The squeeze comes from small loan amounts colliding with a fixed points-and-fees cap. The VA label matters far less than the loan size. Manufactured homes on low-value land tend to produce small loans, sometimes under $100,000 and occasionally under $50,000, and that is where the compliance problem lives. Fixed costs are the issue. An appraisal, escrow, and title work cost roughly the same dollar amount whether the loan is $50,000 or $500,000. Under Reg Z's Qualified Mortgage rule, points and fees on a larger loan are capped at 3% of the total loan amount, with tiered percentage and flat-dollar caps for smaller balances, and the dollar thresholds adjust each year for inflation. On a very small loan, those fixed third-party costs consume the allowable cap fast, so the loan can fail compliance even when the lender is barely charging anything beyond third-party costs. That is why these small-balance loans are mostly done by banks and credit unions that keep the loan on their own books and can minimize or waive fees, rather than by the wholesale lenders most brokers use. If you are financing a small-balance or manufactured-home purchase, a local bank or credit union relationship is usually the most productive first call.