So in summary, maybe you need to create a positive credit history, look into other traditional financing approaches (as an alternative to partnering and HML), and break the cycle in a slow and steady manner.  

traditional 20% down mortgage How did you add value to the deal?

If you approach a bank as a partnership can you still get traditional financing?

People are equity rich, not tapped out.Here is the link to the full article if you want to take a gander: https://www.keepingcurrentmatters.com/2020/03/16/5-simple-graphs-proving-this-is-not-like-the-last-time/?

Traditional journalism is dying, they use little things like that (Every.

My husband stumbled upon Rich Dad Poor Dad, we listened to it together on audiobook and it excited us immensely.  

There are a lot of quality private lending/hard money companies out there that are structured in the more traditional way of either using their own funds, managing a fund or managing their own investors and placing their capital into loans. 

You could find a  "cash rich" Partner whose funds could make your deal work but you will have to give up part of any profit.

Some books I would recommend - What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow, Think and Grow Rich, and The Intelligent Investor.

Which means on paper you look rich.