People and businesses
Match the name of the person or business to the de?nition.
- a solicitor
- a surveyor
- a mortgage broker
- an estate agent
- a mortgage lender
- a business that will lend you money to buy a home
- a company that helps you decide how much you can borrow and communicates with the company that lends you this money
- a person or business that organizes selling or renting homes
- a person who examines a building to make sure that there are no problems
- a person who has the responsibility for handling legal tasks during the buying process
Match the headings to the correct paragraphs.
Arrange a survey Make an o?er Organise someone to handle the paperwork Complete the sale Do your homework
Exchange contracts Find a mortgage
BUYING A HOME
Here are the basic steps of buying a home.
- ……………………………………………….Searching online first is a good option. You can also find an independent broker who can help with the process. A bank might be able to do a special deal if you are an existing customer.
- ……………………………………………..Unless you have a lot of savings, you will need to get a mortgage. A mortgage is a loan to buy a house. Buyers need to calculate their monthly outgoings and make sure that they can still pay the mortgage if interest rates rise or their circumstances change.
3…………………………………………………………… If the seller agrees to your proposition, then the buying process can go ahead. You won’t have to complete the deal if there’s a problem with the survey or contract.
4……………………………………………………………… You will need to hire a solicitor or conveyancer to handle all the legal procedures. They will check that there are no planning restrictions or local issues that might affect the value of the property.
5…………………………………………………………………. This will show any potential problems with the property.The property should also be valued to check that it’s worth the asking price. If there are any problems, the surveyor can usually tell you how much they would cost to fix. If this is the case, you might decide to renegotiate the price with the seller or pull out of the deal altogether.
6………………………………………………………………………. Once this is done, the seller should take meter readings. If everyone is happy, now is the time to sign the contracts. At this stage you will have to pay a deposit, normally 10% of the price. When this happens, the buyer and seller have committed to the sale. If you pull out of the deal, you will probably lose your deposit.
7……………………………………………………………………………… This is when the property becomes yours. You get the keys and the deeds … but there will be some bills to pay! These are the rest of the cost of the property (usually 90%), solicitor’s fees, the government tax of stamp duty and removal costs. Congratulations, you now own your first home!
Find the words or phrases in bold in the text which mean….
- an amount of money you pay when you agree to buy something(noun):
- amounts of money that you spend regularly, usually on bills(plural noun):
- the amount of money that a seller would like to get for their home(noun phrase):
- discuss again how much you will pay for something(collocation):
- promised that you would buy something(phrase):
- problems happening in an area close to a property(collocation):
- decide not to complete the agreement(phrase):
- legal documents regarding the ownership of property(plural noun):
HOME VOCABULARIES
- mortgage (noun) – a loan taken out to buy a house.
- second home (noun) – a home in additional to the primary residence, often used for holidays/vacations (which can be called a holiday/vacation home).
- home improvements (noun) – projects to change a home to make it better in some way.
- chores/housework (noun) – repetitive, routine, necessary or tedious jobs; jobs in the house such as cleaning or tidying.
- social housing (noun) – housing provided by the government for poorer people to rent at a lower cost.
- homeless (adjective) – without a home, often living on the streets.
Using the vocabulary words above, complete the following sentences (remember to use the correct form of the word, e.g. verb conjugation or plural noun):
- A local charity called on the government to build more ……………………… to alleviate the demand caused by the growing population.
- I only got pocket money when I was a kid if I helped with the ……………………………….
- Negative equity is when the value of your house is less than the amount you still have to pay off your ………………………………………..
- Residents in Cornwall voted to ban ………………………, claiming that they pushed up house prices making it impossible for local people to get on the property ladder.
- The number ……………………………….. people increased massively during the 2008 financial crisis as people lost their jobs and houses.
- With my retirement money, I was thinking about making some …………………………….. starting with converting the loft into an additional bedroom.
Watch the video, answer the following questions:
Multiple choice
- Where is home?
- a) where you buy it b) where you make it c) where you build it
- When did people start constructing the House on the Rock?
- a) 1968 b) 1978 c) 1988
- How wide is the Carrot House?
- a) 120cm b) 121cm c) 122cm
- In which country is the Hobbit House?
- a) New Zealand b) Australia c) Wales
Sentence completion
- You might have a few ………………. worries living in the Glass House.
- Frank Lloyd built a house into an existing ……………………
- The Airplane House has …………………. bedrooms.
- The Clocktower House was originally valued at ………………………
Click the link to do the following activity