I haven't yet looked into a DSCR loan and what the differences would be.

My question is, when buying a home, do most here use big banks for loans?

This makes it a little difficult to get a VA loan with multifamily.

Since you still have a job, try to get an FHA loan or better yet, a 203k loan for a distressed multi unit.

Will they allow a loan assumption as the new deed owner? 

I want to purchase a condo with the loan 100% in my name, with the intention of completely remodeling the unit for potential rental opportunity. 

It is also common in commercial loans. 

If it is a SFR single family, Condo, or Townhome you can use a Vacation home type of loan and only have to put 10% down. 

we have until spring of 2025 until our balloon loan either has to be refinanced or paid off (we got this loan because we intended to build, of course) and now i feel like it's a ticking time bomb.we conducted "clean and satisfactory" (no issues whatsoever to build) soil and foundation tests and provided those to every buyer. it seemed (not quite sure here) like they backed out once they reviewed the tests - yet there is nothing negative in them. we will not be providing these tests moving forward (as we had to do them ourselves and feel that each buyer should do their due diligence moving forward!)

I'm skeptical you could do a 4-plex for $775k all in, particularly if you're building in Alaska where everything is much more expensive - from materials to labor.