Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hello everybody this is Jack from

  • tofluency.com and we are back for

  • another conversation. If this is your

  • first time here then this is my wife

  • Kate, Hi! And what we like to do is we like

  • to have a conversation about specific

  • topic so that you can follow

  • along, improve your listening and learn new

  • words and phrases. And as always I'll

  • leave some phrases or the phrases that

  • we use in the video in the description.

  • So, we are going to talk about housing

  • today and houses in general. Now

  • something that you might not know about

  • Kate is that she is obsessed with real

  • estate. It's true. Just tell everyone what you do on a

  • daily basis.

  • In terms of real estate. In terms

  • of real estate. Well really i'm just

  • interested in all of the houses that are

  • around us. The way that people live.

  • The way that they sell houses.

  • I don't want to be a realtor but I love

  • seeing what people do with their spaces

  • and just you know especially in a place

  • like Asheville which has so many neat old homes

  • in the craftsman style and then city

  • apartments.

  • It's just interesting to see kind of how

  • people live and how they make places

  • their homes. I'm a little bit

  • obsessed.

  • That's cool. And you use an app called Zillow.

  • I do use Zillow - yes. And Zillow is this app

  • that you can have on your phone. You can

  • access on your computer too and it just

  • shows exactly what's available now, what

  • sold for what price, you know in the last

  • couple of years. We are not affiliated with Zillow.

  • No, we use it a lot. And we

  • thought we'd talk about housing today and

  • Kate mentioned you know craftsman style

  • houses, maybe apartments. So we are going to talk

  • about the different types of houses that

  • people live in. In the U.K. , in America.

  • We're going to look at some of the

  • differences with the language as well

  • with British and American English. I thought

  • good place to start would be talking

  • about the places that we grew up in.

  • Ok. So that the type of house that you grew up

  • in. So, maybe you can just lead up with that.

  • Well the house that I grew up in was kind of

  • special because my father built it. So

  • I grew up in a really small town and

  • my grandparents had some land that

  • they gave to my parents when they were

  • young and starting a family. And my dad

  • built us this house which was just a

  • magical place to grow up. It was filled with

  • light, it was quite large and

  • tucked away back in the woods. And my

  • mom recently sold it but it was, it was

  • such a special home

  • i've grown up in and very

  • quiet and suburban which is really different

  • than how you grew up right? Yeah, it

  • was definitely different because your

  • house was situated in the woods in a very

  • quiet and small town. And you felt like

  • you were, you know, out in the country.

  • Yes. I mean you were out in the country.

  • Absolutely. Even though it was close to the

  • main center of the town you were in but there

  • wasn't anything going on. No. There was

  • nothing going on. Literally nothing. But the house is

  • beautiful. As you said it was filled with

  • light, it was spacious and it had this

  • area outside as well which was just

  • incredible. Yeah. Yeah. By the way we

  • have our baby along again today and

  • she might be a little bit louder today

  • so hopefully it won't distract you too much.

  • Poor little thing has a cold so she might

  • sound a little bit stuffed up. Yeah.

  • So, yeah, and you talked about how

  • that was different to where I grew

  • up. I grew up just outside the center

  • of Preston. So it was like in a

  • neighborhood called Fulwood which is

  • a very nice neighborhood. And we had what

  • we call the detached house because in

  • the U.K. and we're going to look at this

  • in a second but we have housing such as

  • terraced houses and semi-detached

  • houses too. So a detached house means

  • that it was there and not attached to a

  • different house.

  • Oh Ok. So it had its own like land and

  • property. And it was a big house it was

  • quite big. And I have so many fond

  • memories growing up there but it was a

  • very traditional brick style house. There

  • were I think three, no there were four bedrooms

  • upstairs. And then we had an extension

  • put on there I think when I was about ten.

  • And that became my bedroom when I was about

  • 14 or 15. So I slept downstairs away from

  • everyone else in this big bedroom because

  • the two bedrooms we had we're really

  • small. But I have so many fond memories

  • of that place and my parents sold it

  • in, I think about 2001-2002. And then they moved to

  • Blackburn which was a town very close by but I

  • was at University then and then you know

  • we met and I, you know, we moved to Spain.

  • We're going to talk about Spain and

  • places that we lived. Just to say also I

  • know that you mentioned a lot of

  • vocabulary. The vocabulary for housing is

  • completely different in America. Yes. So, I

  • think that we don't even say detached

  • houses because we just assume that if

  • you have a house you are not attached to

  • anything else. It's just a free

  • standing house. And then if it is attached

  • to another house on two floors that's

  • usually a townhouse.

  • Yes, townhouse. And then did you mention

  • flats?

  • Well I think the equivalent of a

  • townhouse in the U.K. will be a terrace

  • house. Right. But the style is different. I

  • feel like a townhouse here is more

  • modern. Right. And you know it's like city

  • living. Whereas a terrace house in

  • the U.K. means like an old brick style

  • - we'll leave links to pictures below too -

  • but this was mainly done during the

  • industrial revolution to house workers

  • in a very efficient way. So they are quite

  • historic. Yeah, yeah, a lot of them are old

  • and I was reading about this before. They

  • went out of favor during the beginning

  • of the 20th century. Just around

  • World War One I feel when

  • semi-detached houses became the thing.

  • And a semi-detached house is

  • basically two houses in one

  • structure.

  • Ok. But yeah the terrace houses were

  • there for a reason to put workers in

  • close proximity to the factory.

  • And i was thinking about when I was at

  • University in Leeds. Leeds is full of

  • terraced houses. And I stayed in a couple

  • of those you know when I was at University there.

  • We have lived in all sorts of places though. We have lived in

  • so many places together. So when

  • we were five years into our

  • relationship. So we had been together

  • for five years.

  • Yeah. We calculated - do you remember doing this? Yes. And we

  • realized that we had lived in ten

  • different houses. Yeah. We had moved all

  • of our belongings ten different times and our

  • dog - all over the world.

  • Yeah cuz there was - there was

  • a house in Athens, Georgia. In Blackburn

  • in England, in France.

  • Three houses or three apartments in

  • Valencia. Two in Bilbao. And we'll

  • talk about those in a second I just want

  • to talk about the style of houses in the

  • U.K., in America. So we talked about

  • terraced houses and how they're different.

  • And they're not as popular here.

  • It's more like a townhouse. But also the material that

  • builders use and people have for the houses.

  • Yeah. So, what what difference do you see?

  • Well, one thing was when I went to

  • visit you in the U.K., I was amazed by how

  • many stone and stonework houses there

  • were. Because they're just most of the

  • time people build out of wood here.

  • So I guess stone and brick and it just

  • looked incredibly fancy to me and I

  • remember saying "Oh - this is amazing what a

  • beautiful neighborhood!".

  • And you said it was actually one of the

  • worst neighborhoods in your whole town.

  • It was really rundown and dangerous. We would call it

  • a rough neighborhood. A rough neighborhood? Yeah.

  • We could say that too. So that was a really rough

  • neighborhood. Yeah. But they had very fancy

  • and traditional terrace houses didn't they?

  • Which were more Victorian style.

  • Yeah. Do you remember? But I don't know if the

  • houses themselves were fancy

  • or if it was just me just looking at it as an

  • American and saying "oh it's old and it's

  • made out of stone - it has to be so fancy".

  • Because the wood is probably the

  • most common building material. And you

  • know there's that story of the three

  • pigs and of course the best house is

  • the one that's made out of stone.

  • Yeah. That will stand the test of time. I

  • found it quite strange when I moved here

  • to see so many wooden houses. And like you

  • said you you didn't realize, you couldn't

  • look an area and think oh this is an

  • affluent area, this is a rough area, this is you

  • know in between area. And I had that

  • problem when we moved here too.

  • Yeah. But I've got used to this now and I

  • can I know areas you know I know if it's a

  • family-friendly area, an up and coming

  • area. All those different styles

  • of places that you come across.

  • Yeah, that's interesting. Let's look at the

  • difference now between apartment, condo,

  • and flat. Okay, well we've talked about some of it.

  • Well no the actual difference to what these words mean.

  • Oh ok - I don't know if I know this. Well I just did some research.

  • Oh tell me. We call apartments flats.

  • So apartment is American English and a

  • flat is British English. Ok. But i was

  • reading a condo the difference between

  • an apartment and a condo is that the

  • condo is owned by individual owners.

  • So you buy a condo off someone but an

  • apartment is part of housing authority

  • or you know someone owns all these

  • apartments

  • and rents them out. Oh I didn't know that. I know, I thought that was

  • new information for you and for

  • everyone. This just leads us into Bilbao.

  • Do you remember looking for a place

  • in Bilbao and how naive we were? Yeah.

  • Yes we were. We just - I think any

  • time that you move to another country

  • figuring out the basic things like how

  • to rent a house, how to get a cell phone.

  • It's really really challenging.

  • Especially if you don't speak the

  • language. Exactly.

  • Because nobody can really explain

  • it to you in different words. No, and also.....

  • And we were new at Spanish, you know at

  • living in Spain and we didn't know a lot of the housing

  • vocabulary or what was standard practice.

  • Yeah the standard practices where or

  • basically we had just moved to Bilbao

  • and we were staying in the Ibis. Yeah we

  • were living in a hotel, living in a hotel, which is very

  • expensive, yes, after a few days.

  • Yeah. And we didn't know how to look for

  • an apartment.

  • But we also we're looking at the time when

  • there were different holidays. So they had

  • what they called the "puente", the bridge.

  • Where they had Friday and Monday is a

  • holiday and the weekend.

  • So you couldn't get hold of anyone about

  • housing. But we finally found somewhere,

  • it was a studio which means like

  • there's no separate bedroom. Yes.

  • And that's something to think about. I

  • don't think that I could live in a

  • studio again.

  • Well no. I mean even if we didn't

  • have kids because we've gotten so used

  • to having separate areas/spaces. Yeah. And I

  • remember it was quite expensive and you

  • have to pay a fee as well.

  • Yes. Like a finder's fee to the real

  • estate agent. And we were staying in there but

  • then we found somewhere else in Bilbao

  • about three months later.

  • Yes. Which was, it was different wasn't

  • it?

  • Explain this apartment in Bilbao.

  • It was very rustic - I guess.

  • you could say. It was up in

  • the loft in the top area of this

  • building and it was in a way it was just

  • amazing because it was up carved out

  • into the roof and this woman who is an

  • artist had taken this really old

  • attic and just transformed it into a

  • little apartment. Mostly with like IKEA

  • furniture and curtains but it was just

  • it was unbelievable and it was so neat

  • and so uncomfortable to live in. Yeah.

  • It was cold. So cold. There is no heating. Yeah there's no heating.

  • The electricity would go off if you if you

  • are watching TV and taking a shower you

  • couldn't do that. You couldn't vacuum

  • especially remember? Yes! The electricity

  • went off when we tried to vacuum and we

  • had to start again and put it back on.

  • But it was a really cool space, it was very

  • cheap.

  • Yes. It was right in the center of

  • Bilbao - the old town.

  • And there was a lot going on

  • there. Yes. A lot going on there. And we

  • really enjoyed it.

  • Yeah we loved it. We really enjoyed that time. Yeah its

  • kind of neat to live somewhere

  • that's a little bit different

  • maybe a little bit uncomfortable when

  • you're younger.

  • Yeah. And just get to experience it. I

  • think that you know sometimes now I can

  • take for granted that we have hot

  • running water all the time and that we

  • can have all of our appliances on

  • with no problems.

  • But then I remember, you know, that

  • it really did teach us to be very frugal

  • so not to to spend a lot of money and also

  • to just to just live with a little bit

  • less. Ok we are back after a quick

  • interruption by Emma

  • and we were talking about living in

  • Bilbao and that amazing apartment. We

  • then moved to Valencia. Yes. And what

  • I just remembered we found that

  • apartment in Valencia a long time

  • before didn't we? Like a year before when we

  • were thinking about moving to Valencia.

  • Yeah. So just to give some context we

  • wanted to move to Valencia originally

  • but the program you were on put us in

  • Bilbao and then we moved to Valencia

  • the year after but that same apartment was

  • there wasn't it? Yes.

  • And it was such a cool place.

  • It was so neat. But when we first saw it we

  • thought this has to be some kind of a scam.

  • Yeah. That you know somebody would just

  • come and take our money and we would

  • never rent an actual apartment. But

  • then when we figured out that it had just worked

  • out the right way it seemed like it was

  • almost like fate like we had been meant

  • to get that apartment. Yeah. Yeah. I just

  • remembered that now cuz that is

  • quite crazy that it was our dream

  • apartment in Valencia and just came

  • available when we moved there and we were

  • like more or less signing the contract and

  • she was on the phone to another guy or at

  • least you know that's what she said.

  • Yes. She might have been trying to put

  • pressure on us to sign the contract.

  • But she just said you know someone else

  • wants it, do you guys want it?

  • And we said yeah we do. Yes. And one of the best things about

  • that apartment was the location.

  • Yes. What - although there was one problem

  • with the location if you remember the

  • music? I do. Yes. So we were right in the middle

  • of everything, above amazing

  • restaurants near bars right by one of

  • the main squares. But we were also two

  • floors above a hard rock bar.

  • Yep. That would play really heavy metal

  • rock and roll and then at two in the

  • morning or three in the morning, maybe

  • even later,

  • because in Spain it was quite typical to

  • have bars and clubs open really really

  • late into the night if not the next

  • morning

  • All of these people would

  • come out onto the street after the bar

  • closed and they were rowdy and they've

  • been listening to really heavy metal so

  • they were very loud and they were just

  • two feet are two storeys below our

  • apartment. And of course we didn't have

  • any air conditioning so our doors would be wide open

  • and we'd be trying to sleep and then

  • Yeah. The noise just. It was so loud. So loud.

  • And it just woke us both up instantly

  • as soon as they start talking out there.

  • But apart from that it was

  • incredible. Do you remember standing out on the

  • balcony at dusk and watching the

  • swallows - yes - fly past the house?

  • That was magical wasn't it?

  • Yeah. And you could hear the bells ringing.

  • We've lived some pretty incredible places.

  • Yeah. That was one of my favorite

  • places because also we were so close to

  • the three main squares but then also close to

  • the city river park which used to be a

  • river until they diverted it because

  • of flooding in the fifties I think.

  • And they turned this in - they were going to turn into a

  • highway and then decided to turn it into

  • a park and was just a great place.

  • Yeah. And yeah that place in Valencia

  • was great we really enjoyed our time

  • there. Really enjoyed our time there. It was fantastic.

  • And then I thought we could talk about

  • dream houses.

  • Yes. Because I'm sure you got something

  • to say about what your dream house

  • would look like. Yes. So do you want to tell everybody?

  • Yeah and this is - i would love to live in a

  • house where there was a bedroom for us

  • and for each of our kids and for any family

  • that might visit. Four bedrooms which is really

  • a lot would be perfect. Going from a studio

  • to a studio with no bedrooms to four bedrooms.

  • And then what else like - what kind of

  • style house, where would it be?

  • What kind of things would - unless you say

  • there's no budget here.

  • Oh - no budget.

  • But we want to keep it -

  • Yeah you could spend anything.

  • Well my dream house is probably a farm house

  • style because i love that kind of

  • simple but nice style and i would

  • love to be somewhere where you could

  • just look out and there would be nature

  • everywhere

  • Yeah. So here in some places in

  • Asheville you can get a mountain view

  • that would be fantastic but that would

  • just be a dream. But at the same time where we

  • are now we're in a really nice small

  • neighborhood with a lot of families and

  • you can walk to so many places. You can

  • walk to restaurants. We walk our son to

  • school. We have friends all the way

  • around us that we can go and visit and

  • that's an amazing place to be to.

  • So ideally you could get the best of

  • both worlds and have a neighborhood that's

  • out of nature but still have all your

  • friends close by and be able to walk places.

  • And we've talked about this, haven't we in

  • terms of trade offs?

  • Yeah. So for example the biggest trade off

  • if i think is - is space but then

  • proximity to great places. Or peace and

  • quiet and proximity to the city.

  • Yeah. So if you live in a neighborhood in

  • the city you're close to all the great

  • things of bars and restaurants. You

  • know neighbors are close by but its noisy.

  • If you're out in the country it's lovely

  • you get peace and quiet. You get those

  • views potentially but you can't walk

  • anywhere.

  • No. You can't walk to bars and restaurants

  • and you know anything that you might want

  • to do.

  • Yes, and now that we have kids too, the way

  • that the school system works in

  • America is that where you live

  • determines what school you'll go to and

  • where you live determines what school

  • you'll go to and as terrible as it is

  • the schools are really different

  • depending on where you live.

  • Yes. So generally if you live in a really

  • nice area it will have a very nice school and if

  • you live in an area that's not that

  • great

  • the schools won't be that great either so it's

  • and that's something that I think is

  • kind of terrible to think about but and....

  • And your priorities change .

  • Ya. Don't they? Totally. Ya. That's cool.

  • Question? Yes. Come to that part of

  • this video

  • where Kate asks you guys a question. Yay! So we

  • haven't planed this question no but i've got a

  • question which is what's your

  • dream house?

  • What's important to you and are there

  • any particular features in a house that

  • would make it your dream house like a

  • really big bath tub or a spectacular

  • view?

  • Yeah. We could talk about the location to.

  • You know where this dream house would be

  • and it's a fun activity and you can use

  • conditional sentences and things like that.

  • And because we're nice because I got an

  • unlimited budget for my dream house to talk about you

  • also have an unlimited budget.

  • There you go! So we can't give you real

  • money. No - but maybe if you

  • share this video and we grow bigger then

  • maybe we could do this as a competition

  • one day - win your dream house!

  • No that's not going to happen. We make no promises.

  • No.

  • Well thank you. Thank you everyone

  • for watching. Thank you. And if you have

  • enjoyed this video then please give it

  • a thumbs up.

  • Share it with your friends to do all that

  • good stuff. Like I said there will be

  • words and phrases in the description and

  • information about how you can get some

  • premium resources from this lesson too.

  • So thank you for being here.

  • Leave your comments below and if you

  • new

  • subscribe.

Hello everybody this is Jack from

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it