby, we had water bills in the 1000's of gallons per month range, no matter what we did; it's the nature of the beast. When we got onto the homestead, we used less than 500 gallons per month, for a family of 4, and we aren't paying double (water in, sewage out, for the same amount of gallons). We pay 4 cents/gallon, hauled ourselves.
I think you can buy an inexpensive piece of land, park something on it to live in, and haul your own water ... I've seen folks pull up to the water station with various containers, depending on what they had at hand and what they haul with (a car, truck, dually truck, or a trailer). Not knowing your capabilities or skills, just start small, and grow into it.
I don't know the rain patterns in your neck of the woods, but there is almost always some amount of rainfall; a secondary route for your water needs is to be prepared to catch/utilize whatever does fall, in the quantity it falls in. Usually, a desert region doesn't get much, and when it does, it gets it all at once.
I'd guess that the decision might boil down to what you can do, yourself, out on a piece of dirt of your own, for the same $650/mo you pay to live on someone else's piece of dirt. I'd pay a lot, and put up with a lot, to get out from underneath someone else's control. I'd turn that piece of dirt into my own chunk of heaven ... after eating or otherwise evicting the rattlesnakes.
Hope this helps ...