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I'd agree with all of that, and would just add, that any exo life would have to be shown to not have originated from the same source.
e.g. If life was found on Mars, it would need to be proven that life on earth didn't begin and a result of life traveling to earth from the Martian surface (inside a meteorite or via some other method). We could find life within the solar system, but unless it also began from scratch it wouldn't tell us anything about whether life is likely to spontaneously erupt throughout the universe.
What I find interesting is that astronomers and physicists generally seem to believe that life is likely if there is sunlight ,warmth and water, you hear it quite often when talking about bodies within the solar system that have some form of water for instance. Not many extrapolate what that belief entails. If water, certain chemicals and energy requirements = a high likelyhood of life appearing, then that would mean somewhere within the laws of physics that a tilt towards life is built into the laws. That is a pretty incredible concept.
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