I am glad to hear that you are a co-owner of a free-and-clear house.

I think it is fine to want to get married, for the reasons you state, and for stability, and for financial protection.

If one waits for "everything to be stable" one will never get married! There is no such life where "everything is stable". I think that marriage can be looked at as a commitment to be stable for each other in the midst of the surrounding instability. It is also protection for each other, particularly for a person who is not working outside of the home or who is earning considerably less money than their partner.