Test yourself

1. brownstone

a) a three-digit number that represents a particular telephone ser­vice area;

2. builder

b) an evaluation that is done to determine the value of a property and whether it can be approved for a mortgage;

3. area code

c) a bar or counter in a kitchen used for informal meals; it usually connects a kitchen with the family or living room beyond it;

4. breakfast bar

d) a type of building common in the Northeast of the country, usu­ally a tall, narrow row house faced with a reddish-brown sand­stone;

5. cord

e) a contractor, or someone who develops, builds, and sells houses or apartments;

6. collateral

f) another word for a dresser;

7. counter

g) the part of a range where you place a pan to cook over a flame (on a gas stove) or on a hot metal ring (on an electric stove);

8. bureau

h) something that you own, usually a house, that you offer as a guarantee against a loan; if you do not pay back the loan, the institution that gave you the loan can force you to sell your col­lateral to pay the loan back;

9. appraisal

i) the flexible, electric cable with a plug at the end for connecting an appliance to the power source; lead;

10. covenant

j) a flat surface around sinks and along walls in kitchens and bathrooms; worktop;

11. den

k) an agreement that someone signs in order to buy or build a house in a planned community, in which they agree to rules about property use, building restrictions, etc;

12. doorman

l) a raised wooden platform at the back of a house, which is often used for eating outdoors; compare porch;

13. burner

m) a large, comfortable, casual room for family activities such as watching TV, playing games, or just hanging out; they are sometimes built in basements and are known for having wood paneling on the walls; also called a family room;

14. double bed

n) a group of similar individual houses that are built and sold by a management company; estate;

15. dumpster

o) in some city apartments, a uniformed attendant at the door of the building;

16. (housing) development

p) another word for full-size;

17. duplex apartment

q) an amount of money that is paid as part of the purchase price of thing like a house or vehicle, with the balance of the price repaid later;

18. deck

r) a large metal container for the disposal of garbage that can then be easily emptied into a garbage truck; skip;

19. down payment

s) an apartment built over two floors;

Part 2.

1. escrow

a) a telephone number of a business that is free of charge for customers;

2. 800 number/ 888 number

b) an amount of money, a deed, or a piece of property that is held as security until the purchase of a house is complete;

3. fixer-upper

c) another word for a den;

4. garbage disposal

d) the sink fixture that includes the spigot (the part that the water comes out of) and one or two taps;

5. family room

e) a house or other property that is sold at a very low price because it needs a lot of repairs and improvements;

6. faucet

f) an electric device that gets rid of organic waste such as vegetable peelings by grinding it and flushing it down the kitchen sink;

7. maintenance

g) a residential development with gates and security guards for the increased security of the residents;

8. long-distance carrier

h) any work done to make a house or apartment more comfortable, attractive, or valuable;

9. nightstand

i) a loan made by a financial institution, usually with a person’s house as collateral, for making repairs or improvements to that house;

10. home improvement

j) a company that provides long-distance telephone services;

11. gated community

k) the things that someone does to make sure that a building is kept clean and in good condition;

12. home improvement loan

l) a small table placed by the side of a bed; bedside table;

13. phone booth

m) a design for a house in which one room leads to another without doors, or even walls, between them;

14. planned community

n) the point in a wall or floor where an electrical appliance is plugged in; power point;

15. ranch house

o) a public shelter with a phone in it; phone box;

16. range

p) a housing development that is planned to include residential areas, schools, parks, and stores;

17. outlet

q) a building or group of buildings built through government funding to provide housing for level-income families;

18. open-plan

r) a popular style of house, on a single level, with a low roof and an open-plan design;

19. (housing) project

s) the top of a stove that has burners on it; cooker; it’s also another word for a stove;

Part 3.

1. shotgun house

a) laws set by the government (state or local) establishing how much rent landlords can demand, and how much it can increase year by year;

2. socket

b) tenants in rent-stabilized properties are protected by laws that control how much rent can be increased when renewing a lease;

3. rent control

c) a housing development for older people, where they can often live independently but still have ready access to medical and other assistance if necessary;

4. rent-stabilized

d) house in a series of houses that share side walls; they’re com­mon in the North and East of the country; terraced house; in the West, they are often called town houses;

5. stoop

e) a financial institution that provides savings accounts and invests mostly in home mortgages; building society;

6. retirement community

f) a long, narrow house, with all the rooms off one corridor that runs the length of the house; these are most commonly found in the South; the name comes because a gun could be tired at one end and the bullet could exit at the other door;

7. savings and loan association

g) the point in a wall or floor where an electrical appliance is plugged in;

8. sublet

h) a set of steps leading up to the door of a house or building, usually big enough to sit on;

9. super, superintendent

i) an area of land used for building houses, usually by a developer or builder;

10. row house

j) to rent a property from the person who rents it, especially for a limited time;

11. subdivision

k) the person in charge of maintenance in an apartment building;

12. town house

l) one of the controls for hot and cold water an a faucet; many American faucets have only one control;

13. Victorian

m) the ceramic fixture itself; it is not used for the room in which it is located;

14. tap

n) one in a row of houses that share side walls;

15. walk-up

o) videocassette recorder; a piece of electronic equipment used for playing and recording movies and television shows on videotape;

16. toilet

p) a type of house built late in the nineteenth century; they are large wooden structures with elaborate decorative and architectural features;

17. VCR

q) an apartment in a building without an elevator;

British English

American English

bath

studio/bachelor/efficiency apartment

bedsit

Bathtub, tub

toilet, WC

housing project

council estate

guest bathroom / half bathroom

estate

apartment

estate agent

outlet, socket

flat

Yard, garden

garden (the area around your house)

(housing) development

power point

real estate broker, realtor

property

Garbage / trash

rubbish

real estate, property

semi-detached house

faucet

survey

row house / town house

tap

duplex

terrace house

appraisal

toilet, ladies’, gent’s, WC

closet

wardrobe

bathroom, rest room, ladies’, gent’s