Buying a home/apartment in Bangalore ...

Given the current real estate scenario in Bangalore, this is easier said than done. If you try to do this in very advance, you might save some cash. However, risk and reward go hand-in-hand, right?


Risk with buying early is safeguarding the property in Bangalore. If this is a site, you need to make sure it is secured and nobody is going to occupy it. With Bangalore commute scenario, it becomes a challenge for friends/family to do that on a regular basis. If you buy an apartment, either you have to leave it vacant or rent it out. If you leave it vacant, you are not generating any returns for the money invested + paying the maintenance fee etc. Leaving it vacant is safe in most of the good apartment complexes. If you going to rent it out, make sure you pick somebody whom you know well or have some connection(thru' friends etc). Have heard nightmare stories where tenant is not paying the rent, refuses to vacate and the renter is even scared of going and doing something since the tenant is not 'easy' to deal with.


Best option is - look for a new construction from a reputed builder. Once booked, they take at least 2 to 2.5 years to complete and if you plan in advance, you will have a place to settle down once you R2I. Make a trip, study the location, have a chat with the builder and decide where you want to buy. You would need at least 2 weeks of time to do this, provided you have done some homework before you arrive (i.e, short-list the area where you want to move based on work and school preferences, short-list couple of projects that you want to visit, check with family/friends etc).


Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Go with a reputed builder like Prestige, Sobha, Mantri or Salarpuria (I am giving free advertisement for these folks :-)). You can trust their quality to some extent, which can be a big challenge with other builders. You don't have much choice when it comes to apartments for controlling construction quality but reputed builders want to keep their name.
• Bigger projects(i.e.., multiple blocks with good amount of open space in plan) tend to have much more open space allocated and are likely to have super marker etc within the complex.
• All of the apartments are dependent on borewell water or water supplied by tankers. If you are buying a already constructed flat, check to see whether they are entirely dependent on tanker water. Source of such water is unknown and also there is dependency on water mafia(yes, there is one like that!) - in some of the apartment complexes, they need tanker water only during summer but they end up buying all the time anyway since water mafia refuses to supply only when the apartments need the water and insist on constant supply! The water bill can add up to Rs. 5000+ and this is happening in many places - give a BIG thanks to our city planners and developers, these things are not taken into account when building permits for high-rises are given :-( As long as their pockets are filled-up, nothing else matters around here...

Buying a flat which is already built:

• You are paying a premium for this but it could be worth it. New flats normally sell in the range of 45 lakhs to 65 lakhs(for 3 bedroom, with 1500 to 1800 sq. ft area), based on the location. When you are buying second hand, you would end up paying 80-90 lakhs. However, for that premium, you are getting few things in return - the home owners association is already established, most of the things like water supply, gym, vendors(for milk, water, newspaper etc) and if there are major challenges in construction, builder would have possibly already addressed it. 
• In this case, check about the occupancy rate. If there are very few owners staying, likely that many things are not already established and will take some time to get established. 
• Check to see if there are friends staying in the complex that you need. There will be internal postings (in places like apartment adda or common floor) where owners directly post for sale/rent. This will save you agent commission, which is normally 1% of the transaction. For rental, it is one month of rent, which can be negotiated a bit down.

Some of the areas where large projects are ongoing in Bangalore:
Sarjapur area
Mysore road area
JP Nagar, BTM Layout
Whitefield, ITPL area
Hebbal/New airport area


18/02/2012:
One update on this topic - don't buy a property from any of the builders (even the reputed one), without consulting a good lawyer. Here is what I heard from a lawyer - even builders like Prestige do a 'shoddy' work when it comes to having proper paper work. Once the builder is done and hands over the property, it is not their headache to deal with legal issues that can crop up. These properties are taken from farmers and multiple owners and any legal action/claim from them can put the whole property into a legal mess. So, buyer be aware and make sure property has clean title.


Updated, 16/05/2012: 
If you are reading this post, you might be interested in my latest post from yesterday, which further expands this topic, with specific details of paper work...
http://r2idiaries.blogspot.in/2012/05/buying-property-in-bangalore-expanded.html

Looking back - what I would have done differently before R2I ?

This is one interesting thought, actually multiple thoughts. As they say, hindsight is always 20x20 but sitting in India after close to a year of R2I, I am able to visualize how we would have done things differently while we were at US and feel good about some of the things we did while we were there. Hope this helps some of you who are procrastinating about R2I and have difficult time doing things or simply postponing things while debating about R2I. I will try to expand further on each of these points in future postings ...

• If you are certain about R2I, look for an home/apartment back in India in-advance.
• If you have school going kids, study about the schools - Decide about ICSE/CBSE, decide about international versus non-international, school location etc
• Decide about relocation with current job versus looking for a new job - If your current company doesn't have an India office, new job is the default choice. If so, shortlist possible companies and find out where they are located. With the current traffic chaos in Bangalore (which won't improve a lot any time soon), your home choice and school choice depends lot on the work location.

• If you have few years left (not the +1 year syndrome :-) but have some serious plan for relocation) before you do R2I, consider doing these things:
• Complete higher studies - do a MS or MBA(even better for techies). If you already have a MS, go for MBA - speaking by experience, it was a life changing experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the course and the perspective it brought. Doing study  abroad is a worth-having experience and you really see how it should be. It does take some effort but having that degree does make a difference when it comes to job searching in India(and is US as well).
• Invite your parents to visit you and make it happen, it is worth it.
• Cover major points in US: Like Niagara, Yellow Stone, Grand Canyon etc.
• Visit neighboring countries like Canada/Mexico/Europe: Even though you would be thinking that you will visit from India, it becomes harder than you think with kids school, work and school summer vacation mismatch between countries.
• Take a cruise to places like Alaska (highly recommended).
• Enjoy the snow: Take kids to snow. Once you are in India, it is is not easy to get these places.
• Enjoy the international varieties of food that is easily available in US.
• If you really have some time (like 5-10 years), buy a home and enjoy your stay: With the current real estate scenario, this would be a scary thought but note that home prices are really low and a home in good school location can sell as well (even though you wouldn't make much profit, you could at least enjoy your stay).

Will add some more as they come across to my mind ...

Kids settling down in India after R2I ...

I am sure this is a topic of great interest to many of the folks doing R2I or thinking/planning R2I. I have seen good amount of debate on this in other forums as well and will try to cover a bit. As you can expect, everyone's experience in this area is going to be different for the simple reason that every kids is different. However, one easy classification is - 'reserved/shy kids/accept what parents(may not be fully but are open to trying out)' type versus 'outgoing/question everything' type of kids, which does make a difference in this department.

On the positive side of R2I, a simple example - my kid was trying to get a paper towel and as you may expect the paper towel quality isn't that great here. It wouldn't simply cut at the marked line. Coming from US, he expects everything to work perfectly but unfortunately things aren't perfect anywhere. You would see them working mostly perfectly in US but it is the other way around here in many cases. He was getting real frustrated and started cursing. Had to step in give a bit of wisdom on how to make it work and do not expect everything to be perfect. Bit of a lecture and he understood what we mean and hopefully next time we wouldn't hear so much. Bottom line is - atmosphere here exposes kids to these type of challenges and learn how to handle situations when things don't go the way it is expected, which I think has value in itself. 

Coming to the topic itself, so far it has been fairly smooth, as far as their adjustment is concerned. Couple of things which can be listed out:

School: This part has been fine due to some choices we made. First of all, an international school - I have heard cases where kids were put into a normal schools and families returning back after a year. The issue is the school environment. You would mostly see local kids and kids from US won't have that wavelength to adjust or won't have much in common like pokeman cards or baseball etc. International schools tend to have more of returnee kids and kids make friends easily, which is a great part of adjustment. Second factor is language: Language is compulsory and NRI kids have the choice of selecting languages other than Hindi or Kannada, like French. If the kid is smaller, it is a good idea to start with Hindhi or Indian languages but if the kid is grown up (like 5th or 6th grade), it is going to be difficult for the kid to ram-up to that language at the 5th or 6th grade level and do well (for ex, in Hindi, at 6th grade level, kids will be doing poetries or stories. How can you expect a kid who is learning alphabets to do understand and analyze stories?). Check with school to make sure language like French(since alphabet is English, it makes it easier to handle) is offered and take Hindi or local language is the 3rd language(which is not a 'counted' language until 8th standard). This will make a whole lot of difference and kids can spend time on other subjects like Math or science rather than getting bogged down/depressed by language trouble(especially when they are going thru' whole lots of adjustments like people, environment, family, friends etc). I am really thankful that school offered that suggestion of French when we selected Hindi as the second language and we changed our mind. Again, not sure all schools (especially non international schools) offer this choice. Check with the school before you decide on the school.

Home: This area is not as comfortable as it used be for them in US(in terms of the surroundings) but staying in an apartment made a lots of difference. There is the tennis court, swimming pool, place to bike etc and most of all. place is neat and clean with greenery, which the kids expect as a basic norm. Having a car in the beginning itself isolates them a bit from the hustle and bustle of Indian cities and gives a bit of comfort and likeliness. Idea is not to try to isolate the kids from reality but provide a shock absorber environment and gradually expose them to the realities. 


Health: There is a bit of negative side here for sure. There is no way kids can be isolated from the exposure to smoke(I hate people burning plastic, paper etc), pollution etc. Water can be main source of health hazard and so far with the bottled water, it has been ok. We make sure kids don't drink water outside and carry water all along. Kids being allergic to dust etc makes it bit more challenging - they will run into eye irritations, cough etc. As one of the doctors said, it will take at least few seasons of exposure for kids to get resistance. Hope that is the case.


Family/friends: This is one of the main reasons for R2I and we have definitely seen changes in kids due to that. They do try to understand more about who is who and how they are related. They have built a good friend circle at school and cousins. As expected, they do miss their US friends, mostly due to the reason of new electronic gadgets etc. 


In additon, this is where the kid type I described earlier plays a part as well - if your kid is the questioning type and has opinion on everything and is quite independent, he/she might run into some trouble. This is simply due to the reason that there are things that go on in the surroundings which can't be easily explained. It might be about why people throw trash on the roads, why teacher expects them to theory for a computer subject or why roads have so many pot holes and why they are not getting repaired quickly.

Overall, I would say it has been positive so far. We do hear kids wanting back to be in US, especially when things don't go the way they want them to go. There is a bit of complain about more home work, longer commute etc but hope this will subside as they get used to the system here more and more. Having grown up in India, it is hard to see thru' their eyes but having seen the US system, we can at least understand/appreciate what they are going thru' better.

Bangalore commute timings ...

This one is a key thing - Bangalore traffic is as bad as you can assume. I didn't believe a 12 kms commute would take 45 minutes to an hour but that is true. AND, on the top of that, this is not a route where construction is in progress. It takes me anywhere from 30 minutes on a normal day and upto 1 hour on some days, depending on when I leave. Same route takes 20 mins while getting back home. How? I don't do the mistake of leaving work after 5pm!! 

To give an idea how long the commute could take to IT areas, here is some timing info. Again, this is assuming semi-peak hours, not early morning (defined as 7-8am). Also, assuming you are driving a 4 wheeler, not taking Bike or public/company transporation. These timings to any point can change at any point of the day, for no specific reason but should give you a ballpark idea.
- JP Nagar, BTM Layout, Jayanagar to Sarjapur road area: 1 hour+ (via outer ring road)
- JP Nagar, BTM Layout, Jayanagar to Marathhalli Area: 1 hours 30 mins (due to the                
multiple flyover constructions on outer ring road,  after Sarjapur fly-over)
- Koramangala, HSR layout to Marathhalli area: 45-60 minutes
- Koramangala, HSR layout to Dommalur: 30-45 mins
- Koramangala, HSR layout to ITPL, Whitefield: 1:30 mins+
- JP Nagar, BTM Layout, Jayanagar to ITPL, Whitefield area: 1 hours 30 mins - 2 hrs
- Koramangala, HSR layout to Hebbal area(Manyata): 1:30 mins to 1:45 mins
- Marathhalli area to Hebbal area:45 mins to 1:30 mins( via outer ring road)
- Marathhalli to ITPL, Whitefield: 30 - 45 mins
- JP Nagar, BTM Layout, Jayanagar to Electronic City: 45- 60 mins
- Marathhalli to Electronic City:1 hour to 1:30 mins (via ORR)
- Electronic city to ITPL, Whitefield area: 1:30 mins +
- Marathhalli to Dommlur area: 45 mins to 1:15 mins

Air travel experience in India ...

For work, had to travel to Mumbai for 2 days. It was an interesting trip, this being the first trip outside of Bangalore after R2I. So, got a chance to do first hand comparison of Bangalore and other metros and also get a feel for how travel has changed.


As far as airline travel is concerned, there is a definitely an ocean of change, compared to the so called 'flights' of Indian airlines!. I remember flying on Air India flight several years ago, which had bunch of mosquitoes within the flight! We even asked the flight hostess why that is the case, only to get a curt nod. Compared to that, current private airlines come very close to US airline companies - they are clean, neat, air hostess look professional. Tried Spice Jet on the way to Mumbai and IndiGo for return. Of course, just like the US counterparts, leg space is getting tighter and tighter, there is no free food/snacks anymore - not even a glass of juice or soda, which was very surprising. A soda can costs Rs. 50 and Juice bottle at Rs. 60! But, all of these guys say their motto is to keep flying costs down, which they do - one way ticket cost was Rs, 5000+(one day advance booking). However, the Indian bureaucratic system shows it's ugly face here as well - these airlines want to keep their timing and schedules but take off was delayed by an hour since runway was backed up in Mumbai, again proving the government run system can't keep up with the private sector, dragging them down along with them. 


Since all of the airlines can't come to the gate, passengers are ferried by buses to the Tarmac. There are so many busses running on the runway, some of which wait for a jet to pass, I am surprised that a bus hasn't run into a flight yet!. I did see the bus driver even honking while driving to the flight! While we reached Bangalore, we waited 30 mins to get our luggage on the carousel, again, departure of one of the flight on the runway was blocking the luggage cart reaching the terminal! After bit of angry bursting from passengers, cart driver was asked to take an alternative, longer route.

Worth the read - anything they would do differently?

This is something I came across recently. Very good feedback on what people wish they would have done differently when they are living an active life - goes well with the R2I theme :-)


Definitely worth the read ...


Author: Bronnie Ware
http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html