Instead of buying, why not rent something in that area and try it out? Moving is a pain but losing 200k is a much bigger pain. How long would you have to work to earn 200k? How long would you have to work in order to effect a move? Pay yourself to rent.

Every dollar that our old house goes down in value is a dollar we paid ourselves to (sell and) move.

After you have lived in an area, you are better able to decide which street or even which house you want to buy. You might even get the inside scoop on a house that is about to come up for sale and get in cheap.