TINY
HOUSES
A 238-square-foot tiny home, Pasadena, Maryland, USA
Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold.
Do you have a dream to own a house? Does the house of your dreams have many rooms? The typical new American home is about 2,600 square feet. A big house is expensive. Americans spend one-third to one-half of their salaries on housing costs. Most homeowners have a mortgage1. They make a down payment2 and then pay the mortgage—plus interest—over a long period of time. Besides the cost of the house plus interest, there is insurance, property tax, repairs, and improvements. Over 30 years, a $300,000 house can cost over 1 million dollars! Not everyone wants to own a big house. Some people want to own a small house. In fact, some people want to own a very tiny house. Who wants to
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live in a tiny house? More and more people do. Most tiny-house owners have middle incomes. Tiny houses come in all shapes and sizes, but they are usually between 100 and 400 square feet. Why do people want a very small house? The owners of tiny houses want a simple life. Some tiny houses cost only about $20,000. Many tiny-house owners do not have a mortgage. Without a mortgage, they can save more of their paycheck. There are several websites with pictures of tiny houses. Look at the pictures. Is this lifestyle for you? 1 2
mortgage: a long-term loan from a bank for buying property down payment: the first payment at the time of buying something (usually 10–20 percent of the cost)
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