<prompt> Human: Its a long story. He has an old Victorian house that he bought as a forclosure for less than 50k. It needs a lot of work.11 months ago I had just received insurance money from my motorcycle being totalled in a parking lot, and in total I had 6k cash between all of my assets. I told him I had 4k since in my mind I needed to have 2k savings.He said if I let him borrow 4k for a few weeks to pay the back-taxes on some of his other investment properties while he got a loan he would let me fix up the house with his tools etc and sell it to me. He ended up getting 4k, then another 2k cash the week after. I now had absolutely nothing.He never turned the electric or water on, told me I was immediately responsible for all the bills associated with the property since I was going to buy it and said after I graduate college I can buy it for a bit less than market value which he thought to be 130k-150k. I immediately abandoned the idea of buying it and demanded my money back. He convinced the family that I said I didnt want it back immediately and they believed him.Obviously I didnt know anything regarding the above paragraph would be the case since I didnt think he would stoop so low as to be that unreasonable. And to add onto my ignorance, I believed him when he said This is your only chance to buy a house since its almost impossible to buy a place as a college student now and with him being a real estate investor I believed him.So, fast forward 8 months and I call up Quicken Loans and they say that with my current salary if I had 7k in the bank I could qualify for up to 210k pre-approval with my fiance.I have since in the last 11 months amassed a new worth of 7.5k in assets mostly my 5k car and bought another 1k in cool stuff for myself 1440p pc monitor etc and have around 1500 in my bank account with no credit card debt or any debt besides a sizeable amount of student loans.But regardless, I still only have 1500 in my bank account which will not pay the down payment on an FHA loan and therefore disqualifies me, and I need to buy a condo or place to live around 100k ASAP because I am vehemently against throwing money away on rent.How can I possibly get my money back? He told the family that the loan wasnt meant to be paid back for years blatant lie but they believed him because hes the adult and he is extremely smart and manipulative. I need the money because when I graduate the full deferred student loan debt actually will make it hard to get a home loan and I need a place to live right now. He has also claimed me as a dependent on his taxes the last few years and I havent lived at his house, eaten his food, or anything in that time. He has used all of my student loan deductions etc for all theyre worth and not even insinuated Im entitled to any of it. 20k in loan debt, 4k credit for being a student, etcI would love to just trash his credit score and make him waste days in court at this point. He has literally financially ruined me. Between the ages of 10-18 I probably worked well over 6k hours for him for absolutely nothing mother pays housing bills, so didnt even get a roof over my head from him70 hour weeks for 16 weeks a year for at least 6 years working constructionTL;DR Father essentially stole 6k cash from me 11 months ago and I now need it to be able to buy a condo before my student loans arent in deferment. I need it back, but how?Edit: That is a copy of the document my family agreed to after I convinced them that he was supposed to pay it back at some point even though he was supposed to pay it back almost immediately. He now says I didnt work all the hours and wont pay, a year after I gave him the money. Assistant: And to add onto my ignorance, I believed him when he said This is your only chance to buy a house since its almost impossible to buy a place as a college student now and with him being a real estate investor I believed him.As a real estate investor, hes wrong. The lender wont care if youre in college or not as long as you have pay stubs, W-2s, and bank statements showing you have the appropriate income and you can show up to closing with the money needed for the down payment.As a father, thats messed up. He bought a foreclosed house, used your money to fix it up, puts you on the hook for the bills do not pay these if they are not in your name until you clear this up, and then wants to sell you the house after hes done fixing it?How can I possibly get my money back?If you want to buy the house from him at a reasonable price, have him take it off the list price or pay 6 grand in closing cost help. If you dont want to buy the property, you may have just learned a very expensive lesson. Not to mention the free labor.he is extremely smart and manipulative... Sounds like it. I would bite the bullet, find a cheap place to rent while you save up for a down payment, and dont lend him any more money or work for him any more - maybe even cut ties, because this sounds really shitty. Also, if you dont plan on sticking around the same area for more than 5 years it may be cheaper to rent than to buy. You can Google rent or buy calculator and youll find some resources to show you why it may be worthwhile renting if you plan on moving in less than 5-10 years.Human: Thanks for the detailed response.Since I gave up on the whole house buying ordeal a couple months after he still wouldnt turn on the water etc. he has since decided to continue fixing it and rent it to someone else who hes also manipulating. I told them briefly the reality of the situation but they honestly have no other choice but to follow through with it since theyre in a really shitty financial situation.Renting seems blatantly stupid though. I would literally be throwing a large portion of my income away every month with nothing in return.My plan was to buy a nice 3 bedroom 2 bath condo I found and went to see that was listed at 115k, then rent out the couple extra rooms to some really trustworthy and close friends for next to nothing. It would have been much cheaper than any comparable rental situation that I can find 1200 utilities for any place remotely comparable.  <response>: Renting seems blatantly stupid though. I would literally be throwing a large portion of my income away every month with nothing in return.No, youd be receiving reliable housing in return, with someone else taking most of the financial risk involved.Can you afford to replace a heater or a water heater if it dies in the middle of the night with no warning? How about a special assessment or deductible on a large insurance claim in a condo?If you cant even afford an FHA downpayment after nearly a year of saving, youre not in a position to own safely. Dont think of renting as burning money, think of it as exchanging money for a place to live while you save up to potentially buy your own without the exposure to the financial risks of owning a home and being responsible for all the expenses. 