(I'm not sure best board for this?)

Has anyone made a big move for cost of living improvements and/or great schools within a great budget? I would love to hear your thoughts... good, bad, regrets?

My BIL lives in a well developed suburb of a major metro with some of the top schools in his state. We have been BLOWN away by how much more house and land we can get for LESS money than were we live. For example - our area has average at best school rankings, and $300-325k will get you .25 acres and a 1800SF renovated ranch style home if you are lucky (very competitive market). Where he lives, all schools are top ranked, and you could buy the equivalent house for $200-225k with .75-1 acre of land. The $300k budget would get us a 3k-4k SF house.

We can't shake the thought of if it would be worth trying out a move. It just makes us sick to think how much money we could save AND get better schools. We are the type who are up to an adventure, and our jobs are portable (WAH), so we keep wondering if it would be worth giving it a shot living there.

Would love perspective for anyone who has made a similar move!