(Something like this may come up more with alternative lending options that with a bank.)  

There are alternative ways to do this when paycheck stubs and rental histories are not available.For example, someone with no visible means of support might be running a meth lab (Google "meth lab tenant" to learn how expensive this can be for property owners [who are responsible for the cost of cleanup]).

Apartments and renting soon become an attractive alternative.

As far as real estate cycles hotels tend to do best when the economy is good or the perception of it is good in they eyes of corporations and the general public.So right now on an alternative comparison asset class analysis you could say apartments are overvalued and peaking in the cycle.

Also,  what are some alternative funding avenues?

Firstly I think of RE as an alternative investment and would never consider putting more than a small portion of my total portfolio into it, secondly it would primarily be as an inflation hedge or for the income, granted I wouldn't be interested in income investing until I was closer to retirement.

Train station currently being built which will give another alternative for commuting though not as close as freeway access. 

Obviously you would then need to use alternative cards for your personal purchases.  

I follow dave's strategy in my personal life. ( personal residence is owned outright) absolutely zero personal debt whatsoever, which means I have to drive a 7 year old truck... im ok with that. 

You might be able to use annual statement + transaction history from Dec 30th to present to make it work.If the funds cannot be sourced adequately, what often happens (as a sort of compromise alternative to "loan denied") is that the will pretend they never saw the money and subtract that amount from your current balances.