Is the price really the blocker? How much does it cost? I looked at the indie edition and it seemed affordable. They also have a free edition: https://www.sidefx.com/buy/#houdini-free.
There are some great free tutorials here: https://entagma.com/
As the OP said, parametric modelling is what makes Houdini so nice.
And if you want any chance to rework anything in a project - say - 10 years later, exporting to a "baked" format is a dead end.
There's always a trade-off between editability and fidelity with any format. Non-destructive stacks of modifiers bring that trade-off into sharp relief.