All I gotta say is keep trying. All the popular villagers I have I got by dumb luck. Hell, I got Marshal from the camp TWICE, and I didn't even want him!
Check some of the cycling threads - people usually are happy to give away unpopular villagers. I managed to catch a dreamie, Maelle, from a cycler's thread. She was about to be voided, too! I was so happy
I feel lucky that I dislike most of the really popular villagers, except for Bob and someone gave him to me for free.
About being too poor to be on this website, I have 12m and I feel rich. Then again, I never buy villagers. Even though I have a few dreamies I would rather wait for them to show up naturally or I'll find them for free somewhere. I'm only in it for the enjoyment.