“You may not ultimately want them in public school, and then you’ve spent all the $$ to move and are in private school anyway.”
This is probably the most important tidbit that came from this discussin for me – your comment says it in a nutshell and Rustico’s experience provides an example.
That and I realize I only need the public school for 6 years – from 2014 through 2020. Why pay the extra tax ($800K – $250K) * 1.25% = 8,125/yr) for the next 6 years, then another 6 years when I don’t really need the benefit of the extra tax until 2014. That alone costs as much as a $48K remodel on our current home.