One said the 2nd mortgage has to be assumable and the other said it did not.VA issued Circular #26­24­17 back in August to try and clear up the issue:Assumability: If the secondary borrowing is not assumable, the holder of the VA guaranteed loan should counsel the assumer that this may restrict their ability to sell the property to another creditworthy assumer through an assumption in the future.The lender currently servicing the loan still can decide whether or not they'll allow the 2nd.You could do seller financing for the gap and then refinance just that amount with a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit at some point down the road. 

@Frank Pyle yeah, this is pretty normal and the type of home you use isn't of consequence. 

To access your home equity without selling, you can explore options like a home equity loan, a line of credit (HELOC), or a cash-out refinance.

It is a mobile home and I was able to get seller financing for half of the purchase price. 

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $850,000

Cash invested: $500,000

Sale price: $2,250,000

Purchased , knocked down, built new from ground up

...

You've earned $132,000 more by splitting your money and leveraging it.There are other benefits to leveraged homes.

Keep in mind that I am selling them as affordable fixer uppers and usually only address any health, safety, and functionality issues.

And you can quite literally walk there from the U.S. side if you didn't forget your passport at home :) Of course, I don't know how much (if at all) this could affect a hospitality business, so I would continue trying to find someone who actually operates an STR here to find out more.  

Investment Info:Mobile home buy & hold investment.

If you buy in a vacation area there really is no safety net other than desirability/location…I guess just don’t pay up too much.