I'm fairly confident from reading online we don't qualify for an exemption, but I'm trying to assess actual closing costs to trying and reduce them All details:Bought the house 2.5 years ago for $980K (left on mortgage $753K), we have a clause for an assumable mortgage for me to take over (I can keep same rate).

Personally, I would not create a conversation around this "risk" as that is a sure fire way to increase the sellers anxiety. 

@Josh R. there is another option, one that would raise you're ROI too infinite, eliminate that finance rate too 0%, and via reduction in $-expense, increase cash-flow. 

Increasing your payments with PMI, closing costs, and higher interest rates means that you’re buying your VA eligibility (your down payment amount) at a huge cost.

Feeling very confident that once we are completed, this property will attract buyers quickly  at a strong market price.

The point of making money is to increase the quality of your life.

You can do a subject to (although I've never heard of doing this with a HELOC) and there are a few risks to them and since the loan stays in place and the seller's name thereby stays on the mortgage despite selling the property, it will take some effort to gain a seller's confidence to do such a thing.You can read more about them here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/2016-07-03-subject-to-rea...

Do you increase the rent by strictly calculating the increases in your insurance, taxes and etc ?

If we can increase our buyer demographics we'll likely see time on market drop by 80-90%.  

Any thoughts of increase visibility for a rental property in Virginia?