EDIT: Pressing the T key for the Smart Point tool DOES work like I hoped it would. I think the difference was, an inference guide needed to be made first and then the key could be pressed to snap to the X and Y axes. Thanks for yours and Tom W.'s help.
My default is to refer to MicroStation which to me was the gold standard of CAD drawing (exclusively because of two-letter keyboard shortcuts) but there if I were wanting to draw a line perfectly horizontal, I'd start my line, hit enter, and forever that line would be locked to the X axis until I clicked to complete the line. Same went for moving selected geometry. It was a really powerful tool for wanting to align geometry that is outside of the current screen.
Currently in VW though, if I select a wall or some other geometry and hold shift for instance, it locks to the X axis but only until I get close to the y-axis. Then it snaps to the Y or some other set angle, defeating the purpose of wanting to align the wall to a point somewhere directly above or below the item. My workaround has been to draw a 'guide' line, snap it to that, and then delete the line; making one operation into four steps.