Upper Intermediate - Buying a House

Buying an apartment before marriage is a huge deal and almost compulsory in China. I have seen people whose otherwise good relationships end over this issue, because they can't afford an apartment. And it is just not realistic for young people to afford an apartment nowadays. So parents usually need to chip in. Some even contribute their life saving.

Let's hope housing prices come down in China as they have in the US. 

中国的年轻人有怎么多社会的压力阿！

真的好不容易当男人! ^^

怪不得很多女的朋友找不到对象！：（

Demographic alone is tough enough, now the requirement of an apartment, not too mention a car and a good job. No wonder some families just want a daughter. ^__^

中国需要多一些外国女孩^__^

My wife didn't start bugging me to buy a house until after we married.  文化差异之一。

Thanks for this lesson!

I heard that in Shanghai, a house is not enough. A woman also wants a man who owns a car as well (in a crowded metropolis where it's impractical for every person to have a car). Anyway maybe this is just a requirement for those very well off women?

Oh- it's about houses today- that's great! I work for a property company so it's very relevant. Thanks!!

Hi juzi,

A car is definitely a big advantage for a young man here-- not just in the cities, but maybe even more in the countryside. I agree that they are not practical, but having a car gives you lots of face!

周围的邻居，不是开宝马，就是开奔驰，你要是开一日本车你都不好意思跟人家打个招呼！- That classic quote comes from Big Shot's Funeral.

As Jenny suggested, home ownership is not practical (or economically rational) for young urban people making three to eight thousand RMB per month, which is a pretty good range. Many people end up with a huge mortgage and become 房奴, literally "slaves to their house．＂

What does "University Town Station" (in photo) mean?

On the issue of poor guys losing out...

While its unfortunate for the guys who can't afford a house, this is really natural selection in action, in populations where there are more individuals that can be sustained by the eco-system. Obviously, there can never be enough economic resources for every person to own a house, car, etc., therefore, it makes sense to select those who have more than others when choosing a mate, so that traits that confer resourcefulness may be passed on to the next generation.

At least now in a free market, every person has the opportunity to make money if he/she is resourceful, even if born poor.

Hi alexyzye

Many cities in China have a "university town." As real estate tends to be cheaper outside the city center, a group of colleges will often cluster together outside the urban center. Nanjing has a big one, and apparently Songjiang (an area near Shanghai) does too.

I know what you're talking about regarding free markets and mating, but it sounds a little like Social Darwinism to me. In the modern world, it's not ecological but rather social factors that determine who passes on their genes.

There are an awful lot of people in China and elsewhere who are rich and powerful (and get to have lots of sex children) not because of their resourcefulness but because of their connections, ruthlessness, and dumb luck.

If you can pardon an American example, think of our former President, who was memorably described as someone who was "born on third base but thought he hit a triple."

@pete

In Australia baseball is something that is played by cricketers in Winter, and I haven't bunted a ball and hoped for the best since primary school.  Would you mind explaining 'born on third base' (what is wrong with that? - you're nearly home!) and 'thought he hit a triple' (I guess that's good - is that getting 1st 2nd and 3rd all home? Or three home runs.)  My knowledge of baseball amounts to 'who's on first base', Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham and awful lot of spitting.  Is it still a really big game in the US - how does it compare to gridiron and basketball?

Well said Pete. I dont understand what is so bad about renting for the first few years of marriage. Chinese women are tough. :-) In the US it is expected that couples just starting out will rent.

bodawei

Petes colorful comment refers to the fact that GB was born rich but thought he had earned it. Truth is he was just lucky.

hitting a triple means the ball was hit deep enough to allow you to make it all the way to third base.

baseball is still popular but I have never understood why. Bores the hell out of me.

In China, tenants are in a vulnerable position, and they often face "bullying" from landlords (e.g. sudden eviction or hike in rental), which is one of the reasons why young Chinese couples want to buy a house before their marriage. Perhaps the situation is gradually improving in large cities in China. Anyway, it's a fact that Chinese people generally hate living in a rented house.

P/S. I've just returned from Japan this morning.

welcome back Changye. Hope your trip was refreshing. Thanks for the comment. I didnt realize this was an issue. Perhaps better rental contracts are needed.

I have heard that the home ownership rate is higher in China than in the US or Europe. The Economist quoted as high as 80% sounds high. I believe the US is in the mid to upper 60's, above the historical average driven by the home buying spree over the first part of this decade. 

Long term, I suspect owning a home in China will be a good investment.  But near term, there may be some risk.  There seems to be many people i work with in Shanghai who own more than one home, hoping to rent out ones they do not live in.  I rent, and find rents are flat to falling.  The place i live in has doubled in purchase price in 3 yrs.  Something has got to give, either rents need to go up or home prices have to fall. 

Welcome back Changye! For a while I thought you left ... what a lost it'll be for poddies.

Changye,

So good to see you back.Hope you had an enjoyable holiday.

Another great lesson that had it all;vocab [eg 过来人]，grammar patterns [不是。。而是]；superb voice acting drama and dialogue,great lines[我是男人，要靠自己]，and as usual always a cracker of a final line [靠自己，那你五十都讨不到老婆].Interesting topic to boot.

A's second last line seems to be implying that it is totally up to the guy and his parents to come up with the dough for the home.So I take it no part is taken by herself or her parents?

Also they keep referring to a house.I presume esp in the big cities this is almost always an apartment? How common is a house in both city and country?

Pete,

Thanks for another beaut quote

"born on third base but thought he hit a triple.".lol

RJ,

The Chinese movie 向左走，向右走 (Turn Left, Turn Right) would give you a glimpse of landlord tenant relations there. It's a very funny, entertaining, and intelligent romantic movie, with Mandarin dialogue that's relatively easy to understand.  

baba

the only quote I like better is "George bush was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

for those who may not be familiar with the colloquial expressions:

A play on the usual expression "he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth" (meaning he was born rich and privileged) by combining it with another - "he stuck his foot in his mouth" (which means he has contadicted himself with his own words).

 @paulinurus

I will look for the movie.

this sort of conversation is very familiar to me, every saturday morning my fiancee calls her parents, and this is pretty much how it goes.

pressure over jobs, studies... pretty much everything.

it's tough being an only child huh?

Someone bought a place on the floor below us in a 7 story apartment block and they sytematically stripped every fixture, fitting, wall covering and floor, picked, scraped and jack-hammered away.  Rubble was carted out in baskets for weeks.  They even removed an internal wall which concerned me most until they chocked it up.  From my observation this is common - when you buy a place you start with a bare shell.  I remember many TV ads for floating timber floors. 

This is part of the culture I don't really understand - why do you want to start with a bare shell?  Is it related to the observation above about people not liking to rent? If you don't like to live with the remnants and residue of another occupant you won't like to rent; if you buy a place you can go ahead and strip it.  (The 'harsh landlord' is also a good explanation for the preference for owning over renting.)  A related observation is a preference in China for new over second-hand (cars, houses, even clothes.)  This explains the relatively short-life of an apartment building, and the rapid price depreciation in old stock.  (This is quite different to how housing markets operate in Australia if not other Western countries.)  Even whole residential districts being razed are not that old from our perspective.  Low wages is a factor but this pattern is not fully explained by building economics.

Pete,

I've just become a 房奴.

因为现在的经济危机我不肯定买房子是好主意还是坏主意。买房子的价钱比较便宜，可是经济危机还没有结束，而且最近听说次代(sub-prime)风暴减轻以后，还有“首代”（prime? 正确吗？）风暴再等着我们。真的不知道怎么作才好。

This lesson is very appropriate for me, since as soon as my divorce from my present wife (she gets our present house as part of the divorce settlement) is final, I will soon be looking for a home for myself and my soon-to-be bride Zhang Jie, from Chengdu, China; except that I will be looking for a house in Eugene, Oregon, USA, instead of in China. Nonetheless, it is a very apropos lesson. :-)

~ Ron

”有车有房“ 应该当现代成语。在中国有车有房的男人很容易找女人。有几个房有跑车的老人很容易找二奶。

我的有车有房的女人在那里？我可以当小白脸。。。哈哈

Interesting comment bodawei

I noticed this also as my friends would say they were moving into their new flat as soon as they were done decorating. I was thinking 2 weeks - new curtains and some pictures etc. Nope, its as you say. Sometimes a year. Why? Is it realted to obsessive cleanliness and the adversion to the remnants of others? Even the new buildings are sold this way. Seems like a huge waste of time and money.

我的老师告诉我在大陆结婚没有房子有一点奇怪。租房结婚还没有被普遍接受。所以年轻人一定要买房。而且现在的年轻人都是一个孩子所以为了孩子结婚爸爸妈妈甚至爷爷奶奶都会拿出钱买房。所以房子总是卖得掉，价钱越来越贵。这叫刚需。

我的老师告诉我,在大陆结婚没有房子有一点奇怪,租房结婚还没有被普遍接受,所以年轻人一定要买房,而且现在的年烃人都是独生子女.为了孩子结婚爸爸妈妈甚至爷爷奶奶都会拿钱出来买房.

那就结果是。。。大部分的人没办法结婚！第二个推论：爱情不重要，只要钱。很可惜，但是这是我最经常看到的情况。 第三个推论：不要生儿子，只要生女儿。很可怜的情况。在我家，在俄罗斯现在买房子太贵了，年轻人买不到，有父母的帮助也买不到。只可以租房子或者生很多孩子（因为我们国家如果你有两个孩子以上就会给你付钱，这些钱可以利用面房子或者给孩子保证读书）。

我的老师告诉了我们：中国的新制造房子是很有毒的。至少要等半年才能搬过来，但是最好等久一点。而且很多装修的资料是有毒的。所以一年的装修不一定会带来好处。

changye!!! Welcome back!

Am I the only one here who thinks that the term 光棍儿 is...a little direct?

hehe, henning no, probably not (just listened to the lesson and edited myself). The word came up recently in a class taught by my favorite teacher, a lady I think in her late sixties who taught high school in China 30-40 years ago--the epitome of schoolteacherliness with her long, slightly flared skirts, mesmerizingly beautiful handwriting and all. She didn't hint at any possible "direct imagery". What she did warn us of was that it is not OK to refer to anyone else as one, that it's only OK for the 光棍儿 to call himself that.

Hi henning and zhenlijiang

I've found a plausible explanation about "打光棍儿" on the Internet. Unfortunately (?), its etymology seems to have nothing to do with "direct imagery". Of course, I personally prefer the "direct" etymology henning suggested.

中国历来重视子孙的繁衍，有用枝繁叶茂来比喻子孙众多之说。父母为树干，儿女为枝叶。故“光棍”，没有枝叶（子孙）的意思。又因为没有老婆所以就没有枝叶（子孙）。

A single man is compared to a tree without branches and leaves (= 光棍) because both can't leave offspring. Having no children has traditionally been regarded as most unfilial/undutiful in China. 

不孝有三，无后为大 《孟子》

changye,

That makes a lot of sense--except, why then doesn't it apply to daughters as well? I'll ask my teacher with the long skirts and 20s flapper haircut if that's how she understands it. It's John's fault anyway that the class (well, henning and me at least) is snickering--"shiny stick"!

(Why do I sometimes feel like you're admonishing me??)

P.S.  sorry, I should not have written in a way that requires additional explanation--KWX about your admonishing me. It's just a little over-reacting to words like unfilial ... after all the same values do also exist, maybe to a lesser degree, in Japan.

zhenlijiang,

I'm curious,who or what is KWX ?

baba mate

Idont know but I will take a guess

kai wan xiao ??? 开玩笑

ah,thanks RJ,that sounds about right.I like that;my first pinyin acronym.

Hi zhenlijiang

That's due to traditional male-chauvinism based on Confucianism in China. Men were extremely predominant in the past, and at the same time, men bore heavy responsibilities, e.g. leaving offspring and worshipping ancestors, in Chinese society, which is the reason why people poke fun at a (undutiful) single man with the word "光棍儿".

@changye, I'm afraid there is not only “男光棍儿” but also many "女光棍儿”. They are all young and single. People are actually not poking fun at them, it seems "光棍儿" is one of the natural ways to describe single ones!

We have "光棍儿节", a festival for the single ones in China (Nov. 11th ), that is 11.11, indicating single single single and single! To be single, to be cool!

Changye,

Welcome back!

I agree that the tenant bullying is a problem. Fortunately I've never had to deal with it. Now my wife and I are "home owners" (房奴, actually, still working on that mortgage), though, so I am lucky to have escaped the landlord bullying (and swapped it for bank bullying?).

zhenlijiang,

If you can remember 光棍儿 by "shiny stick" than I'm happy! :)

Hi shenyajin

Oh, I remember now. I learned the word "光棍节" before here in Chinesepod. Judging from your comment, it looks like that the original meaning of 光棍儿 has already been slightly altered due to prevailing "gender equality" in modern China. I'd like to know what image henning would think of when he sees the word "女光棍儿", hehe.

我和我老公就是“租房结婚”的，我觉得没什么，有没有房子无所谓，在一起开心就好。

但是老公的爸爸妈妈很担心，每个周末都要问：你们看好房子了吗？看好了我们就一起买吧！

changye, shenyajin, zhenlijiang,
thanks for the explanations...

I am sure, though, that even innocent Chinese are not fully immune to the imagery evoked by the literal meaning of those characters. Irregardless of the objective etymology.

Changye: Don't summon the darkness of my imaginary power  :P  [KWX]

bababardwan, apologies for yet again giving rise to more ???s with "kwx". I've never seen this or anything, just made it up thinking it would be understood.  Certainly silly as it doesn't save space or anything. Maybe better to make sure it doesn't already mean something dirty or offensive though, before using it elsewhere! (oh I see you using it already. henning too. haha)

RJ--you 给我面子 by getting what I meant so early!

changye, as always I appreciate your patience with my questions!  Usage and nuances of these terms are changing all the time aren't they. The problem of offspring without issue bringing parents grief may be most serious in Korea though, another Confucian society where filial duty is paramount. I hear their birthrate now is even lower than ours.

shenyajin, we learned that on 光棍儿节, big "美丽邂逅" (beautiful encounter) events are held on university campuses for single guys and girls, and everybody who goes is required to attend with a date (of the opposite sex obviously). Have you ever been to those?

john, it's not like I've never seen 光 in this sense. And I didn't require a mnemonic for this. But now I won't be able not to think of shiny stick ...

henning, there's a right place and right time for everything. Hope there's a place & time for your imaginary power (a power that you only imagine you have--? hehe) to be summoned (whoo) and unleashed safely here. It would be something to see.

zhenlijiang,
I checked KWX and found it OK to use.

@alexyzye, exactly, "一座房子" 和 "一幢房子" ，a western house, maybe with a garden;  “套” can be both used for houses and apartments, "一套房子"，"一套公寓", of course, the "房子" here is different from "一座房子" and "一幢房子", it's a house in a building.

What ever happened to bringing the new wife back home with you.   At least in Taiwan thats traditional.   The son will get married and then bring his wife to move in with him and his parents.  Talk about  辛苦生活! 

在中国，真正能靠自己的工资买房的人实在是太少了~

@zhenlijiang, what a shame! I haven't been to any of the events. Maybe there is something to so with the sex ratio imbalance in my university. That was 7girls:1boy last year, but things are better this year! I'm no longer there.....:(  Buuuut, I had fun with my roommates, we went to a buffet dinner and ate a lot. 真棒！

@kerri881224, 同意你的看法！但是靠自己买车子的人还是很多的。

There's another expression for the "shiny stick" single person: 穷光蛋 (I guess that would be a poor lonely egg..., funny how eggs are used to express all kinds of things in Chinese).

And here's a sentence one of my teachers gave us:

他，光棍一个，一人吃饱全家不饿。

(He, just a 光棍, if he's eaten then the whole household has eaten, i.e., he=the whole household).

Hi christine30550

Thanks for sharing an interesting sentence. What an optimistic way of looking at loneliness ;-0

A 穷光蛋 is actually someone who's really poor. It's not related to being single.

Incidentally, 蛋 is used to scold or curse people quite a bit in Chinese:

王八蛋 sonofabitch

混蛋 bastard, good-for-nothing

And when you want to tell someone to SCRAM, you can say 滚蛋 (Roll away, egg!) although that really is quite strong.

Can a 外国人 buy property in China?

而且房子会升值的 ( A house will increase in value). I don't buy that especially when the house has doubled in purchase price in 3 years. @tommy2tone

I mean having shelter is the one the most basic Maslow need. After the 2000 dot com bubble, large investments were done in real estate. Result: in most European capitals (Paris, Madrid,London) housing purchase has doubled in less a decade. If you look well at the cost of construction work, the price to cost ratio is very high. House price rise when ownership is high.

我买了而且房在巴黎。 如果我的父母不点上，我是房奴。

@mikeinewshot

应该没问题，就是有些规定，这些规定我不太清楚， 不过一个是说买房的外国人先必须住在中国两年才行。 其他的规则好像是关于工作或者结婚。反正因为我有打算在成都买房，所以我得赶快打听清楚。

因为经济危机，中国政府执行了关于借款首付的新政策。以前中国人要买房，首付必须有百分之三十，可是现在就是百分之二十。中央部希望这会鼓励人买房而推进国内经济。成都房价均50万快钱，而平均年薪不到2万快钱，算一下，想要买房的老百姓先得省十万快钱作为首付才能向银行申请抵押，对一般的人来说，虽然买房变了容易一些，不过那个山还是爬不上的。

刚看了一个小说：＂婆婆媳妇那些事＂（徐徐著）。这小说里，买房子是个非常大的题目。

女主角的丈夫的爸爸妈妈给他们买了＂婚房＂，结果他们搬进去以后，丈夫的妈妈老想控制他们。女主角受不了，她们老吵架。

这个小说里还有另一个词：＂福利房＂。＂福利房＂到底是什么？是以前工作单位给员工准备的一套房子吧? 现在还有没有？

@bettine

好像 福利房 是跟福利有关，呵呵，其实我不清楚，可能是像你说的那样的房子，也有可能是政府给贫穷百姓提供的房子。你中文写的好好啊！

Hi bettine, miantiao,

"福利房"是以前计划经济制度下的产物。那时候房子不能进行自由交易，一般是政府或单位造好以后，根据员工的职务、工龄等情况，把房子作为福利分给员工的，员工不需要或者只要付很少的钱。现在单位分福利房的情况很少见了。

原来如此，好像我在看金婚电视连续剧发现过了，因为那个男主角升职的时候，政府工厂就给他更好的房子，地位较高相对的房子

谢谢 Connie 老师！看来社会的变化真快！

Miantiao, 这个金婚电视连续剧是什么故事？有意思吗？看电影或者看书可以帮助我学汉语（尤其下边有中文字母的时候），所以有时想看。从去年底以来，我在学汉语上可能真的有点进步（也谢谢CPod!)。去年十月份我搬到中国了。 不过，表达意见总是觉得比较难，常常怕说不清楚。

@bettine

别怕说错了，要尽量趁着每一个机会开口，说错的话，就没问题，别人常常会帮你纠正。来中国还是不久啊！我也来了不久，刚好两年，不过这两个月来我在澳洲处理事情，这月底要回成都。

金婚连续剧， 故事有五十年长，每一集等于故事里的一年，从五十年代至当代。讲的是个女人和一个男人结婚开个家庭，然后经过前途五十年的中国历史。我不常看连续剧，就在中国看，不但是有助于我的中文，还可以让我多一点理解中国文化和中国人。该连续剧得了很多中国电视奖。

@bettine and miantiao, miantiao 大哥说得没错，就是要说，只要有机会就要说出来，这样才会进步啊！而且，bettine 用中文表达得很好，很清楚，我们都能看得懂！希望你多多发帖子，多多回答问题！！

《金婚》故事开始于新中国热火朝天的1956年，文丽与佟志
是一对平凡夫妻，这个故事一年又一年地讲述了这对夫妻五十
年坎坷婚姻路。这是一个讲家庭，生活，爱情的故事，我觉得
会对你学汉语有帮助的！只是刚开始看的时候，你可能会觉得
语速有点快，但是没有关系，多听就好了！
Cheers!

@shenyajin

你能胜任电影评价的，介绍的那么清楚。我就是想会有一天能写的那么流利。看到你写得那么好就让我嫉妒，请把你的中文一切都给我吧！

For Chinese people, there is always a sense of "family" in the center of our lives, even it could be brought to the level of the Nation (国家)。

A large part of people who plan to buy houses have these concerns:

1. If I pay mortgage, it is like paying for myself and my own belonging, which can be owned in the future. Paying rents, it is like paying to others' property.

2. As China is now a fast-growing economy collective, investing on houses is always a safe way of investment. Some people will start with a small house (sometimes as small as 30-40 m2) and later change for a bigger one by selling the first one.

3. In big cities in China, it is advanced and being modernized. Many people would like to set root in big cities, which will bring a lot of good for their kids and career. So sometimes, owning a house is also required by the local government to get the ID of the city (户口)。

@miantiao, 哪里哪里！我是native speaker, 当然要流利了！要不我妈会让我面壁思过的！好的，你可以都拿走，只是怎么拿走啊？

@hotpot2000，I do hope the government could abolish the houldholds system, so all the migrant employees would enjoy better welfare.

Changye,

Welcome back! Looking forward to your ever witty and informative comments. 

@Mikeinewshot,

 Yes, foreigners can buy property in China. But only one apartment or house.

Miantiao 和 Shenyajin，谢谢你们的鼓励！是，不用怕说错了。不过，我觉得用汉语写一写跟说话有点不一样，因为以后没法儿改。
＂金婚＂电视剧我刚买了，很方便，我正在中国。你说服我了。两个DVD，一共可以看多长时间。。。？

@bettine

不好意思我没有早一点回答，最近忙得要命。 ‘金婚’ 每一集应该40分钟左右，一共有50集。我最喜欢的角色就是那个胖胖的来自农村的女邻居，外表比较凶，心里却很温柔。

"而且我光棍儿一条" : I'm still not clear what this "一条" is doing here? It's a measure word for apartments. The translation is "I'm single", but that would be "我光棍儿", period. Is he saying "I'm single and I live in an apartment" ? Or "I'm single and I'm an apartment kind of guy" ?

Here is my attempt at extracting words from Jenny and John's conversation:

热心 rè xīn enthusiasm / zeal / zealous / zest / enthusiastic / ardent / warmhearted
管闲事 guǎn xián shì to meddle / to be a "nosy Parker" / to be too inquisitive about other people's business
类型 lèi xíng type / category / genre / form / style
婚房 hūnfáng a house that a couple buys before marriage
学区房 xuéqūfáng a house near a school
拆开 chāi kāi to dismantle / to disassemble / to open up (sth sealed) / to unpick
实事 shí shì fact / actual thing / practical matter
对比 duì bǐ contrast / balance
顾虑 gù lǜ misgivings / apprehensions
体现 tǐ xiàn to embody / to reflect / to give expression to / to be reflected in / exemplify
开发商 kāi fā shāng developer (e.g. real-estate, software etc)
赞助 zàn zhù to support / to assist / sponsor
经销 jīng xiāo to sell / to distribute
趁机 chèn jī seize an opportunity / take advantage of situation
艰苦 jiān kǔ difficult / hard / arduous
平米 píng mǐ square meter / short for 平方米
紧急 jǐn jí urgent
讨好 tǎo hǎo to get the desired outcome / to win favor by fawning on sb / to curry favor with / a fruitful outcome to reward one's labor
现象 xiàn xiàng appearance / phenomenon
同感 tóng gǎn similar feeling / fellow felling / sympathy / understanding / consensus
女婿 nǚ xu daughter's husband / son-in-law

Hi calicarte

“条” is the measure word for "光棍儿".

@calicarte, this is an amusing way to say oneself "我光棍一条" Traditionally, 光棍 is not supposed to describe a single women, but now, it seems you are free to use this title on any single ones.

@mike, helpful! I didn't know there are so many ways to say 讨好. Thanks!

I'm getting more and more addicted to CPod.  These conversations reveal so much about the culture.  I can't wait to get to China! 

k

connie said
6 hours ago

“条” is the measure word for "光棍儿".

I see, but why does it stand after the word it modifies? Measure words usually precede the noun. i would expect the sequence to read 我是一条光棍儿".

@calicartel, more example, 请给我啤酒三杯 qǐng gěi wǒ píjiǔ sān bēi, 杯 is the measure word for 啤酒. When measure words are following nouns, it's to make emphasis on the measure word. So does this "我是光棍一条"...

shenyajin

Sounds like a topic for a qingwen.

Hi shenyajin

Your explanation is best applied to this phrase, “罚酒三杯” !!

When measure words are following nouns, it's to make emphasis on the measure word.

@changye, Oh! yes! That's a smart one, better than mine~~~:)

wow, now I know all about buying houses in China. 我woot woot!

This lesson in invisible to the search engine!

对不起， “入住” 什么意思？

@yossarianbeijing, "入住" rù zhù 是 “to go in”，“to move in" 的意思！You can refer to the rollover in the dialogue.

Guess what? 我老公和我也刚刚买了一间房子 (oops! am I using one of those Cantonesey measure words that sound weird in Mandarin again?). Anyway, this is a bigger house than the apartment we currently live in and has a garden and a backyard. We have just paid the initial fee for the option to purchase....I'm really excited but that means we will probably be　房奴　for the rest of our lives.

@pinkjeans, 恭喜你！That's what I want, a house, a garden and a backyard. But I'm not ready to become a "房奴" yet. :-) 上海的房子贵死了！

hearing Jenny say "hobo" for some reason is too funny... i'm guessing John taught her that...

CPod,

Your Vocabulary List (simplified) for this lesson shows the traditional character 貪 instead of the simplified one 贪.