Let me know what kind of deals you have going and I can try to piece together some scenarios for you. 

I actually met with the agent directly as it was his childhood home, and he wanted to know who was going to buy it.

I highly recommend attending real estate networking events to meet more people is this space and pick their brain and learn more from their projects and see what is working and what is not.

I tried for over a month to use it and to get approved. 

Welcome to BiggerPockets!

With the fires in CA, you can expect materials and contractors to become even more expensive. 

Another option is to explore private lenders or HELOCs to cover the equity.

Any local bank that does this kind of financing should be able to approve you as long as you have a good enough credit score and never declared BK.

Happy to share more how I do it.

So, you, as an individual, may not get to the same rate that a MASSIVE national builder can...but you can certainly offer credits to the buyers to help buy down the rates.