How did you come up with the capital to fund your first deal?

[Ali Kassam]

For the longest time I really struggled with a creative way to come up with the capital I needed to purchase an investment property.  I work a great IT job but with a wedding coming up and living in the DC area homes are not cheap (you can't buy a home in Arlington right now for less than $600k).  I've finally decided to take out a personal line of credit to have capital readily available once I find that elusive first deal.   I figure I can combine my money with another small investor's money and then use that to borrow an even larger amount of money from a private lender.  

How did you come up with the money to do your first deal?