Should we max out our mortgage?

[boardergirl]

We have 3 small children (and maybe want a 4th) and currently own a 2 bedroom flat. We are thinking of putting our flat on the market in the spring in order to hopefully buy a house by the end of the year.

My dilemma is how big our mortagage should be. My husband has been told by an agent we could get £190k so with a £30k deposit we could buy a big 3/4 bed house that we would stay in forever, or get a smaller 3 bed house with about a £140k mortgage that we maybe would have to sell in 5-6 years as it wouldn't have enough living space for 3/4 teenagers- is a living room and kichen/diner enough living space for a family of 5/6?

Our total take home income is about £2200 a month a £190k mortgage would be about £1000 a month is this affordable with having to pay all the moving debt as well.

I also own a 1 bed flat that I don't want to sell yet- hopefully in about 5-6 years we will have 10-15k equity from that.

I'm really confused about what to do should we struggle financially to buy a forever house or sell again in 5 years?

Does anyone have any similar experiences and advice?

If it was me I wouldn't stretch. It can cause such stress and strain and in this uncertain market it's just not worth it. I think it's better to be comfortable financially, then you still have a bit of money to do up your house, have a holiday, etc.

How soon will you pay off your flat? I would work on doing that, then whatever you rent it for become an guaranteed income for you. If you can do that in 10-15 years then you own that and the rent income can be put towards your bigger house.

I really really wish I had done this 10 years ago, instead of stretching to our max then and not really benefitting from it now...

190k mortgage on takehome of £2200 with little chance of any rise in takehome above inflation on food and utilities?
Frankly it sounds like financial suicide.