HELOC denied - what now?

[Dawn Curry]

My girlfriend and I are looking to get into rental properties, but like many others, we are running into problems financially. We just got turned down to take out a HELOC for our house because I work under the table in construction and do not have proof of funds. My girlfriend's income isn't sufficient enough to take out the HELOC so it got denied

We've gone thru the friends/family avenue, however that did not work out too well.

We do have some funds in the bank, but not enough to get the deals we like.

Now we are thinking private money lenders -- is it just networking, especially on BP, to find these?

Thoughts? Suggestions???