Real Estate Transfers Other than Purchase or Sale
Real estate transfers other than the purchase or sale of a home (e.g. to a trust)
Am I allowed to change ownership of a mortgaged property?
It is usually a violation of a mortgage to change ownership of the mortgaged property. But federal banking law specifically allows the transfer of ownership from an individual to their revocable trust.
How do I handle my mortgage when changing ownership of a coop?
It's a bit complicated, but also a completely standard procedure. The bank holds your coop stock certificate and proprietary lease (the ownership documents for the coop, analogous to a deed for a house) as collateral for your loan. You need to arrange for the bank to pull them from their files, deliver them to the coop, and obtain the new stock and lease (showing ownership in the trust) as replacement collateral.
It can be difficult to connect with the right person at the bank to get this process going. You can go to a branch office, or call the customer service line on your mortgage statement. You should explain that you have a coop mortgage, and that you want to change ownership to a trust.
You should specifically authorize the bank to speak with Ron Meyers or Beth Forman in order to handle the transaction going forward. Once these steps are done, we should be able to take it from there.