Houses in Britain and in the us

"Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home! A charm from the skies seems to hallow all there,

Which, seek through the world, is ne^fer met with elsewhere. Home! Home! Sweet home! There's no place like home!

An exile from home, splendour dazzles in vain.

Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again; The birds singing gaily that came at my call:

Give me these and the peace of mind dearer than all. Home! Home! Sweet home! There's no place like home!"

(Payne)

Towns and cities in Britain have grown a lot in size over the last two centuries. Many people live in the suburbs, areas on the edge of a town. Some suburbs consist of new housing estates, while others were originally villages that have become joined to the town as it has grown. Some people prefer to live in a village and travel into the nearby town to work. Villages are considered to be pleasant places to live, as they are quieter and less polluted than towns and are closer to the countryside. They usually contain a range of houses, including old cottages and new houses and bungalows. Many British people prefer to buy a house rather than renting one, because they can decorate or alter it to suit their own taste and because they believe they will have more privacy. Young people and those who| cannot afford to buy a house live in rented accommodation. Some rent a furnished bedsit (or bed-sitting room), a combined bedroom and sitting

room, and share washing and cooking facilities. Others rent a flat or

house, often sharing the cost with friends. Houses are bought and

sold through estate agents. Few people can afford to buy a house outright, so they have to take out a mortgage (= loan) with a bank or building society.

The largest and most expensive type of house is a detached house, which is not joined to other houses and has a garden all round it. Detached houses have at least three bedrooms and one or two bathrooms upstairs, and one or more living rooms plus a separate dining room and kitchen downstairs. Semi-detached houses, or semis, are extremely common. They are built in pairs with one house joined to the other along one side. These houses usually have two or three bedrooms. There is a separate garden at the front and the back for each house. Terraced houses date from Victorian and Edwardian times (the late 19th and early 20th century) and were built mainly for working-class people. Four or more houses are joined together in a row. There is little or no front garden, so the front door of each house opens onto the pavement. Access to the back garden

Is through the house. Terraced houses were originally quite small.

They had two bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen, dining room, an arrangement called "two up, two down¹. Most have now been extended and bathrooms added, and in some towns they have become fashionable with professional people. Cottages are small, very old village houses. Some have thatched roofs. Many have been modernized inside but have the wooden beams and other features that are thought to give them character. Some people think of a country cottage as their dream home. Bungalows have only one storey.

and this makes them especially popular with older people. High-rise blocks of flats, sometimes over 20 storeys high with several flats on each floor, were built in many towns in the mid 20th century. Many have since been pulled down because they needed a lot of repairs and because people did not like living in them.

Houses in Britain often seem small for the number of people

living in them. In some cities house prices are very high so people cannot afford to move to a larger house as the size of their family increases. In order to overcome the problem of lack of space some people have a loft conversion to make a new bedroom in the roof space. Others add an extra room or bathroom downstairs. There is often not much space to extend because neighbours' houses are close. In warm weather people like to sit outside on the patio (= a small concreted area) or in the garden.

In the US there is plenty of space, except in big cities; so many houses are large and have a lot of garden around them. Most are detached\ but there are also duplexes, which are similar to British semi-detached houses. Ranch-style houses are built on one floor only. Mansions are very large houses where rich people live. Many Americans prefer to live in suburbs rather than in a city centre, in order to have a pleasant environment and plenty of space. They often live on housing developments, areas where all the houses were built at the same time and are similar in style. Most of the 97 million households in the US have a home with at least five rooms and more than one bathroom. Most also have a front yard (= garden) and a backyard.

A typical US house has two storeys or floors. Upstairs there are several bedrooms and at least one bathroom. Children often have their own bedrooms. Extra rooms are used as a study or playroom or as guest bedrooms. Downstairs there is a kitchen, a living room and a dining room. There is usual also a bathroom or a half bath, which has only a toilet and sink (BrE washbasin). Many houses have a porch (= covered area outside the house) where people sit when the weather is

hot. Americans take pride in their homes and like to show visitors round.

Americans often move home from one city to another. Finding a new place to live is not difficult, except when moving to a very large city. It is usually possible to find an apartment to rent one day and to move into it the next. About 65% of US homes are owned by the people who live in them. The costs of buying and selling are relatively low. People thinking of buying a house ask a real estate agent, or realtor, to show them several houses. When they decide on one, they discuss the price with the people who are selling it, and then arrange a mortgage loan) with a bank.

People look for different kinds of homes at different points in their lives. Students and young professional people tend to live in apartments near city centres. When people get married and have children they often move out of the city and buy a house in a suburb. In most suburbs it is possible to tell how much money people have by the size of their houses and yards. In some parts of the US it is also possible to guess the racial background of the person living in a house. Although it is illegal to practise racial discrimination, there is still segregation in many cities since white people tend to live in some areas and black people in others.