Should I buy a house within budget or stretch myself for a long-term place?

theguardian.com:

Q I am a single first-time buyer in Wales and am struggling to get my foot on the housing ladder.

I am currently 29, have saved up £50,000 and think the maximum mortgage I could get by myself is £140,000. I currently rent a house from friends, so have been able to save a bit each month, but I am very aware that my savings are not keeping up with house prices or inflation.

As in many places, the property market has ballooned here and there are very few houses for sale within my price range. The ones that are in my price range aren’t where I want to live long term and don’t look particularly easy to sell on, which concerns me.

I am now considering whether I should borrow more money from my parents to bolster my deposit and stretch for a £210,000 property so I can buy something that gives me more options such as renting out a room or Airbnb. However, I am concerned that with wages stagnating and interest rates and the cost of living set to rise that things could get financially sticky. There’s also the property price bubble.

I appreciate that you need a crystal ball to answer these with certainty but my questions are: am I better off buying something within budget or stretching myself for something that I want to live in longer term? Or am I better off waiting, continuing to rent and investing my money elsewhere?AN

A There is one thing I can say with total certainty: you shouldn’t buy in an area where you don’t want to live long term and where you think properties don’t look easy to sell on. If you did, you would regret it.

I can also be certain that in purely financial terms you are better off upfront buying something within your original budget. If you stay within budget and buy a property costing £190,000 (your deposit of