Shadowing Practice: How to Buy a House in USA - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Hey guys! It's Ariannita la Gringa and welcome back to my YouTube channel.
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Hey guys! It's Ariannita la Gringa and welcome back to my YouTube channel.
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In today's video, I will teach all of you how to buy a house in English in the United States.
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But I'm not by myself I'm with my friend Katherine who's a realtor.
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So Katherine, what is a realtor?
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A realtor is the person that is going to help you buy, sell, or rent your house.
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Katherine is a realtor so she's going to show me around this beautiful model home.
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Stay till the end of the video because Katherine's going to tell us the price of the house and how much it costs and she's going to explain the steps on how to buy a house in the United States.
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Katherine, where are we right now?
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So we are at a model home from Fischer Homes.
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What is a model home?
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A model home is a house that builders make for people to be able to see what a home would look like after they build it for them.
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Okay so basically no one lives here it's brand new, right?
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Yes. Katherine, now I'm curious to see what this home looks like...
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Can you show me around this house?
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Of course. Let's go inside and take a look at it.
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Before taking a tour inside the house with my friend Katherine I will show you the front part of the house.
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What is this called that I'm standing on?
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This is called a driveway (driveway).
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It's basically like a small road where cars can drive through.
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You can park your cars on the driveway or in the garage right there.
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Every house in this neighborhood has this.
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This is called a mailbox (mailbox).
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The mailman will open up this mailbox and put the mail inside the box and then you'll have your mail.
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Before walking inside the house with Katherine, I wanna ask her...
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Katherine, do you know what this part of the house is called?
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Well Ari this is called the front porch.
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This is called the front porch so basically it's a covered outdoor space and normally people will have rocking chairs or just regular chairs where they can hang out in the evening.
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And then over here before entering the house, there is a doormat (doormat).
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Outside the front door and next to the front porch Americans normally have a security camera and they have a doorbell.
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This is a doorbell.
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Katherine if I ring the doorbell will someone answer the door?
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Well, there's nobody really here because this is a model home so it's just open we can just go inside.
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Okay perfect let's go inside!
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Well, let's start the tour with this room.
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This room could be used as an office, a dining room, I mean you can do pretty much anything you want to do with this space.
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In this room, you can find four white chairs.
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There's also wine glasses, but this is all fake because this is a model home.
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And there's also a coffee table in this room.
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Katherine this food is making me really hungry!
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I know it looks real, doesn't it?
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Yeah, but it's actually fake.
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Yeah, people come here all the time and try to eat it and I'm like yeah no it's not real.
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Let's continue with the tour.
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I want to show you what's behind this door over here.
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Do you know what it could be?
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I don't know I think it might be a closet...
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I don't know.
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Well, it's actually a half bath.
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Katherine, you just said half bath.
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What is a half bath?
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A half bath is a bathroom without a shower.
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Basically, there's just a toilet in here, there's a sink and that's it.
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There's no shower or bathtub so you can't take a bath or a shower.
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Ari, now I want to show you my favorite part of this home.
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It is the living room, let's go check it out!
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Katherine, what can we find in this living room?
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Well, you can find some really nice furniture.
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Over here there's these windows that I love and 9-foot ceilings.
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Can you believe that?
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Wow! These ceilings are really tall it's really high.
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And Katherine, if I want to buy this house will it come with all this furniture?
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No, honestly that won't happen.
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It usually just comes without anything on it.
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They just put the furniture so you can see what it would look like.
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And that's why this house is called a model home so the clients can see the house full of furniture and it feels like a true home.
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By the way, if you haven't watched my video about furniture vocabulary go ahead and check it out.
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I'm in the living room and what kind of things can you find in the living room?
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Well, right next to me there is a couch or you can call it a sofa.
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This is a coffee table and the living room is used for relaxing so you can take a nap on the couch, you can also use the living room to entertain your friends and family, you can watch TV.
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There's a TV stand right here and over here there is a lamp.
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This is a lamp.
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So Ari next to the living room you're gonna find the kitchen.
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And when you buy a home the kitchen comes equipped with some appliances.
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So one of them is the microwave, you're also gonna have a stove, and a dishwasher.
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Katherine, so when I buy this house if I want to buy it then it comes with a microwave, a stove, and a dishwasher, right?
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Yes. But what about the fridge?
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So the fridge is the only thing that you're not going to have in the home.
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You have to purchase that on your own.
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What is a kitchen?
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A kitchen is a place where you can prepare and cook food.
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And Katherine, can I actually eat this cake?
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It looks so delicious!
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I wish we could.
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It's just fake, unfortunately.
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This is a fridge.
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You can call it a fridge or a refrigerator.
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And below the fridge, this is a freezer (freezer).
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Also, if you have a kitchen where do you keep your food?
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Well you can keep your food in the cabinets right here or if it's a big kitchen you might even have a pantry.
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This is a pantry.
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And look! There are some Quaker Oats.
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There's actually food in here.
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This whole thing is called a stove (stove).
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This is a stove top where you can cook things on a skillet.
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For example, you can cook up some pancakes.
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These are pancakes, but they're fake so I'm not going to eat them.
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And then below the stovetop, this is an oven (oven).
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You can bake cakes, you can bake muffins in here, and you can cook meat too.
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Next to the kitchen, you're going to find the table.
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This is a dining table where you can sit and eat with your family.
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There's really nice natural light coming from outdoor and also this very beautiful chandelier.
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This is like something I really like about the home.
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This is a beautiful chandelier (chandelier) and when it gets dark out I can just turn on the chandelier and the lights will come on.
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This is a light bulb (light bulb).
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I like that this room is very spacious and it's right next to the kitchen.
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Also, there's a very beautiful painting on the wall.
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This is a painting (painting).
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Katherine, there's a door right here next to the kitchen table.
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Can you show me a little bit more what the house looks like from the backyard?
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Yes, of course, we can go out there and look at the patio.
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Sure, let's go!
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Right now we're outside, we're on the patio, we're sitting down in these beautiful chairs, and right in front of me, this is a fire pit.
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This fire pit can get really hot and it can be really nice to roast some s'mores during the summer.
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And if you get really cold you can just turn it on.
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Yeah, it would be nice to turn it on right now because it's very cold.
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Yeah, and I don't have my jacket.
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Yeah me neither.
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This is the yard but specifically, this is the backyard.
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It's just an outdoor space in the back part of the house.
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Did you guys know that in British English instead of saying yard they say garden?
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In American English if you refer this part to garden that would not be correct because a garden is where you grow plants and flowers.
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Katherine, can you tell me a little bit more about what you would have in your backyard?
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Yeah well, some people put pools in the backyard.
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Some people also put fences when they have dogs or pets.
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This is just an open backyard.
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So there isn't a fence, but you can actually put a pool here because this is pretty spacious it's pretty big.
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Before walking upstairs and having you show me around more parts of the house, how can people find you on social media?
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Yeah well, you can find me on both Facebook and Instagram.
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On Facebook Katherine Forja - Huff Realty and then on Instagram I'm katherine.forja So if you guys want to buy a house or if you have any questions, you can go ahead and contact her.
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Her social media links are right here and in the description box below.
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Also, my friend Katherine is from Venezuela.
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Yes Ari, in fact, I'm trying to help the Hispanic Community because I can help them in Spanish or English.
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I know sometimes it's hard it's difficult to buy a home in a language that is not your native language.
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I just wanted to throw that out there if anybody needs help in Spanish I can help them as well.
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Do you want to go upstairs now?
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We can check [out] the master bedroom it's really really nice.
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Yes, let's go check it out.
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This is the master bedroom which is also called a primary bedroom.
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This bedroom is big!
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The master bedroom is normally the biggest bedroom in the house, right?
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Yes! How many bedrooms does this house have?
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It has four bedrooms.
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This house is pretty big to have four bedrooms.
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Since this house has four bedrooms you can just call it a four-bedroom house and if it has less bedrooms like the one next door you can just call it a three-bedroom house.
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This is the master bedroom it's the biggest room in the house.
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So this is a king-size bed.
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It's pretty big I can fit three of me in this bed. It's huge!
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And then right next to the bed, there is a nightstand.
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This is a nightstand.
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And then over here they even have a couch in this room.
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A couch. And this is a walk-in closet.
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It's a walk-in closet because you can walk in here and then hang up all of your clothes.
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This bedroom has its own private bedroom.
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Let's check it out.
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This is a bathroom (bathroom).
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So some bathrooms in this house don't have a place where you can take a shower or bath and that's called a half bath, but this is a full bath so there's a shower right next to me.
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In this bathroom, there are two sinks.
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This is a sink.
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And over here this is a vanity (vanity).
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And this is a nice place where you can do your makeup.
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And then this bathroom is even bigger because there's another walk-in closet where you can hang up even more clothes and then of course this is a bathroom so over here there is a toilet.
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Before we go to the other bedrooms, I want to show you this is the laundry room.
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Here you can put your washer and your dryer.
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Just so you know when you buy a new home it doesn't come with the washer and dryer.
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You will have to purchase that.
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Katherine, we just came from the first floor, but now we're on the second floor.
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Is this the third floor?
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Yes, that would be considered the third floor.
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And this house actually has five levels.
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So there's three above the ground and then two under the ground.
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What can I find on the third floor?
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So on the third floor we're going to find three bedrooms and one bedroom.
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You wanna go check it out?
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Yeah let's go.
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Right now I'm in the first bedroom on the third floor.
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This bedroom is a lot smaller compared to the master bedroom and they have two beds.
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Do you guys know what this bed is called?
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This is called a bunk bed (bunk bed) and there's a ladder right here so you can climb up the ladder and then sleep on the top bunk.
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Now Katherine is going to walk me downstairs because she's going to show me the basement because remember this house is huge and it has five floors.
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And when I walk down the stairs I will use this rail to guide me down the stairs.
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This is a rail so I'm putting my hand on it and I'm walking down the stairs that way I don't trip and fall.
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You're going to notice that the flooring changes throughout the home.
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The stairs are usually carpet and then the main level is hardwood flooring.
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Now you can choose to make the stairs hardwood floor as well.
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It just depends on what you like.
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Yeah I love the hardwood floors on the first floor and then I love the variety.
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You can have hardwood floors or carpet.
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Katherine, what's over there?
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So that normally would be a garage, but since this is a model home you're gonna find the office right there.
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Now let's take a look at the basement.
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Yeah let's go, I'm so excited to see it!
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Right now, Katherine and I are in the basement.
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So the basement is the level below the first level so it's underneath the first floor.
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This is a nice space to watch a movie or just for entertainment, bring your family members, and just hang out in here and eat some popcorn.
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Yes. Now I want to make sure that you understand there's two parts of the basement in this home.
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One of the parts of it is unfinished.
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We're gonna show you that next.
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So when you buy a home you have the option to finish the basement if you want to make it a space like this or just have it unfinished and that makes it cheaper.
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Okay so this is a finished basement, but below this basement that is the unfinished basement, right?
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Yes. Let's finish eating this fake popcorn and drink this fake coke before heading downstairs.
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All right. Cheers!
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This is the unfinished basement.
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Some people use this as storage space.
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Normally in the basements you're gonna find the furnace which is over there behind you and the water heater.
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Now we're in the final part of the video!
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Thank you Katherine for showing me around the house.
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You're welcome!
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And I have a question...
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How much does this house cost?
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So a house like this... this is a model home, but a house like this in this neighborhood would cost around $600,000.
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And actually, once they're done building in this area they're going to sell this home to somebody.
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Now that we know that this model home costs around 600k how would someone (like one of my subscribers) be able to buy a house in the United States?
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What's the process?
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So that process is gonna change depending on a few different factors.
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You have two options.
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You can buy [it with] cash which means that you're gonna buy it with money out of your pocket.
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And then you can buy it through a loan.
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You can go to a financing company and apply for that loan.
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Once you have that part set up then you have to go with a realtor and start looking at homes.
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Once you find the home you like you can put in an offer and that's it the house is gonna be yours.
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So there are two ways to buy a house.
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So with cash with the money that you have saved up in your bank account or the second way is getting a loan from the bank where the bank will lend you money (you borrow this money) and then you pay off this money with a mortgage.
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So each month you'll have to pay for the house and that's your mortgage payment, correct?
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Yes! And then you'll also be paying interest too with your mortgage depending on how many years you have that loan for.
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Yes. So if you have like a 15-year loan it'll have a different interest rate than if you are paying for a home over time like a 30-year loan, right?
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Yes. So I just want you to keep in mind that if you buy the home through a loan then you're gonna have to put a down payment down.
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And the down payment could be 3 or 3.5% down if it's a house that you're going to be living in.
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And if it's an investment home it's around 20% down.
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So for example if I want to buy this model home that's $600,000 then for my down payment I have to put down 3 to 3.5% of the value of the house, correct?
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Yeah. Okay Katherine let's say that I have the loan approved from the bank so I'm going to borrow this money, and then I'm going to put around 3% to 3.5% of the original value of the home, how much would my mortgage payment be every month?
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That's a question that I get a lot and honestly I can't tell you a number because it depends on different factors.
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It depends on your credit score, your work history, your legal status.
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It depends on a few different things.
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Just to give you a number I had a client that bought a home around this price 600,000 and they were paying $5,000 per month.
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They just paid 3% of the value of the home down so if they had paid more then their mortgage payment would be lower.
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And that's how you guys can buy a house in America!
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Thank you so much Katherine for showing me around the house (for giving me a house tour) of this beautiful model home.
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And where can we reach you once again?
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Well, you can reach me on Facebook and Instagram Katherine.Forja.
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And where do you live? Where are you based?
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Well, I can help you in Northern Kentucky and Ohio (around the Cincinnati area).
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Go ahead and contact her if you guys want to buy a home.
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And go ahead and give me a like, subscribe, and I'll see you guys next week.
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Bye!
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Context & Background
In this engaging YouTube video titled "How to Buy a House in USA," host Ariannita la Gringa collaborates with her friend Katherine, a real estate professional, to guide viewers through the process of purchasing a home in the United States. The dialogue presents practical vocabulary, expressions, and scenarios that are incredibly beneficial for English learners. Whether you are planning to buy a house or simply keen to expand your language skills in real estate, this video serves as a rich resource for improving your communicative abilities in English.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- What is a realtor? - A great phrase to ask for clarification about real estate professions.
- Can you show me around? - Use this when requesting a tour or guidance.
- What is this called? - A useful question to learn specific vocabulary about items in a house.
- How much does it cost? - Essential when inquiring about prices, especially in real estate.
- This is a model home. - Important terminology to understand different types of homes.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively practice your English speaking using the content from this video, consider employing a shadowing app or technique. Shadowing involves listening and repeating the speech of native speakers, which can significantly enhance your fluency and pronunciation.
- Watch the video once: Familiarize yourself with the context and overall conversation. Pay attention to the flow of language and specific terminology used.
- Listen actively: In the second viewing, focus on Katherine’s explanations about real estate terms—such as "driveway," "mailbox," and "model home." Make note of any words or phrases that are new to you.
- Use a shadowing app: Choose a specific section of the video, perhaps when Katherine defines what a realtor does, and practice shadowing by repeating after her. This method will help improve your pronunciation and rhythm in the English language.
- Record yourself: After you’ve practiced a few times, record your own voice as you shadow the video. Listen to your recordings to identify areas for improvement in your pronunciation and intonation.
- Engage with further practice: To enhance vocabulary retention, incorporate phrases from the video into your daily conversations. Use expressions like "Can you show me around?" or "How much does it cost?" in everyday scenarios, which will prepare you for real-life situations.
By following these steps, you’ll not only boost your IELTS speaking practice but also gain relevant language skills that can be utilized in real estate conversations and beyond. Start exploring how to learn English with YouTube today—it's a fun and effective way to immerse yourself in the language!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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