If you own a home in the Bay Area and move elsewhere, consider keeping it and renting it for income. Hire a property manager. Use the income to pay the mortgage

If you own a home in the Bay Area and move elsewhere, consider keeping it and renting it for income. Hire a property manager. Use the income to pay the mortgage on the new place. If you're gone for 10 years, you may find that buying back in at your current home size & location is prohibitively expensive. You most likely won't see the same appreciation in absolute dollar terms in other parts of the country.