When people hear “concrete home,” they tend to imagine a monolithic, joyless block that looks more like a car park than somewhere you’d want to sip your morning coffee. And yes, that’s exactly what we bought. I like to call it a “concrete monstrosity”; my partner calls it a car park. Walk past it too fast and you’d never guess that inside, it’s calm, green, spacious, and, frankly, a little magical.
The thing is, buying a home doesn’t have to be a status contest. It can be a strategy. A calculated move that frees your money, your mind, and your lifestyle. And yes, if you play it right, it can even make you rich—or at least much wealthier than the average homeowner.
The Freedom of Choice: Budgeting for Life, Not Status
When we started looking for a place, our rule was simple: we wanted a home we could afford on just one of our salaries. Not both, not with a hope and a prayer. This wasn’t about being miserly—it was about freedom. We wanted room for investing, holidays, good food, and a soft cushion for life’s little surprises, without either of us teetering on the edge of financial stress.
We could have bought something in the £650–800K range. Sounds nice, right? Spacious, shiny, Instagrammable. But here’s the kicker: interest alone would have cost £23–31K a year. That’s more than one of our take-home pays. Insane.
Instead, we found our concrete home, and our annual housing costs—including mortgage, insurance, service charge, ground rent, and upkeep fund—come in at around a third of what an average home in the area would cost. That extra breathing room isn’t just numbers on a spreadsheet; it’s the difference between saying yes to investing, booking a holiday, or having the freedom to eat well without guilt.
It wasn’t easy convincing my partner at first. The street we now live on didn’t exactly scream “dream home.” They flat-out refused to walk down it. I finally persuaded them to take a stroll, and a week later, a flat appeared for sale. One viewing later, and we were home.
Ugly Outside, Beautiful Inside — and Why That Matters
The truth is, our home doesn’t win beauty contests. From the outside, it’s a slab of concrete that looks like a car park. Step inside, though, and the story changes completely. Light pours in, there’s space for our little one to run, and we have a balcony perfect for morning coffee and squirrel spotting. You could live anywhere, and that balcony would still do the job—but here, it feels like a tiny slice of calm in a busy city.
The architecture has quirks. The building sits on a slope, so we walk in from the ground, travel about 50 metres on a raised walkway, and end up on the fourth floor without ever climbing a stair. It’s perfect for buggy manoeuvres, but utterly baffling for first-time visitors. One friend spent twenty minutes wandering up and down the hill before I picked up the phone and gave directions.
Living here has become a series of small joys. We love spotting squirrels on the green patches, greeting neighbours we know, and knowing that everything we need—the tube, shops, commons—is just a short walk away. Even the hill to the tube becomes a little cardio bonus every day.
The lesson? Sometimes, the exterior is just a façade. The value lies in what the home allows you to do, feel, and experience, not what it looks like on Instagram.
Concrete Costs That Make Life Easier
Let’s talk numbers because nothing drives the point home like a concrete slab of truth. With our housing costs at roughly 33% of what a comparable property would cost, we’ve unlocked a level of financial flexibility most people only dream of.
Here’s what this allows us to do:
- Invest regularly without sweating the small stuff.
- Book holidays without calculating pennies per day.
- Eat well—whether that’s home-cooked meals or the occasional treat at a favourite restaurant.
All this is possible because we didn’t buy a home that stretched us to the limit. Instead, we bought a home that supports our life, not the other way around.
Prioritising Happiness Over House Porn
One of the strangest things about the housing market is how often people chase size, location prestige, or “status points” instead of what truly makes them happy. Bigger isn’t always better, shinier isn’t always smarter, and expensive certainly doesn’t equal freedom.
For us, happiness comes from:
- Family time—our little one needs space to play and explore.
- Holidays—time to disconnect and recharge.
- Food—we genuinely enjoy eating well, whether home-cooked or dining out.
- Investments—building a financial cushion that lets us breathe.
An expensive house would have put every one of these priorities under pressure. Instead, our concrete monstrosity helps us thrive in all four areas. Think of it as the ultimate lifestyle hack: ugly outside, perfect inside, and totally aligned with our values.
Walkable, Green, and Unexpected Joys
One of the most overlooked benefits? The local environment. Trees, commons, neighbours who wave hello, and shops a stone’s throw away. It’s a short stroll to the tube that doubles as a daily workout.
Small rituals make life richer than any “pretty” house ever could. Watching our little one chase squirrels, greeting familiar faces, or sipping coffee on the balcony—these moments build the kind of happiness money can’t buy. Ironically, buying cheaper gave us more freedom to enjoy these small joys.
Tips for Finding Your Own “Concrete Freedom”
Inspired to rethink your own housing priorities? Here’s our friendly advice:
- Know your priorities. What truly matters in life: family, freedom, holidays, investments? Let that guide your search.
- Set a budget based on lifestyle, not status. Your dream home shouldn’t bankrupt your happiness.
- Explore unconventional spaces. The perfect home might not look like a Pinterest board.
- Walk the streets, feel the flow. Check how a space feels in real life, not just in a listing photo.
- Remember: lifestyle > square footage. You can’t put joy or freedom in cubic metres, but you can design a life that maximises both.
Gentle Reflection Before You Go
Buying a home can feel like a milestone, but it doesn’t have to be a trap. Choosing a place that suits your values, priorities, and lifestyle is liberating. For us, it meant a concrete slab of a building that others might scoff at, but it gave us:
- Financial breathing room
- Time for the things we love
- A space that supports our life, not enslaves it
Sometimes, the smartest, richest choice looks weird from the outside. And that’s exactly the point.
Gentle Questions for the Road
- How do your own priorities shape the way you spend money and choose a home?
- Are there small, overlooked spaces in your life that bring disproportionate joy?
- What freedoms could open up if you saved on one big expense, like housing, rather than chasing status?
- Which “ugly concrete slabs” in your life might actually be secret sources of happiness?