There are other ways to fund your investments than traditional loans.there is a podcast from bigger pockets that's I absolutely recommend.https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/biggerpockets-podcast-235-find-fund-real-estate-deals-anson-young/

One of the big take aways i had from last quarter is that unless your really doing things in volume, for the most part traditional ways of marketing seem to be ineffective.

Also, we are a hard money lender so our guidelines aren't as strict as traditional lenders.

I paid cash with money from a 1031 exchange as well as a home equity line of credit from my primary residence. 

If so, you can use the cash for a new primary residence and rent out the current property.

When we went to get the loan for the new property the bank we were using told us we did could not use the VA loan for the second house (though its a primary residence) since we still have one on the first house.

I will be able to make a cash offer from a HELOC I have pulled on my primary residence.

Credit unions I've found to be easier for primary and HELOC lending for whatever reason. 

Since I bought my primary residence about 3 years ago, prices have gone crazy, and I have around $100k in equity in it. 

Hello, I just sold my first property that was my primary residence for 2 years.