If you are concerned about the economy and that is weighing on your decision, maybe a transition is not for you. This industry goes up and it goes down. And when it does go down, it goes down hard.
Your three options:
1) Forget flying, continue with your current job and buy a house. Maybe in the future, you can reevaluate.
2) Continue to stay at home and keep your job. Begin flight training and pay as you go to complete it with as little debt as possible. This will take longer but could help you be debt free when you make the jump, which would likely be as a full time CFI.
3) Quit your job (which is the riskiest move), utilize savings and loans to fast track your training.
Bonus option. You can carve out a portion of your savings for a house (which I am boldly assuming you have) and obtain your private pilot license. Then, be a casual flyer, renting as you please while you test the waters and build some experience. And continue to reevaluate as you go about life and get a house. The nice thing about this option is that once you get your PPL, you can take a break (so to speak) if you don't have the money to fly that month. Anytime you are in "training mode", you really need to be committed to flying regularly to be as efficient as possible. Of course, this has its own issue of becoming that "once-a-month-rusty-flyer" which can become unsafe.
Best of luck.