To Buy or Not to Buy

So I've been trying to convince my wife we need to start looking more seriously at buying a house in the not too distant future. We've been doing some looking here lately, but it generally ends with, "Oh wow! I love that house!" Nothing else. My wife is absolutely convinced we need to wait. I am dead set on us needing to buy one within the next 9 months or so.

The Details

The wifey and I have a significant amount of debt. Multiple degrees for me and an extra year in school for her= lots of student loans. Living 300 miles apart the first 6 months we dated (and her still in undergrad with no job and me still in grad school with a low paying job)= a lot more CC debt than I wish we had. In the last year we've paid off a personal loan, a car, and 4 credit cards. The wifey is convinced we need to get rid of at least another 50% of our debt before we even begin looking at a house. While I understand her point of view, I do not necessarily agree with it. Everybody knows the housing market is a mess. New home sales are off by 75% compared to last year. Home prices are plummeting. Interest rates are going to drop another .5% today. 30 year fixed mortgage rates will be around the 5.5% mark. I'm of the opinion that we need to strike while the iron is hot. Lock in to a low rate. Buy low and then eventually sell high. She is concerned about 1) not having enough in savings right now for a down payment, and 2) not getting approved for enough of a loan to get what we want. Number 1 I understand and agree with. But, we are in a position now where we can put ALOT away into savings for a month or two and have a significant down payment (if we cut back on the extra we pay on CC's and school and car loans). As far as number 2 goes, we won't know until we try AND the houses we have been looking at are not that much.
[ A side note... There is a very large historical district here in the town we live in which has numerous 100+ year old houses in need of repair and up for sale. We both have a great deal of interest in getting a house like this and doing a lot of the work ourselves. Some of the houses are selling for as little as $30,000. Granted, those houses will need around $80,000 in work done on them. But, that would be to make them pristine. $50,000 would make them nice and very liveable. I see a fun "hobby" and great investment- one house in that area that is 125 years old, 3500 sq. ft., and completely updated just sold for $277,000. Other houses we have looked at are out in the county (no outrageous city taxes) where home prices are lower as well.] She sees more debt too soon, with too many unknowns.

We both know we really can't and shouldn't do anything until close to the end of the summer as we are going to be out of the country for 3 weeks in May and June and don't need to buy a new house and then be gone for 3 weeks or be gone for 3 weeks, get back, and then buy a house. I am thinking we should be in serious talks about buying a house by September and ready to buy in December or January(the housing market always slows in the winter= best time to buy a house because folks will be getting desperate to sell with fewer buyers showing interest). She thinks we don't need to begin talking seriously until Fall '09 at the earliest and be very close to completely debt free, if not already there. I hate renting and think it borders on a waste of money. She sees it as something on the level of the electric bill- something we have to have and pay for using.

I know what you Dave Ramsey disciples will have to say about this, so please don't quote him in any comments you may leave. But, I am curious as to what the rest of you think. The opinions of my "gay video game buddies" or "little clan friends" will in no way sway the opinion of my wife. I have no illusions about that. But, I am curious as to what your opinions are. Is she right? Should I just cool it? Or, should I work harder to convince her that we need to buy ASAP?
Oh yeah, please don't bother asking about income or estimated payments or price range of houses or credit score or anything like that. I've already laid out plenty of personal financial information. Just tell me I'm right.