美語情景對話 第541期:Buying a House 買房

Todd: Michael, this is a beautiful home.

託德：邁克爾，這房子真漂亮。

Mike: Yeah, we've lived here for about twelve years and it's too big for us now.

邁克：是啊，我們已經在這裏住了12年了，現在對我們來說這座房子太大了。

Todd: Really. It's pretty big.

託德：是啊，真的很大。

Mike: Well, yeah, I mean, it's got four bedrooms and it's got this big living room area and dining room area, and I've got two kids and both of them are in college now, so they don't live here anymore. (Oh) So my wife and I are thinking about, you.know, moving to a smaller house.

邁克：嗯，這房子有四間臥室、還有客廳和餐廳，我們有兩個孩子，現在都在上大學，他們已經不住在這裏了。（哦）所以我妻子和我想搬去小一點的房子住。

Todd: Oh, that makes sense. Well, so where are you going to move?

託德：哦，這可以理解。你們要搬到哪裏去？

Mike: Well, this area is called Walnut Creek, it's in the East Bay of San Francisco, and we want to move into an area that's in the Berkeley Hills. It's called Orinda.

邁克：這裏是舊金山東灣的核桃溪，我們想搬到伯克利山的奧林達去。

Todd: Oh, yeah. That's nice.

託德：哦，那很好。

Mike: Oh, it's very nice. I mean it's a little more inconvenient, and it's not as convenient as here (Yeah) but it's a little more, there's more privacy, and there's more nature, you know more like old established trees and hills, and a little quieter, and so all those things appeal to us, so we're looking. It's not easy to find a right place but we're, actually today we're gonna meet a realtor, and we're going to be looking at some houses that are available and see if you like any of them.

邁克：對，非常好。我是說雖然那裏不太便利，沒有這裏便利，但是那裏有更多的私人空間，而且也更接近自然，那邊有很多古老的樹木和山脈，比這邊安靜，這都是吸引我們的地方，所以我們正在那邊找房子。不過要找到合適的房子並不容易，其實我們今天約了房屋中介見面，我們要看一些房子，看看有沒有我們喜歡的。

Todd: You know, actually, I've been thinking about getting a house. I'm kind of getting up there in age. What is the process of buying a house? Like how do you go about it?

託德：你知道，我在考慮買房。我不太懂這方面，買房的手續是怎樣的？都要經歷什麼過程？

Mike: Well the first step to find a place is you, generally you have to work with a realtor, somebody who has access to homes that are for sale, and then you sort of look through the listings and you find ones that you like, that you can afford, and then you visit with the realtor, and say you find a house that you like, like there is one that we're going to visit today that we think we like and we're going to check it out again. After we visit we make an offer sheet, we draw an offer sheet, that says how much we're willing to pay for the house, and the owner looks over the offer sheet. They never meet us directly, they meet only through their (the realtor) the realtors talk to each other. The buyer and the seller never actually talk to each other directly, and in this case, the house is going to have multiple offers. Many people will want this house.

邁克：首先你要找到一個地方，然後和房屋中介聯繫，房屋中介知道房屋銷售信息，你瀏覽這些房屋信息確定你喜歡的房屋和你負擔得起的房屋，然後你要和房屋中介一起去看房，如果你看上一個喜歡的房子，就比如我們今天要去看房，如果我們喜歡那個房子，我們會仔細覈對。我們看過房之後會填一份報價單，寫明我們願意爲這座房子支付的價格，然後這份報價單會交給房主。房主從來不和買房者直接見面，他們只通過房屋中介溝通，房屋中介會向各方說明情況。買房者和賣房者從來不直接對話，這樣一來這座房子就可能有多個出價者。有可能許多人都想要這座房子。

Todd: OK.

託德：嗯。

Mike: So they're not going to look at the offers until next week, and say five or ten people bid on it, they're probably going to take the one, the person who offers the most money for it, so it's competitive.

邁克：所以他們可能要到下週，或者說在大概出現了五個至十個出價的買主後他們纔會看那些報價單，然後他們會選擇那個出價最多的買主，將房子賣給他，所以極具競爭性。

Todd: That is a tough situation.

託德：這真是一個艱難的局面。

Mike: Yeah, so sometimes you'll find a house that you love, and you can afford, but somebody outbids you. Somebody bids more for the house than you do and you lose it, and you have to keep looking so it can take weeks of months.

邁克：對，所以有時你找到一個你喜歡也能負擔得起的房子，可是會被其他出價高的人搶走。有的人比你出價高，所以你就買不到這座房子了，你不得不繼續找其他的房子，這個過程可能要花費幾周甚至是幾個月的時間。

Todd: Wow, well.

託德：哇，天哪。

Mike: To find the house you want.

邁克：才能找到你想要的房子。

Todd: Sounds tough. Good luck.

託德：聽起來太難了。祝你好運。

Mike: Thanks a lot.

邁克：非常謝謝你。

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重點講解：
1. make sense
可以理解；講得通；
eg. Grandmother's advice always made sense.
祖母的勸告永遠言之有理。
eg. What he said just doesn't make sense.
他講的那番話簡直不知所云。
2. appeal to
對…有吸引力；使感興趣；
eg. Handmade goods appeal to those who are tired of cookie-cutter products.
手工製品受到那些已厭倦劃一產品的人的歡迎。
eg. We need to appeal to a wider customer base.
我們需要吸引更廣泛的客戶。
3. for sale
供出售；待售；
eg. The company is not for sale.
該公司不準備出售。
eg. We have many types of cosmetics for sale.
我們有許多種化妝品待售。
4. be willing to do sth.
樂意的；願意的；
eg. I am not really willing to spend an evening there.
我其實不願在那兒消磨一夜晚。
eg. He was quite willing to provide for them.
他完全願意爲他們提供生活費。