Real estate

Ex.3 Answer the following questions:

1.How canAmerican apartments usually be described?

2.What rooms do they usually have?

3.What is the most typical decoration of the apartments?

4.Where are laundry facilities installed?

5.What do they use to regulate the temperature?

6.What are the two types of apartments?

7.Can town-houses be purchased or rented?

8.What is the purchase price of condominiums?

9.What houses are the most expensive?

10.What can you say about mobile homes?

Text B: TO BECOME A HOUSE

OWNER IN BRITAIN

estate agent – агент по торговле недвижимостью estate agency – фирма по торговле недвижимостью essentially – по существу

shop – учреждение

to arrange for – устраивать, организовывать let us – давайте

to imagine – вообразить; представить себе to sell – продавать

to charge for – запрашивать цену proposal – предложение

to give away – раздавать (в рекламных целях) leaflet – брошюрка

prospective – будущий, ожидаемый, предполагаемый same – тот же самый

to attract – привлекать оn offer – в продаже description – описание

property – собственность, имущество

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offer – предложение via – через probably – возможно

immediately – немедленно

building society – фирма, выдающая деньги в долг на по-

купку жилья

to lend – давать деньги в долг

similar – похожий, подобный; соответствующий to borrow – занимать деньги, брать взаймы depositor – вкладчик; депозитор

savings account – сберегательный счет to save – откладывать, накоплять interest – проценты, процентный доход to charge – взыскивать

interest rate – процентная ставка long-term loan – долгосрочный заем

mortgage – ипотечный кредит (кредит, взятый для покупки дома и т.д. под залог недвижимости)

to earn – зарабатывать

monthly expenses – ежемесячные расходы to sign – подписывать

legal representative – законный представитель solicitor – адвокат

fairly – совершенно; довольно at least – по крайней мере

to afford – позволить себе что-либо

There are two types of organizations which are central to the buying of houses and flats. The first is the estate agent. An estate agency is, essentially, a shop which arranges for the sale of homes.

Let us imagine that Mr and Mrs Smith want to sell their house. First, they ask one or more local estate agents to visit the house and tell them how much they should be able to sell it for. They will also

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wanttoknowhowmuchtheagentwillchargeforhisservices(usually

between 1% and 2% of the selling price). If the Smiths are happy with his proposals, the agent will publish details of the house in the form of giveaway leaflets and possibly in the local or even national newspapers. The leaflet will describe the house in detail, describing the position, number and sizes of its rooms, the garden and so on.

Mr and Mrs Smith then wait for prospective buyers to arrive. Imagine that Mr and Mrs Johnson want to buy a house in the same area. They go to the estate agency and inspect the details of the houses on offer. If they are attracted by the description of the Smiths’ house, they will visit the property to look at it. If they are still interested after seeing the house they may make an offer to the Smiths via the estate agent. Often the offer will be slightly less than theofficial“asking”price.IftheSmithsagree,thehousecanbesold. But the Johnsons probably do not have enough money to pay for the house immediately, so what do they do? They go to the second type of institution involved in house buying and selling –

the building society.

A building society’s main function is to lend people like the Johnsons enough money to buy a house. Banks also offer a similar service.

Building societies make their money by borrowing money from membersofthepublic–their“depositors”–andlendingittoothers. Many British people have building society savings accounts. They save their money with a building society, which pays them interest. The society then lends this money to people who want to buy a house or flat and charges them a higher interest rateon the amount borrowed. This long-term loan is called a “mortgage”.

So Mr and Mrs Johnson go to a local building society where they will be asked a number of questions – what type of jobs do they have? How much do they earn? What are their monthly expenses? And so on. The society will also inspect the house to see if it is worth the money they are being asked to lend.All being well, it will offer to lend the Johnsons up to about 90 per cent

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of the price of the house, to be paid back with interest over 25 years, or sometimes less. When all is agreed and the papers signed, the money is paid to the Smiths or to their legal representative – usually a solicitor – and the Johnsons can move in.

Over the 25 years, the Johnsons, because of the interest on the loan, will pay far more than the original price of the house – but since they are paying it in fairly small sums once a month they are, at least, able to afford it.

Ex.1 Give Russian equivalents:

toarrangeforthesaleofhomes;howmuchtheagentwillcharge for his services; to lend people enough money to buy a house; involved in house buying and selling; to wait for prospective buyers to arrive; less than the official asking price; original price of the house; interest on the loan; legal representative; to visit the property to look at it; an estate agency arranges for the sale of homes; to make an offer via the estate agent; borrow money from depositors; monthly expenses.

Ex.2 Give English equivalents:

заниматься продажей домов; зарабатывать; ежемесячные расходы; деньги платят, когда все согласовано и бумаги подписаны; попросить агента осмотреть дом; стоит ли дом таких денег; купить дом в том же районе; процентная ставка на деньги, взятые в долг; законный представитель; не иметь достаточно денег, чтобы купить дом немедленно; сколько агент запросит за свои услуги; за сколько можно продать этот дом.

Ex. 3 Answer the following questions:

1.What is an estate agency?

2.If Mr and Mrs Smith want to sell their house, what will they do first?

3.What will they want to know from an estate agent first?

4.What will the agent start his work with?

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5.HowcanMrandMrsJohnsonknowaboutthehousesonoffer?

6.Can the price be negotiated?

7.Where can people get money to buy a property?

8.How do building societies function?

9.What is a mortgage?

10.What questions will Mr and Mrs Johnson be asked at a local building society and why?

11.How will the mortgage be paid back?

12.Why do people want to get mortgages?

Text C: GIVE HIM AN INCH

1) Find the answers to these questions about Francis Chan’s home by quickly reading the newspaper article.

1.  How big is the flat? 2.  Where is it positioned? 3.  Where’s the shower?

4.  Howmanypeoplecanbeinvitedtodinneratthesametime? 5.  Where’s the bed?

6. Why did Francis Chan decide to live in a home like this? 7.  How much did the flat cost to build?

8.  What does the editor of the ‘Architect’s Journal’ think of the flat?

9.  Who do you think this article was written for? А professional architects

В people interested in Do-It-Yourself С people buying their first home

D the general reader

1) What was once а tiny alleyway next to а house is now a 4ft by 21ft fully equipped flat with all mod cons. HUGH PEARMAN looks at the small world of ‘linear living’ where not an inch of space is wasted.

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It’s NOT much, but it’s home. Francis Chan, a structural engineer, lives in Hampstead, north London, in a flat thаt’s just 4ft wide by 21ft long. Не loves it.

Tiny though it is, this is no converted broom cupboard. Peter Baynes, Chair’s architect, has achieved а brilliant piece of design, according to architectural experts.And аll the comforts of conventional luxury homes are built in.

The Сhan mini-mansion – “You could call it linear living,” he comments – occupies what was once an alleyway down the side of a big Victorian house. Not an inch of space is wasted.

When you step in thrоugh the front door, you’re stаnding in the shower, on Britain’s only self-cleansing doormat. A door орens on to an equally tiny lavatory with washbasin. Two steps further in comes the kitchen, complete with full-sized cooker and fridge, microwave and washer/drier.Awоrktор folds down from the wall.

Anotherstepandyou’reintothedining-officearea.Fourpeoplecan squeeze in here for dinner, says Сhan as he swings the table-top into place. He even has a fold down drawing-board for when he’s working athome.Thebedishiddenbeneathalidrightattheback.“Idon’teven have to make the bed” Chan comments. “I just put the lid down.”

Stоragе is ingeniously tucked in al1 along the flat – Chan’s business suits hang neatly on the wall over the bed. Daylight comes in through rooflights. Central heating consists оf onе electric convector— with the meter outside sо that bulky meter readers don’t have to shоulder their way in. It feels like a very small boat and Chan admits he toyed with the idea of naming it the “boat-housе”. Chan bought the big house next-door – divided into three flats – three years ago. He and Baynes started tо restore it but Chan ran short of money, which put paid to his plan to live in the ground floor flat himself.

Нis idea to build a mini-office to replace the existing leanto shed in аllеу wаs rарidlу mоdified. It became his home

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instead. “Peter spent more time designing this tiny flat than he did on the whole of the rest of the house,” recalled Chan. “It cost around £4.700 to build last year. Now it’s been valued at £30.000. It proves that good design doesn’t need to cost more. It just needs a lot оf care”.

Chan’s microscopic home has been taken up by the influential Architect’s Journal. Its editor, Peter Carolin, recently appointed Professor ofArchitecture at

Cambridge University, said: “This is an excellent solution to a very unusual problem. It’s very modest and completely appropriate – it’s even witty. Francis Chan must be a very tidy man and Baynes must be very talented. It’s the kind of solution a really good architect can come up with.”

ChanhailsoriginallyfromHongKongwhere,hesays,flatsare15 times bigger. In Britain his home does not quite beat the celebratеd Knightsbridge broom cupboard, an 11ft by 6ft one-bed flat.

2)Discuss your answers to these questions.

1.Imagine you lived in Francis Chan’s flаt.What would be its advantages and disadvantages?

2.All the comforts of conventional luxury homes are built into his house. What do you consider are essential items (e.g. a washbasin) in a house, and what areluxuryitems (e.g. a microwave)? Make two lists with about ten items in each.

3.Look at your list of essential items. If you had to save money, decide in what order you would sell or stop using them.

Additional exercise

Complete this text. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning (0).

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Restoring а famous garden

My garden аt Соmрtоn Acres is less (0) than 70 years old. However, several important features had been allowed to fall into а very bad condition by the (1)_______I bought the property. Му first task has been to repair (2)______ features. It (З)_________

become difficult to reach the places in the garden with the best viewsbecauseso(4)__________pathswereinsuchpoorcondition. The Italian formal garden, for example, has always (5)_________

many visitors, and as а result its paths were in a terrible state. But hundreds of metres of paths (6)_______recently been reраirеd.

We have also done a (7)________of work on many of the garden’s wooden buildings. A major job was (8)________

completely rebuild the roof of the Japanese summer house. We also (9)_________ the greenhouses to a more practical location. Work (10)_________this is essential before you can get on(11)________the real business of gardening. I am not sure (12)_________

the visitors realize how much work of this (13)__________is necessary. But I (14)__________ thoroughly enjoying the job of returning the garden to (15)___________former glory.

Discuss with the class the concept of house and home and their connection with and impact on the land.

As a class, develop a summary of the factors that influence the kinds of houses. Discuss the following:

•is the house permanent, transportable or other?

•whataretheelementsofthehouseandwhataretheirpurpose?

•are there any special features of the house and what are their purpose?

•how does the house meet comfort needs?

•does the house or household consist of one building or a collection of buildings?

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•istherearelationshipbetweenthebuildingswhichisculturally important?

•is there a relationship between the house and the rest of the community?

•what is the relationship between the house and the natural environment?

Episode 1

A Place of Our Own

Since they got married, Marilyn and Richard Stewarts have lived with Richard’s parents (Ellen and Philip). Now Marilyn and Richard would like to buy a place of their own. To own a home is part of the American dream. Housing often costs Americans about1/3ofthemoneytheyearn.Recently,thecostofhousinginthe United States has gone up faster than personal earnings. Therefore, manyAmericans cannot afford to buy a home of their own.

The living room of the Stewarts’home. Marilyn is talking to her mother-in-law Ellen.

Marilyn: Ellen, I’d like your opinion. Ellen:About what?

Marilyn: Well, Richard and I feel that with a baby coming we need to have our own place to live.

Ellen: Oh.

Marilyn:Well,whatdoyouthinkaboutRichardandmelooking for a small house or an apartment at this point in our lives?

Ellen: We love having you here, and there is room, and...and when the baby comes, the baby can stay in your room for a while.

Marilyn: Richard feels we need to find a small house.

Ellen: I remember when I was pregnant with Richard, Philip and I were living with Grandma and Grandpa. Philip was a young doctor, and he kept talking about having a house of our own. It’s natural.

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Marilyn: What did you do ? Ellen: We looked at a lot of houses. Marilyn: Did you find one?

Ellen: Oh, not at first. We couldn’t afford it. Grandpa wanted to lend us the money to buy one, but Philip is too independent. He didn’t want to borrow any money.

Marilyn: Sounds like Richard.

Ellen: They’re all alike. Richard is a real Stewart. He’s independent, and sometimes just stubborn.

Marilyn: When did you buy a house?

Ellen:After Richard was born. I was teaching music, and Philip was opening his first medical office.

Marilyn: Where was the house?

Ellen: Right here in Riverdale. Of course, it was a small house, but just right for us.

Marilyn: It’s funny. History repeats itself. Now Richard and I are having a baby, and we probably won’t be able to afford a house right away, either.

Ellen: Why don’t you look at some houses, Marilyn? Marilyn: Good idea.

Ellen: Look in the real-estate section of Sunday’sTimes.You’ll learn a lot.

Marilyn: Maybe we should speak to a real-estate agent about a house.

Ellen:And a bank about a mortgage.

Marilyn: I’ll talk to Richard about it. I think it’s a good idea, Ellen. We can learn a lot by asking.

Ellen: And if I can be of any help, let me know. As a matter of fact, my friend Virginia Martinelli is a real-estate agent.

Marilyn: Good.

Ellen: You won’t believe this, but she sold us our first house and this one.

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