Is R2HYD a good decision as a single woman with mortgage in bay area

[frivolous]

Hello r2iclub,

I just discovered this forum in the past 12 hours and it has been enlightening to read some of the posts and diaries here. Thank you for all the information shared here and genuinely appreciate it.

My background
I am originally from Hyderabad where I did my Bachelors and moved right after to do my Masters in the Bay Area in 2007. I graduated and started working here in Bay Area itself. I have held two jobs in my life and been in my second job/ company for 6 years now.

Opportunity
My present company has a possible opportunity based in HYD that looks like a good option to pursue in a project that has a good future. I am currently in conversations with the hiring manager and will start talking to future colleagues in a few days to know more details.

Personal Details
I am 30 years old. So far I have not found the "right" person to tempt me into marriage - hence my single status. Long story about this, probably will talk about it some other time. I have enjoyed a lot of advantages of living in USA for the past 9 years - amazing education, comfortable life style, wonderful opportunities to travel both within and outside the country, mature as an individual etc etc. Contrasting this is the lonely existence of being the only person in India from my family - immediate and extended - in US. I miss my parents a lot and though they are still in their late fifties and early sixties - a variety of health issues has made it hard to be 24 hours flight away from them. Constant nightmares about emergencies and what if I do not realize it scenarios are a torture.

Logistics
Obviously my company will take care of a lot of details about the move. Since I have very recently started looking into this I have not gotten as far as thinking about tax implications etc.

Pros

Family - one word, but a lot of pull obviously :))

I was lucky to have an assistantship while doing my Masters which covered all my expenses and tuition - so no student loans to payoff

Cons

Obviously a much lower salary in comparison to what I earn today - I do not have specifics yet about how much of a cut it would be. In general considering PPP, this is not a big concern expecting that I have a heavy mortgage here in US (more below)

My parents own a home in HYD but its a 1.5 hr commute one way to the office - so would prefer to rent an apartment closer to office. Would prefer to buy but considering the existing mortgage this would not be affordable (more below)

Pool of eligible men available - lack of familiarity around this and the dismal picture BharatMatrimony paints of the available profiles

Neutrals

I very recently started my GC process (a year back), so a very long time to go for any progress here so would have to abandon this

Red-tape, corruption, pollution, work ethics issues etc - I can theoretically understand this is a con, but I feel an attitude and expectation adjustment and some patience will go a long way in negating some of the effects of this

Dilemma - concerns

I bought a condo a year back in Bay Area and obviously have a 30 year mortgage associated to it. Given recent RE slowdown and recent purchase, the price has not risen up enough for me to break even if I were to sell it. Hence I would prefer to rent this out. I would not be able to afford the monthly mortgage payment, association fees, warranty and insurance costs, property taxes, property management charges etc on an Indian salary. Though I am reasonably confident I will be able to rent the condo out, rent would not cover all the expenses plus any maintenance costs. This is a huge concern for me.

Work culture - in my limited exposure to my company colleagues in HYD they do not seem much different from my colleagues here. But they do have longer working hours, responding to emails even past midnight and over weekends. I strongly believe in working smartly and hard but not false appearances by working long hours or "catering" to senior folks to get salary hikes/ promotions. I would not be able to handle such situations.

Without a GC - I do not have a fall back option if this move does not work out. I am not a defeatist and am not trying to plan with r2A in mind - but I do believe in thinking through worst case scenarios, hence the thought.

What I would miss most about US

Being able to travel solo to various national parks or places within US for hiking, outdoor activities etc

Insulation layer from well-wishers and extended family about getting married - why are you not married yet? what's wrong with you? did you hook up with a gora? education has overinflated your ego thats why you are not married etc running commentaries

This is all that's rattling around in my head - any advice, comments, help, insights etc etc would be highly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Of the various posts I have read so far - only happysquirrel's diary seems to be the closest to my situation from an age/ marital status perspective.

[Old-Spice2]

If you are sure about moving back then it is better to sell the condo in Bay Area. Other than affordability, you may not be able to come back to US due to visa status. Once you move to Hyd, your H1B will be void.

Obviously you will find more eligible men in India since the pool is larger. What I have seen in US for first generation is if you find someone while in college you are fine. After that it becomes difficult. Many first gen men prefer to marry girl in India as they find the long time US resident girl as "sir-firi".

If marriage and taking care of parents are important, then r2i makes sense. But living alone in Hyd will be a different ballgame. If I were in your position this is what I will do - negotiate with company and get a good package, sell the condo in Bay Area, rent apartment near Hyd office, ask parents to move-in, throw the net to find Mr. Right and then go from there.

[seeking]

Only midway through the post did I realize that you are a woman. Well written. I agree with Old-Spice2 above. You have all the reasons to return to Hyderabad. While the desire to have the coveted green card is a fair one, do remember that the present generation need not, in general, worry about opportunities. Your own life is a great example. Many, if not most, Indian professionals will be able to work, live and travel as they wish. They have much to offer the world, and I notice we are more and more welcome just about everywhere that we want to go.

I have observed that men and women, past late twenties have more and more problems finding the right partner. In short, between finding a life partner and the right job / place to live / money, the former is to be prioritized.

As for work culture, it seems like a subset of the national / regional culture. Since you have not worked so much in India, you may have a steep learning curve. I have been away nearly 35 years from Hyderabad, nearly 20 of those from India, and it is always a challenge to switch back to the Hyderabad way of doing business. But you are going into it eyes open. Given your priority for finding Mr Right (in my eyes, that is; you need not agree), do take the chance and move to Hyderabad. You have been a success so far, every reason to believe that you will succeed again. See you in Hyderabad.

[frivolous]

Thank you Old-Spice2 and seeking for your reply.

The catch-22 for me is that I will have to pay close to 50k in closing costs if I were to sell this place and since I have been in a cash-poor state for the past year, I will basically have to move to India penniless :emcrook:

[seeking]

While you are in the thick of it, that is how things would seem. But keep at it, what struck you as improbable or did not at all occur to you, will pop up and then you will bang your head (gently, please!) and say to yourself (and to us, too, please!) "now, why didn't this occur to me before?". I have lived this "eureka" moment once too often in the recent past. And my sadhe saathi is still running:-)) You can only have it better. May be some financial wizard will come up with some midway for minimizing your perceived loss. Or may be your employer will make amends that will make this loss look acceptable.. Well, if only I knew:-))

[Old-Spice2]

The catch-22 for me is that I will have to pay close to 50k in closing costs if I were to sell this place and since I have been in a cash-poor state for the past year, I will basically have to move to India penniless :emcrook:

If you try selling the condo without using RE agent you can save 6% on commission. Will that leave you in a better financial situation? It is doable - you need to do some research and RE market is tight in BA. Even in a crappy school district it sells fast.

[VS007]

You can test out Hyderabad waters for a year or two by giving the house on rent which will offset most of your expense.
If things don't work out in Hyd and you decide to move back, you have a house!
If you decide to sell, you can do it from India provided you give a restricted power of attorney to sell to an attorney before you even move to India.

[cmk786]

I will not rent the unit and move to India. It is not easy to maintain and manage the property staying in India. You have to hire a property management company to maintain your property and to find the right tenant. For any wear and tear you have to shell towards the cost of the repairs. You also mentioned the rent will not cover your mortgage payments in that case I strongly recommend selling this property. I know you said you lose $50 grand by doing so and you go back penniless but it is better than going in negative and remain negative for some time before the RE market goes up for you to sell the property without any loss. This is my thinking based on my experience with renting a property and maintained by a property manager which I am doing it right now and based up on my experience it is not easy especially if you are living in some other country. Having said this I will wish you good luck.

[VS007]

I did the same, - rented while in India. First on my own and then through a property manager.
Ofcourse you have to pay a certain % to property manager in case you don't want the hassle to finding a tenant etc, and repair guys.
On the other scenario, I charged 100$ less than the market rate for a good tenant and gave him few handymen numbers to call in case of issues, and asked him to deduct any fixes from rent.
Since the trial period in Hyd is only 1-2 years, most likely you will have the same tenant staying there.
Again its doable, but definitely takes effort!

[okonomi]

Skip HYD, avoid landlord hassles, go on the GC-queue, and perhaps, contribute some genes to the melting pot.