Thinking about moving back to India, and settling down in Bangalore. I have $500k in savings (excluding 401k of $150k), and am interested to find out living expenses in Bangalore. Particularly: a) Cost of 3-4 bed single family house (not flats) in good commute locations (close to Google, Amazon) b) Cost of good schools. I am not interested in crazy international schools, just good enough to provide decent teaching and other extra curricular activities. c) Health insurance, and health care costs? How much should I plan to spend in this area? d) Other mostly expenses to live a comfortable (not extravagant) life. e) How much would I need to have if I don't want to work at all (FIRE money) for all the above? I am currently in Bay Area, wife works too and 2 kids in public elementary schools. People who moved back, please provide your perspective. TC: 530k, YOE: 9
If you want a 3-4 bed single family home in Bangalore, you’re looking at around 4CR or more. This is mostly in areas close to most offices. If you go farther away it might be cheaper.
How long have you been working / living in the US ?
I would suggest you to rent a 4BHK. The rent will be at max 1L per month. You will make more money on interest on your savings of $500K. Don't rush in buying a house there. Try out the change. Give it an year or two while you decide to stay forever or want to come back. If you decide to stay, you will have much more idea about the city and then make a choice.
Interesting, so it seems like renting is going to be a lot better. Can I rent the same 4bed single family house in 1L per month? Or that is going to be flat?
You can get SFH or a Flat near to Google or FB for under 1L. I did that math many times. $500K = ₹3.5 Crore Indian bank will give you 7% interest which is close to 24.5L per year. This is good enough for living in Bangalore. If you will work, you can make 40L easily. But staying close to home will make your life good. Bangalore traffic would otherwise kill you.
You can easily get a nice apartment for 65 k - 85 k. Don buy a house, it’s a complete waste.
You will be good with that money. Don’t worry. Just settle down , purchase a land and construct (outsource everything). U should be getting a house within 2.5 cr good locality
What’s ur total house hold income? Around a million? Also I’m assuming u didn’t buy a house in Bay Area ?
Off topic but with such a high tc and yoe how come you have not saved more?
Haven’t been at Netflix for a very long time, also kids are expensive to raise 😀
Why don't you stay more for a year or so? Wouldn't it increase your savings substantially to move back?
That is another option we are considering, but that doesn’t change the decision of moving back. It will depend a lot of the data that I gather here, how much is good enough?
Seeing you both work here, you can probably start transferring some money slowly and building a portfolio there? I'm sure it'll be better than keeping in a bank for interest? And even a year of savings here would translate to an exponentially better life there.
A) You can get a 3-4 bhk good duplex in 1.5 -3 cr around Old Madras Road. Flat convenience with villa living. Note that living in own house in India is not as fancy as Bay Area.Major parts of Bangalore runs on tanker and electricity is not reliable. So you will end up spending significant amount on generator and tankers. Premium project villas would be outside the range. You can however choose middle range project slightly inside main road for 2 Cr budget but quality will be super cheap. Also, although new Amazon and Google are like 3 kms apart, it would take 30 mins depending on which side of KR Puram bridge you live in. Unit of distance in Bangalore is Hours. It may take 30 mins for 2km depending on which side of road crossing you end up with. My advice: look for good duplexes. Don’t fall for agents and online advertising. Come to India, settle in rent for few months and then decide to buy house. Financially , it’s a bad decision but own house has non-tangible benefits. B) Almost every school has similar structure - 1.2/1.5 lakhs as first year admission + tuition fees. 60-75k per annum after that. 10,000 for silly things like annual day, sports day, books and dresses. 3) All major companies have excellent coverage - even for parents. So not a major worry. If you taking private, it may cost 20-30k in premium for top end medical insurance for a family of three. Private coverage don’t cover pre-existing diseases so not suitable for parents. Medical costs are cheap. For family of three, 6000 a year should be enough as you will fall sick at least twice and your kid will have cough problem for first few years of landing in Bangalore . Check for air quality of Bangalore for reason why there is good chance of this happening. d) 4500 for cook, 2500 for cleaning, 3000 in grocery, 500 for internet, 1000x 2 for mobile, 3000 for petrol, 5000 eating out 4 times a month (weekends) . Car emi is seperate. This should be easy comfortable life expense. Of course you can spend much more on movies, clubbing and drinks. Home Rentals vary from 35-100k depending on your ability to pay. e) 2 lakhs pre tax for family of three is a very comfortable money to maintain a top middle class lifestyle. There are travelling expenses for which you need to save. As well as for buying household items like fridge and TV. This would mean effectively 24 lakhs interest money. Which is possible to earn at 7% interest rate for 3.3 Cr deposit. So if you do away with the plan to buy a house, you can put all the money in fixed deposits and life a non-luxurious but decent middle class life with your $500k savings.
Thank you for a detailed response. This is the first comment which has addressed all the points ;) "Unit of distance in Bangalore is Hours" - very well said. From what I am reading here as well as my friends already working in Bangalore - buying is not a great idea, so I think renting for first year or so is better and would give us more signals around buying house later. "Major parts of Bangalore runs on tanker and electricity is not reliable" - another excellent point that I had not considered before. 20-30k in premium you mentioned is annual for a family of 3?
Yes for the last part.
Single family house within City for $500K? Are you kidding?
Wait, are you saying 3.5 crores INR won't get me a single family house in Bangalore?
Absolutely not. You can buy a flat with your 3 crores. Bangalore SFHs obviously more expensive than silicon valley SFHs. In the "top 10" neighborhoods that is. Like say, compare Indira Nagar, Koramangala with Santa Clara, Mountain View.