I don't know, it sounds like the boat was a gift from their father to both of them.  If this is the case, then A should be giving B money, it is not a favour, the boat is partly owned by B.    So what if the boat is in A's name only, that is merely paperwork.   It would be interesting to see what equitable law precedent there is on actual ownership v registration or a vehicle.   It sounds to me like A DOES want to be greedy, afterall.  I agree with Linar, nitpicking over interest etc is likely to cause a family rift.  Why not sell the boat, split the proceeds evenly and give A an extra $2K to cover B's half of maintenance. 

You have an amazing story, Holl.  Can I ask how is it that you were liable for the debts which your brother in law incurred in your husbands name without his permission?

My husband and I had to live very frugally for a period of about 18 months.  I am always grateful for the experience now, as I take less for granted, and have skills that some other people just don't have. 
S

Paint, I reckon is the single best value for money improvement.  Depending upon the construction of the house, sometimes the addition of a new window to open up a living area can be well worth the expense. 

We called the asbestos authority in our state and found that you CAN do it yourself under certain circumstances.  You could do it yourself if it was your property, but if you were going to do any asbestos work on someone elses property you would need a licence.  So check with your local regulator – they can tell you what the rules are where the property is.

Why not exit the contract, get a quote to fix it all up properly and reoffer a new price representing your current offer less the cost of the work.  It is a buyers market, you can always find something else.  Remember, insurers don't conver asbestos related claims. 

connection of services $  ?? $20K wouldn't do the job here for things like DA, surveying and connection of water and electricity and perhaps gas.  Other things the builder might not be including:  Driveways.  Do you need car accom?  Is there a Town Planning requirement for car accom?  Fencing requirements?  Insurance costs, rates, site preparation not included in the builders budget.  Add at least a 10% contingency to budget for unforseen events.  Some might say that is not enough. 

What happens if you can't sell the finished project?  What will it rent for and how long will you be able to last?  At 6%, 7%, 9% etc etc.  How long is the time line and have you factored in the interest for the amount of time you owe the money for?  What happens if it takes 20% longer, 40% longer than you expected?  Will you require LMI and what will it cost?  Worst case scenario, interest rates to 9 or 10%, project takes twice as long as you expected, can't sell it so you tenant it at 10% less than you could rent out a similar building for now – can you service the loan?  You can sell, but for 20% less than you currently expect – profit or loss?  How big a profit or loss?  How much is left after tax?  Are you happy with that? 

How are you going to apportion income (loss) between yourself and your mother.  If she borrows some of the money, it won't be a tax deduction for you.

Good luck
S

Butt out.

chances are they won't get the money.

If they do get the money and it is a disaster they will learn a valuable lesson.

they are young enough to recover from this mistake.

You won't win any friends by interfering.  I know that you want to help, but sometimes people just have to learn their own lessons.  It would be different if they had asked your advice, which it doesn't sound like they have. 

If you just HAVE to say something, make it indirect and not about them.  Make it about you somehow, and bring it up in conversation.  "I don't know how I'm going to afford my repayments when interest rates go up like they are expected to do…"  ,  "did you see that thing on Today Tonight the other week where they were saying it cost no more to buy in some areas than it did to rent – they are so useless on that show, they didn't count rates and insurance and R&M which cost me $x thousand dollars a year",  "Gee I'm glad that I fixed my interest rate for 5 years, now at least I know what my repayments will be and don't have to worry about the rates going up…"

If you don't already own property yourself then you can change these things to "I want to buy but I'm scared that the market will crash when the FHOG finishes…." etc etc.

good luck
always best to keep your nose out of other people business.
What if you give the wrong advice?
Try not to judge others too much.  Plenty of people live hand to mouth, day to day but still manage to meet their obligations.  Sometimes have an obligation like a mortgage is the best thing for people as it forces them to do something good with their money.

Well, I might leave suggestions to a few of the more experienced people here.  But congratulations on clawing your way out of the hole.  There is certainly hope for your family with your careful savings habits.  And your timeline might just see you buying at just the right time.  No rush.  Keep saving.  Many of us here are watching and waiting on the market and of the opinion that it is not the best time to buy just yet. 

Good luck. 
S

Yeah, I feel like that now, too, Scuz, but sometimes it isn't until that house of cards is shaking that you realise just how precarious a situation you are in.  I have solid management experience and accounting training.  To my advantage was a sophisticated spreadsheet which I designed that had all sorts of what if scenarios, and a cash flow timeline.  This spreadsheet let me know that the likelihood of the proverbial hitting the fan was increasing all the time, while I was still able to get out of the deal.  Every time something changed, I changed the spreadsheet.  Bottom line figures started to go below what I considered my minimum acceptable ROI given the risk involved.  Worst case scenario started to go into a loss.  Thank goodness I had the skills to work all that out as the situation unfolded.  Many don't.  And I learnt about the things that I failed to plan for, and the weaknesses in my plan.  I won't attempt development again unless I can do it in a market with which I am intimately familiar. 
S

Hi Blogs,
We are able to service our current debts at whatever the interest rate got to before it started to fall without a problem.  My plan is not to take on any negatively geared debts, and to ensure that when we buy again, the whole thing is positively geared, and likely to remain so when interest rates return to, as you say, more "normal" levels.  This is one of the reasons we haven't bought yet.  So we remain in this position, of having lots of equity, but not being able to borrow more due to serviceability issues.  And it's not just about servicing the loan, it's also about meeting the other costs of holding the properties.  We are just getting to a stage where the cashflow budget needs to include maintenance etc costs, because it is just going to cost too much to pull it out of our own pocket all the time (ie out of our personal spending money). 
Hope I explained myself well enough.
S