2010年ESL之日常生活 01 Having an Open House

 

01 Having an Open House

GLOSSARYreal estate agent – a person whose job is to help other people buy and sellhomes, buildings, and land

* We gave our real estate agent a list of the three most important things we’relooking for in a new home: a short distance to work, three large bedrooms, and abig backyard for the kids to play in.

open house – an event where people can come into a home that is for sale towalk through it, learn about it, and decide whether they would like to buy it

* They’ve had an open house every Sunday for the past month, but they haven’tfound a buyer yet.

to look over (one’s) shoulder – to closely watch another person’s work; to paycareful attention to what another person is doing, especially when that persondoesn’t want to be watched

* Please stop looking over my shoulder! I work much better when I’m left alone.

lookie-loo – a person who wants to see what is happening, especially when heor she doesn’t really need to see it

* Whenever there’s an accident, traffic slows down because of all the lookie-looswho slow down to get a better view as they drive by.

sign-in sheet – a piece of paper where every attendee or participant writes hisor her name and/or contact information, so that there is a record of who wasthere

* Please put your name, email address, and telephone number on the sign-insheet when you come into the conference room.

stager – a person whose job is to make a home look its best so that it can besold more easily

* The stager took down all their family photographs and hung landscapepaintings instead.

cosmetic repair – something that improves the appearance of a house orbuilding without actually making it stronger or safer

* They spent all their money on cosmetic repairs, fixing the cabinets and paintingthe walls, but they really need to fix the roof and the fireplace.

to de-clutter – to reduce the number of things that are visible in a room; to putthings away; to clear the surfaces of tables and counters

* This house would look so much better if you de-cluttered it, hiding all the toys,dishes, magazines, pictures, and other small things.

landscaping – the combination of plants, flowers, trees, grass, and rocks usedto make a garden or yard beautiful

* Which city parks have the best landscaping?

to show up – to appear; to arrive; to come to a particular event or place

* What time did your parents show up at the house?

fact sheet – a piece of paper with detailed information about something

* According to this fact sheet, the museum was built in 1924 and has about 4,000visitors each day.

square footage – the number of square feet in a particular area; the size of abuilding or a piece of land

* I hope our next house has less square footage because I’m tired of cleaning somuch space!

lot – the land that a building sits on; the land owned by a homeowner or buildingowner

* They’ve decided to buy an empty lot and then build their own home on it.

addition – a section of a home or other building that has been added to theoriginal structure

* They’re saving money for an addition because they want two more bedroomsand an extra bathroom for their growing family.

permitted – with all the necessary permits, permission, and documentation;having followed all the laws, rules, and regulations

* My construction crew only works on permitted projects.

upgrade – an improvement in a home, usually replacing an old appliance with anewer appliance, or installing a very nice and expensive countertop or lightfixtures

* Francine paid extra for all the upgrades, including a marble bathtub and granitecountertops.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Why are they having an open house?

a) To welcome friends and family into their new home.

b) To try to find buyers for their home.

c) To see how many people fit inside the house.

2. According to Ernie, what information is included on the fact sheet?

a) The size of the house.

b) The number of bedrooms.

c) The shape of the floors.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

lot

The word “lot,” in this podcast, means the land that a building sits on and isowned by a homeowner: “Their home is on a beautiful lot right next to the river.”

A “lot” can also be any area of land used for a specific purpose: “Do youremember where we parked in the parking lot?” A “lot” is also a large number ofpeople or things: “This store has a lot of nice sweaters.” The phrase “(one’s) lotin life” is used to describe one’s situation, especially when one is dissatisfied withit and wishes it could be better: “She’s unhappy with her lot in life as asalesperson, because she always dreamed of being a dentist.” Finally, a “lot” isa group of things that are sold together, especially at an auction: “Which lots areyou bidding on?”

addition

In this podcast, the word “addition” means a section of a home or other buildingthat has been added to the original structure: “It used to be a really small home,but over the years, each owner has made a new addition, and now it’s quitelarge.” An “addition” is something that is added to something else to make itbetter: “These DVDs will be a great addition to our movie collection.” Inmathematics, “addition” is the process of finding the sum: “Let’s practice withsome addition problems. What’s 6,482 + 461?” The phrase “in addition to” isused to provide extra information about something: “In addition to learning how toswim, Rafaella learned how to play baseball in the school’s summer program.”

CULTURE NOTE

A real estate agent has many responsibilities, although they “vary” (are different)“slightly” (a little bit), depending on whether the agent is a “buyer’s agent” (a realestate agent helping someone buy a home) or a “seller’s agent” (a real estateagent helping someone sell a home).

The buyer’s agent “is supposed to” (should) interview clients to find out whatthey’re looking for in a new home and then study the “property listings”

(information about homes that are for sale) to find a good “match” (somethingthat meets the client’s needs). The buyer’s agent then “sets up” (schedules)appointments when the clients can view the home, and drives the buyer(s) to thehomes.

The seller’s agent is supposed to help the homeowner understand the “marketvalue” (the amount that something can be sold for) of his or her home andprovide suggestions on how to “stage” the home, making it look its best. Theseller’s agent organizes open houses, inviting other real estate agents to viewthe home, and “markets” (promotes) the home to “prospective” (potential,possible) buyers.

Real estate agents are also responsible for helping buyers write “offers” (writtenstatements indicating how much one is willing to pay for a home) and helpingsellers understand and respond to the offers. Agents assist their clientsthroughout the “negotiation process,” or the period of time when buyers andsellers try to reach an agreement. Agents also “draft” (write; put in writing) realestate contracts and “accompany” (be with; go with) their clients when the“paperwork” (necessary documents) is signed.

Of course, real estate agents have many other job responsibilities, but the onesdescribed above are the “main” (primary; most important) ones.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 546: Having anOpen House.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 546. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Our website is eslpod.com. Go there to download a Learning Guide for thisaudio episode. The Learning Guide contains all of the vocabulary, definitions,sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehensionquestions, and a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode. So ifyou’re having difficulty understanding something, or want to look at thevocabulary and get new sample sentences or new definitions, go to the websiteand download the Learning Guide.

This episode is called “Having an Open House.” It’s a dialogue between Kyokoand Ernie; they’re going to be using some vocabulary that is common when wetalk about open houses, when you sell your house. We’ll find out more aboutthat in a minute. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Kyoko: We’re not supposed to be here. I think we should leave and let our realestate agent hold the open house without us looking over her shoulder.

Ernie: We’re not looking over her shoulder. I just want to sit in this car to seehow many people go in and out.

Kyoko: You know, there’ll be a lot of lookie-loos. And plus, there’ll be a sign-insheet, so we’ll be able to see afterwards how many people stopped in.

Ernie: Hey, someone’s coming in now.

Kyoko: That’s the stager. She’s making some last-minute changes.

Ernie: She really doesn’t need to do anything else. We did everything our agenttold us to do. We made cosmetic repairs, painted, and de-cluttered. What morecould they ask for?

Kyoko: She’s just doing some minor landscaping, putting some plants along thefront path and around the front door. Let’s get out of here before people startshowing up. I don’t want to seem like I’m spying on my own house.

Ernie: What does it matter? Hand me the fact sheet for our house. I want toread it through again to make sure the agent didn’t miss anything. Okay, thesquare footage on the house and the lot are correct, she noted that our additionis permitted, and she mentioned the upgrades – good. Where are you going?

Kyoko: I’m not going to sit in this car for the next four hours. Let’s go to visit ourneighbors’ open houses.

Ernie: Good idea. We’ll see what our competition is and maybe we can stealsome of their open house ideas!

[end of dialogue]

Kyoko begins this dialogue by saying to Ernie, “We’re not supposed to be here.”

What she’s saying is that this is a place where they are not permitted or that theyshould not be in. “We’re not supposed to be here. I think we should leave andlet our real estate agent hold the open house without us looking over hershoulder.” A “real estate agent” refers to a person, the agent, who sells housesand buildings – real estate. So a real estate agent is someone who sells andbuys homes, buildings, and sometimes just the land.

An “open house” is an event where people can come into a home that is for sale,walk through it, look at it, learn about it, ask questions of the real estate agent,the person who’s selling the home for the owners; in the United States this is avery common custom. To sell your house you have, usually on a Sundayafternoon from one in the afternoon to perhaps four or two to five, you havepeople come to your house, you advertise your house for sale, people come andwalk around it and look at it and can ask the agent questions. Typically,however, the owners of the house are not at the open house. The real estateagent is responsible for showing the house. Some people like to have openhouses because it gets more people interested in their house, and perhapssomeone will buy it from looking at it. Some people don’t like open housesbecause many times the people who go and look at the house are not reallyinterested in buying it; they just want to see what the house looks like. So if youcome to the United States in you’re in a large city, you can buy the Sundaynewspaper, take a look at the open house listings, and simply go and take a lookat some houses, pretending perhaps that you’re interested. Many people go andlook at other people’s houses if they’re going to be selling theirs to see how good the house is for the price. It sometimes helps you figure out what price you wantto put on your house. Most real estate agents know that many of the people whocome to the house are not really that interested in buying it; they just want to see.

Sometimes even the neighbors come and look at a house that is being sold intheir neighborhood.

Kyoko says that she thinks that she and Ernie should leave. She says that theyshould let their real estate agent hold the open house – “to hold an open house”

means to have an open house – “without us looking over her shoulder.” “To lookover (someone’s) shoulder” is an expression that means to watch anotherperson’s work very closely, to pay careful attention to what another person isdoing, especially when that person doesn’t want you watching them. So you’redoing something at your desk in your office and your boss comes over and looksat what you are doing and watches you work, you might say to him, “Why are youlooking over my shoulder?” He may, or she, may not actually be looking overyour shoulder, that is looking down at your desk with their head above yourshoulder. It’s the expression that we use to mean to watch someone elseworking when they don’t really want you watching them working.

Ernie says, “We’re not looking over her shoulder. I just want to sit in this car tosee how many people go in and out.” So they’re not in the house; they’re sittingin their car outside of the house. Kyoko says, “You know, there’ll be a lot oflookie-loos.” A “lookie-loo” is an informal expression for someone who likes tosee what is happening, especially someone who doesn’t really need to see it. Soin this case, lookie-loos would be people, as I mentioned earlier, who go to theopen house and don’t want to buy the house, they just want to see the house.

Kyoko says, “And plus (meaning in addition), there’ll be a sign-in sheet, so wewill be able to see afterwards how many people stopped in.” A “sign-in sheet” isa piece of paper where everyone who is participating or attending a certain eventputs his or her name, sometimes the address and the phone number. In openhouses, real estate agents asks everyone who comes into the house to sign thesign-in sheet, mainly to get their name and telephone number and call them laterto see if they’re interested in selling their house or interested in buying the house.

It is also proof to the owners of the house that people came and looked at thehouse. The term “sign-in sheet” can be used for any event, anything that youwant people, when they first come to, to put down their name, sometimes theirsignature. So Kyoko is telling Ernie that they don’t need to sit there and watcheveryone going into the house, they can just look at the sign-in sheet later.

Ernie says, “Hey, someone’s coming in now.” Someone is going into their house.

Kyoko says, “That’s the stager. She’s making some last-minute changes.” A“stager” (stager) is a person whose job it is to make the home look nice.

Sometimes when people move and they haven’t sold their house, the house willbe empty when people come to look at it. Real estate agents have found thatpeople are more likely to buy a house if they can imagine themselves in thehouse, and that means putting things in the house – the empty house – that willhelp you imagine what the house will look like. So you put a bed in, you put atelevision in, you put pictures on the wall. None of these belong to the owner;they’re just there to help the people looking at the house to get a better picture, ifyou will, of what the house looks like when there is furniture inside. “To makelast-minute changes” means to change something right before the event starts, inthe last hour or maybe last day.

Ernie says, “She really doesn’t need to do anything else (that is, the stager). Wedid everything our agent told us to do. We made cosmetic repairs, painted, andde-cluttered.” “To repair (something)” is to fix it. A “cosmetic repair” improvesthe appearance of something, in this case the appearance of the house. Youdon’t actually make it a better house, or a stronger or a safer house; you maypaint the walls, for example. That’s a cosmetic change. You may fix somethingthat is broken so that it looks better; that would be a cosmetic repair. “To clutter”

(clutter) means to put too many things in a space, on your desk or in a room, sothat it looks crowded. “To de-clutter,” then, means to take away things so thatthe space is more open, that you can see the desk, you can see the room better.

Kyoko says the stager is doing some minor landscaping. “Landscaping” is whenyou do something with the plants, the trees, the grass outside of a home to makeit more beautiful. She says that the stager is putting some plants along the frontpath, where people walk into the house. “Let’s get out of here before people startshowing up,” she says. “To show up” is a two-word phrasal verb meaning toarrive, to appear, to come to a particular event or place: “What time did yourbrother show up last night?” You were waiting for him, he was late, he didn’tshow up until 8:00. Kyoko says, “I don’t want to seem like I’m spying on my ownhouse.” “To spy on (something)” means to look at it in secret, to get information.

Ernie says, “What does it matter (what difference does it make)? Hand me thefact sheet for our house.” “Hand me” means give me – put in my hand – the factsheet. A “fact sheet” is a piece of paper with detailed information aboutsomething; it could be about anything. For a house, the fact sheet would havethe price, how big the house is, and so forth. Ernie says, “I want to read itthrough (meaning I want to read it completely) again to make sure the agentdidn’t miss anything. Okay, the square footage on the house and the lot arecorrect.” The “square footage” is the number of square feet in a particular area;it’s a way of measuring the size of a house. The “lot” (lot) is the land that the house sits on, or the building sits on. “Lot” has a couple of other meanings; takea look at the Learning Guide for some additional definitions.

Then Ernie says that the real estate agent noted, or put on the paper, that ouraddition is permitted, and she mentioned the upgrades. An “addition” to a houseis a new part of the house that was built after the original house. The word“addition” has some additional definitions; once again, the Learning Guide willhelp you. When we say that a part of the house or a building is “permitted,” wemean that it has all the necessary permissions and government documents. Ifyou decide you want to add a new room to your house, you need to getpermission from the city, and the city comes and looks at it to make sure thatwhat you built is safe. This is part of getting something permitted. Many people,at least here in Los Angeles, because it’s so expensive to get a governmentpermit – a government approval – will add things to their house without gettingapproval from the government. Of course, if the government finds out, they’llhave to pay for the permit; but usually the government is too busy trying to doother things, like spend our money! Ernie said that the real estate agentmentioned the upgrades. An “upgrade” is an improvement to something. For ahome, usually it’s making the home better, perhaps by putting in a nicer kitchen,putting in a nicer refrigerator. These would be upgrades. Changing the carpet,that would be also a minor upgrade; more cosmetic than anything else, but still, itmakes the house nicer.

Well, Kyoko says that she doesn’t want to sit in the car for the next four hoursduring the open house. She says, “Let’s go to visit our neighbors’ open houses.”

Ernie says, “Good idea. We’ll see what our competition is and maybe we cansteal some of their open house ideas!” So, Ernie and Kyoko are going to look atother open houses, just like I mentioned earlier people often do, to see if theycan get some ideas about selling their house.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Kyoko: We’re not supposed to be here. I think we should leave and let our realestate agent hold the open house without us looking over her shoulder.

Ernie: We’re not looking over her shoulder. I just want to sit in this car to seehow many people go in and out.

Kyoko: You know, there’ll be a lot of lookie-loos. And plus, there’ll be a sign-insheet, so we’ll be able to see afterwards how many people stopped in.

Ernie: Hey, someone’s coming in now.

Kyoko: That’s the stager. She’s making some last-minute changes.

Ernie: She really doesn’t need to do anything else. We did everything our agenttold us to do. We made cosmetic repairs, painted, and de-cluttered. What morecould they ask for?

Kyoko: She’s just doing some minor landscaping, putting some plants along thefront path and around the front door. Let’s get out of here before people startshowing up. I don’t want to seem like I’m spying on my own house.

Ernie: What does it matter? Hand me the fact sheet for our house. I want toread it through again to make sure the agent didn’t miss anything. Okay, thesquare footage on the house and the lot are correct, she noted that our additionis permitted, and she mentioned the upgrades – good. Where are you going?

Kyoko: I’m not going to sit in this car for the next four hours. Let’s go to visit ourneighbors’ open houses.

Ernie: Good idea. We’ll see what our competition is and maybe we can stealsome of their open house ideas!

[end of dialogue]

There’s no need for the boss to look over the shoulder of the writer of this script.

It’s by Dr. Lucy Tse, so you know it’s going to be good!

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Comeback and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan, copyright 2010 by the Center for EducationalDevelopment.