It sounds cliche but buy the bike that fits you best, brakes wont matter if you hurt so much you don't go ride.
I was in a similar place about a 8 months ago roads are good enough but limited budget, trying to get it all done for $1000. I wound up with an end of year Cannondale Topstone Sora for around 850, immediately put some road tires on it (Continental GP 4 Seasons) and rode away happy.
Before landing on that I looked at the Trek Checkpoint, & Domane, Specialized Diverge and Allez and the Giant Contend.