Buying a house in USA with H1B Visa

Before you start looking for houses on sale, check these points:

1. Make sure you can maintain visa status for at least couple of years. DO NOT BUY IF YOU ARE NOT CONFIDENT.
2. Limit your budget to what you can afford to pay off in case of emergency like visa issues. I personally limited myself to the amount what I can arrange in case of emergency.
3. Look for properties which can be easily rented in case you go back to home country. This is very important. 
4. Decide what type of house you want / can afford
1. Condo: Less area, less maintenance, high HOA, smaller cost, ideal for small family or couples
2. Town house: Ideal for 2+2 family, moderate space and maintenance since you own from land to roof, less HOA
3. Family house: Area is no issue, ideal for any family size, no HOA, high maintenance cost or high effort if you do maintenance yourself, more cost
5. Have a check on your finance: Monthly expense = mortgage (principal + interest) + property tax + insurance + HOA + unexpected maintenance
1. If you are looking for alternative to rental house then make sure monthly expense wont go too beyond current rent
2. if you are looking for investment property then monthly expense doesn’t cut your monthly salary by more than 30%
3. Down payment shouldn’t cut your savings too much. You need to have some liquid money for unexpected events.
6. Check your credit score. Make efforts to increase if it is low.
7. Get pre approved letter from your fav financial institute. It gives you idea of the loan amount you will get, so you know the limit.
8. If you have no experience in this area then you should think about having real estate agent.
9. Know the state and local taxes
10. Know the areas around ( schools rating, crime rate, grocery stores, commute to work, resale value, rental possibilities in future etc)

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Once you are ready to search,

1. Write down what you want. (Must have and Should have list) Example below :-
1. MUST: Condo with at least 2 bedrooms
2. MUST: Construction should be max 25 yrs old
3. Ok with any appliances
4. Ok with any floor
5. Should have reserved parking
6. Should have gated community
2. Don’t rush but don’t wait too much for good properties (which fall under your criteria)
3. Don’t hesitate to go and see the house in person if you liked it online.
4. Don’t commit anything to seller before house inspection and loan approval
5. Take your friend or anyone experienced in home ownership. They will help you see the corners.

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Once you know the property:

1. Think about having real estate agent
2. Get house inspection done. Choose independent contractor after your research even if your agent recommends someone..
3. Ask for Home warranty from seller
4. Get the flaws corrected before you complete the process
5. Check if prior property taxes are paid by seller
6. Ask if seller can pay 50% of closing cost
7. Check if bank can give you some grant towards closing cost..

What to do during weekends?

 

1. Wake up early.

2. Read/Study.

3. Spend time to reflect.

4. Make time to pursue your interests.

5. Give something back.

6. Disconnect online.

7. Connect with your family.

8. Stay in shape.

9. Build momentum.

10. Plan for the upcoming week.

- SS

Data Compliance reality, so far .....

 

Many businesses are still struggling to understand and comply with local data protection laws and regulations. This also translates to vulnerable consumers. One survey (of 1,000 professionals) revealed that 62.4% of companies are still not ‘completely compliant’ with the data regulations it is subject to, including GDPR, CCPA, and the Virginia CDPA. More than 61% of respondents said they handled data from the EU, which requires GDPR compliance. A smaller number of respondents handled data from the UK (21.9%), California (21.1%), and Virginia (17.2%).

Somewhat troublesome is that nearly a quarter (24.4%) of respondents didn’t know which data regulations apply to the company, indicating a lack of understanding for laws that apply to the location where the business operates, and also which laws its customers may be subject to.

More importantly, nearly half (44.7%) of companies have had to add or change marketing technology to comply with applicable data regulations; and some companies report spending $10,000 or greater each year to remain compliant with data regulations. That’s not an insignificant operating cost – and, given how fast privacy laws and regulations are continuing to evolve, that could easily drive costs up more with each passing year.

SS

Cybersecurity in 21st century

 

FRANKLY, WE ARE ONLY SCRATCHING THE SURFACE OF THIS 21ST CENTURY ISSUE - Cybersecurity.

THERE ARE ONLY TWO KINDS OF COMPANIES: THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN BREACHED AND THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW THEY’VE BEEN BREACHED.

SS

How data can be managed in Privacy world?

 

Key Privacy arena findings in 2020

• Ninety-three percent of organizations turned to their privacy teams to help navigate and guide their pandemic response
• Privacy budgets doubled in 2020 to an average of $2.4 million
• ROI was slightly down compared to 2019, but remains attractive with 35% reporting benefits at least 2 times their investments
• Privacy laws are viewed very favorably around the world, with 79% of organizations indicating they are having a positive impact (and only 5% negative impact)
• External privacy certifications (e.g., ISO 27701, APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules, and EU Binding Corporate Rules) are an important buying factor for 90% of organizations when choosing a product or vendor
• Organizations with more mature privacy practices are getting higher business benefits than average and are much better equipped to handle new and evolving privacy regulations around the world
• Data Privacy has become a top area of responsibility for security professionals, with 34% of survey respondents indicating privacy is one of their core competencies and responsibilities
• Ninety-three percent of organizations are reporting privacy metrics (e.g., privacy program audit findings, privacy impact assessments, and data breaches) to their Boards

SS

7 TIPS FOR ENGINEERING LEADERS LOOKING FOR AN EDGE

 

1. Figure out the best-fit leadership track: Let your team determine their path, rather than defining exactly how they should be doing their job. Engineers will typically fall into one of the three tracks of career development:

• Management track

• Technical leadership track

• The true IC track

2. Manage the environment instead of people: Leaders should spend less time managing and micromanaging their team, and more time building an environment where the team is empowered to lead themselves.

3. Shift from maker to multiplier: As a leader, your mentality needs to shift from individual contributor to multiplier of efforts. By instilling an ownership among your team, you’ll create the environment needed to maximize everyone’s collective talents.

4. Create continuous feedback—for your team and for yourself: Implement ways for your team to offer feedback early and often with built-in ad-hoc and “pair stair” reviews.

5. Pay attention to over- and under-engagement: Monitor your team’s workloads, so you can step in if someone is at risk of burnout, or re-invigorate those who seem to have mentally checked out. 

6. Let your team—and yourself—fall off the bike: An important part of empowering your team is letting them make mistakes without fear. Failure is inevitable and should be learned from.

7. Find your flavor: There is no one-size-fits-all recipe for a great leader. But one component to any good leader is the ability to understand themselves, what their strengths are and how they can apply them to help your team the most.

SS

Facial Gestures Automatic Assessment

 

Technology companies are investing tremendous resources to figure out how to objectively “read” emotions in people by detecting their presumed facial expressions, such as scowling faces, frowning faces, and smiling faces, in an automated fashion. Several companies claim to have already done it. Microsoft’s Emotion API promises to take video images of a person’s face to detect what that individual is feeling. Microsoft’s website states that its software “integrates emotion recognition, returning the confidence across a set of emotions . . . such as anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, neutral, sadness, and surprise. These emotions are understood to be cross-culturally and universally communicated with particular facial expressions.

 One perfect use of this technology is in snippet below –

SS

Is Consumer trust dead?

 

There is a loud voice circulating in the Privacy world from past one year – “Is Consumer trust dead?”

This is primarily because of the reason how large organizations are collecting consumers data and how regulators (or government authorities) are locking horns with these organizations and asking for hefty penalties. Media is also playing a very important role here which is making end consumers/customers aware on Privacy and injecting a kind of feeling that the trust is dead.

Consumers are primarily raising concerns on –

• ·       The type of personal information being collected
• ·       Who companies are sharing personal data with
• ·       How companies are using personal data
• ·       Vulnerability of personal information

As per one survey (2019) –

• ·       Over 60% of consumers are uneasy with companies using their personal data for analytics
• ·       77% say it is important for companies to be clear and transparent about how they use their personal data
• ·       55% of those born after 1979 say they would share more personal data with companies on the condition of total anonymity

Privacy should be a social responsibility. And these large organizations need to be develop their products keeping Data Privacy in mind. Create/develop products and earn trust, not ONLY money.

SS

Happy New Year 2021

 

Welcoming 2021 with Hope, Positivity and Encouragement.