I am encountering roadblocks when it comes to our credit score (mine is good / his is crap), experience with flipping (I have no experience / he has 22 years of flipping experience) and the amount of cash liquidity that some of the hard money lenders want is still on the high end especially starting out.

Speak to your local, smaller bank or credit union, preferably a portfolio lender. 

Duane,What not a HELOC at a good rate from your local credit union?

With it being unsecured your income and credit history will need to be very good. 

I have high 800's credit score and prefer 0 points.

She of course is in a very different market than you are and it is a house she is living at.

Some banks will give you 5% down with a good credit score but only on homes you're moving into.

I do run credit & background checks that they pay for, but that is separate from just the application.

The last resort option of course is to list them for rent, possibly your market just can’t support $120k for in-park homes?

The realtor of course will get paid 3% commission by the seller, but for us RE investors (buyers), can we just make the realtor our realtor as well, and thus pay the other 3% commission?