Refinancing a mortgage held in another's name.

[Amy Thatcher]

My father purchased a home with a mortgage in 2005 (I had recently divorced and my finances would not enable me to secure the mortgage).  He then added me via a quitclaim with Joint Survivorship. Since that time I have made all the mortgage payments and maintained the home.  In 2010, I purchased another home for my primary residence and began renting the original home.  The home is a 3/2 and rents currently for 1500.00 (the monthly payment including P&I, insurance and taxes is 1150.).  The mortgage is a 30 year fixed at 5.75% with a remaining balance of 94k.  Conservatively, the home value is 190k.  

My father passed away 6 years ago and I have continued to pay everything as usual. I have not cleared his name from the title because I did not want to risk the bank calling the loan (it is not assumable). I would like to remove some of the equity in the home to use in another investment (I have 2 other rental properties at this point that I paid cash for and am rehabbing with the intent of refinancing. I have spoken with 3 mortgage lenders about this situation and none of them could give me direction in how to proceed. I cannot get a HELOC because I do not hold the first mortgage. Would it be a refinance even though I did finance initially? Please share your wisdom, ideas and advice on how I can best hold the rental and retrieve some of my equity to reinvest. Thank you!

[Sasha Mohammed]

I'm not sure why you've been having so much trouble, @Amy Thatcher. sounds like you've been on title for quite some time, and you've been making the mortgage payments from your account also for quite some time, plus you can document a blood-relationship with the original note-holder... this meets continuity of obligation many times over. 

Traditional lenders should be able to refinance this debt into your name solely, so long as you qualify for the new mortgage with income/ credit requirements. They may  ask you to document 12 month's mortgage payments being paid, and a copy of your father's death cert. 

it sounds to me you've just been running into a few people who don't know what they're doing. this should be a walk in the park!

I'm with @Chris Mason on this one -- let us know when it funds!