If you are really committed put $200 a week into a savings account straight out of your bank account automatically.
If you can do this for 2 years you will have $20,000 saved up not including the government home savers account co-contribution.
Plus at the moment $5000 in term deposit earns 8% p/a interest.

Do not go on any more holidays and do not buy anything that goes down in value like $20,000 cars, ect

If you have savings already then you could buy something smaller or further away in the $110,000 range and put a tenant in it and live at mums and put every spare dollar into paying it off.
When you have paid off a good amount or it has risen in value you can either sell it or use it as co-lateral for your house you want.
It is extremely hard these days to get into the property market but if you start small it is easier than trying to pay off a $220,000 mortgage.

A $90,000 mortgage costs $200 a week over twenty years to pay off.
A $110,000 mortgage costs $245 a week over twenty years to pay off.
A $220,000 mortgage costs $490 a week to pay off over twenty years
             based on a 10% interest rate for a worst case rate.

You may be able to do a joint investment with a really good friend who you can stand living with.
This way the loan would be $110,000 per person and you can both contribute to paying off the loan quickly.
If you both had $40,000 deposit between you both the loan would be $90,000 each.

You have to be careful you do not get emotionally attached to this house otherwise it can be used against you in negotiations.
A house with tenants in it is harder to sell as the buyers experience the run around when trying to see the property.
It was not the agent that was mucking you around it was the tenants.

If you want to be good at this
 I am reading a book called Diamond Real Estate Deals by Phil Jones and David Bradley that covers this negotiation game.

Check with council . Native trees especially.

$9500 annual rent divided by $55,000 = return of 17% loan interest rates around 10% that is 7% positve after interest payment on loan.
What you need to find out is what the Strata fees are. How much does having the in ground pool cost you each week ?
Are there management fees you have to pay each week.
Fully furnished – is there depreciation of fittings ? Do you have to replace fitting over time ?
Does building depreciation come into the positive gearing claim.
Are you able to get finance for this type of property ?
Do you have to pay for repairs to the common property . Like lifts, stairwells , paths, life guards, ect
From the expected rental return it would seem positively geared but if you have to pay extra running costs like mentioned above plus water rates, Council rates, insurance it may look not so positive.

Jilly,
       Don't be afraid to try again or change your approach,
I had a similar situation. Except I am a man but I went to uni 7 years ago and spent 3 years completing a degree and then at 36 years of age I found no one would employ me so I got fed up and have been a house dad for 4 years so that's  7 years of one wage.
I had two properties . One was negatively geared and the other wasn't.
I managed to cover the shortfall for about 3.5 years but when I realised I was not likely to be employed I sold the negatively geared property.
I had to pay capital gains tax on our profit and then had to pay back some of my Aus study as a capital gain is deemed as an income by Centre link. Strange when a capital loss is not deemed as an income reduction.

Then to my astonishment I was told by Centrelink that a negatively geared property is actually an income according to Centrelink.
Centrelink told me it was because you get a tax refund so I said how does that work when I have zero income and then they said but your wife gets 50% of the refund. So after I hang up on them I realised that even if that is the case the refund is 50% loss times 30% tax being 15% of the negative geared amount not 100% as Centrelink deems it to be.
This is one of the main reasons why I sold my negative geared property.
As well as you only can claim about 30% if your top marginal tax rate is 30% – times 50% ownership in your situation thats 15% you can claim.

So if you are getting parenting payments or New Start allowance the negative income may be deemed as income by Centrelink.

So now I own one positively geared property which will be paid for in about 12 months and then I will buy another property and use the income from the first and second to cover the costs of both properties. So the second property could be negatively geared but across both properties they will be cash flow neutral or slightly positive.

So your situation has changed and you may have to change your approach.

If you use an equity loan to buy a car that goes down in value over time then you are using it for bad debt
If you use an equity loan for a deposit for another investment property loan for a property that goes up in value over time this is good debt.
How do you own 100 properties in 7 years ? Well it is really hard now that the property values are so high. Basically if you read the book it will suggest buying cheaper properties and having positively geared properties. This means each property costs you zero to own while tenanted or actually makes you a small income. A small income x 100 properties becomes a reasonable income.

Be careful when renovating the bathroom as it can be the most expensive renovation if plumbing work is required.
If you are just thinking of painting the room, tiling a wall or floor and resealing a bath rather than replacing it then it is a good idea
Make sure you only do what is required to make the bathroom look reasonable to a tenant rather than doing an expensive renovation.

You may also find a book called unlimited cashflow by Craig Turnball an interesting read.

"Problem 1. So now I am at the stage that my lovely husband has back down and said he doesn't want to commit to anything"

Men work on logic so you need to ask what are the reasons he doesn't want to commit and then come up with logical reasons why it would be worth while taking a risk for future rewards. 

"Problem 2. Worried about putting in a offer in case they laugh at us. My brother said he would go as a guarantor for us if we needed it,and we could use his house for the purchase, but  he owes the full amount still."

You probably only need the guarantor to guarantee the required deposit for the loan rather than the whole house.

Putting in an offer and being laughed at. You can walk away from the deal and find another bargain and place an offer on that.

or you could negotiate on the settlement time frame or price. If you don't ask / offer you will never know

"I Still have to set up a trust as yet.

Can anyone tell me how it works when buying in a trust name. eg. Am I getting the loan for the trust to buy the Unit?

So tell me what people thing????"

you can't buy it in the trust name if you don't have a trust set up.

if you had a trust set up. Loan is in  trust name. you are guarantor of loan. House is in trust name.

Taxation is different for a trust . Not a good idea if trying to negative gearing. You need to talk to your accountant on the taxation implications of a trust and the costs involved in preparing tax each year.

unmester
The rents didn't rise a large amount because the government of the time reversed their negative gearing policy decision as the rental rise and property value fall was beginning to affect their primary voters – Working class Australians rather than the intended victim being wealthy  landlords.

 
I think a time limit on how long you can negative gear a property may be a consideration.
The whole point of negative gearing tax deductions is that eventually a profit will be made in the future and hence tax will be paid.