financing strategies for distressed TLC fixer upper homes

[Robert Uceda]

Hello, I need some bright financing strategies for affording the cost of fixer upper distressed homes so that I can hire an awesome team of contractors to renovate such homes!!  Fortunately, I met a down to earth investor from Houston, TX whose team has for several years now invested in distressed homes worth pursuing and viable to invest in.  They are rated high on the Better Business Bureau. I also met another broker in person with a similar skill set of finding TLC homes. (granted we always need to be cautiously optimistic when meeting other RE peers).  

#1 - Of course traditional, hard money lending, FHA loans are but a few of the options to purchase such homes. Do you have any other innovative strategies to round up valuable funds to pay besides out of pocket??????

I have a traditional IRA account with significant funds but I'm not necessarily quick to utilize that as I want to minimize up front cost at my expense. I have a decent credit history in the high 600s and some 43k of student loan debt from a Master's which culminated in a therapist position. As you know therapist and teachers are underpaid nationwide. It pays the bills but doesn't allow me enough leverage to live a life to visit family/friends.

#2 - question- what are some innovative safer paths to hire reputable contractors and weed out the flakers unreliable ones? I meet with a local real estate club now for the past year that comprises of decent reputable investors and lenders.  Nevertheless I want to find other input from this investor community.  Suggestions??????  :^/

last note: I almost qualified for 175k  in terms of home purchase.  This attributed to high debt/ income ratio and only 1 year's worth of 1099 misc tax.  The professional lender told me I need to supply one more year's worth of 1099 misc to qualify.  

Robert 

RE investor at Denver tech center, CO