How did you get creative to raise capital?

[Holly Boss]

I want to hear from others how they got started raising capital or where to learn more about it. I want to JV partner with someone who has construction management experience to flip houses in Tucson, AZ. "When you don't have money find a partner with money or find a really good deal and the money will come," I have heard from books and podcasts. So we need a third partner with money as I continue to hone my skills at finding and analyzing deals for profitability and we'll have our business core team.

I have some of the money to put as a down payment but its equity in my 2 rentals that I have. On my primary home, I'm in the process of getting liquid funds in the form of a HELOC. A refi on either of my rentals will give me a worse rate and higher monthly payments which I may have to resort to, but will take even more time after the HELOC is funded. Right now, most of the funding will have to come from a hard money loan.

When we find something even close to a deal the clock is ticking to get it under contract (MLS listings) but its not a smoking deal because of all the hard money loan costs and the lack of liquid funds to pay them. I know I need to keep deals coming in so I'm going to have to invest in a marketing strategy to get off-market leads. What strategies did you use when you found a deal worth pursuing? Did you attempt a deal you regretted because of low profitability in the end? How did you network with others looking to invest with you?