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btn_lipservice.gifBuying a home according to Harp

If you’ve ever bought a home, you know just how complicated it can be. And if you never have, here’s your chance to learn about the process… in English! Harp recently bought a condo, and in this episode, she tells us all about how she was looking for a place with character and what set the place she eventually bought apart from the others. For vocabulary and expressions related to buying a home, listen to this one!

Maura Harp

Maura: One little thing I wanna point out is that, often, we call a place where someone lives a house. It might be a house, but it might be an apartment or a condo. I don’t know why we do this, but any place, any home that someone has, sometimes we just call it a house. So, if we start calling Harp’s condo a house, it’s not because it turned into a house, but it’s just because it’s the place where Harp lives and it’s just a habit to naturally call it a house.
Harp: Good point.
Maura: So, Harp, when you were looking around, what kind of things were you looking for in a home?
Harp: Well, I had my basics. I wanted two bedrooms. I was really hoping for an open concept. I really, really wanted something that had the Montreal charm, you know, the stained glass windows, the old moldings, nice wood floors. But in end, I didn’t get it.
Maura: So what kind of things, or how many things, did you have to compromise on when you finally found a place?
Harp: The character was the big thing that I compromised on. I ended up buying a newer condo rather than an older place that had character.

Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:

A house Open concept
When it comes down to it To have character
To luck out To never want to step foot somewhere again
To put an offer in To set something apart
To close the deal A piece of cake
To cut costs On top of it
A housewarming party Don’t you worry

Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo: marriageadvicenow