Habitat for Humanity of Marion County filed foreclosure complaints against three Ocala residents earlier this month, accusing the women of missing bi-weekly mortgage payments for several months.
On September 8, the nonprofit organization filed three separate foreclosure complaints in the fifth judicial circuit court of Marion County against residents who signed mortgage notes in the past two decades.
Those residents include Marquita N. Bennett, Elouise R. Baker, and Olga Ramsey. The longest notes date back to 2003, when Baker signed two mortgage notes totaling $60,884 for the property located at 321 NW 31st Street.
According to the complaint, Baker entered into an agreement with the organization on April 4, 2003, and she agreed to make “bi-weekly payments of principal and interest” in the amount of $150. Habitat says that Baker “failed to make the second payment due in March of 2023,” as well as all of the “subsequent payments thereafter.”
The organization says there is an “unpaid principal balance of $6,903.94.”
In the suit against Baker, the city of Ocala is also named as a defendant, as Habitat says that it may claim an interest in the land “by virtue of that certain mortgage it holds as recorded” by county property records.
Habitat says that any claim by the city is “subordinate and inferior to the interest held” by the nonprofit organization.
In a separate filing, the organization says it executed a mortgage note with Bennett that required her to make “bi-weekly payments of principal and interest” that totaled $164.45.
On December 19, 2008, Bennett signed two mortgage notes for the “principal amounts” of $52,494.85 and $34,125. Both notes were associated with the property at 280 NW 9th Avenue in Ocala, according to the complaint.
Habitat says Bennett “failed to make the payment due in January 2023 and all subsequent payments thereafter,” resulting in an “unpaid principal balance of $15,869.05.”
In a third filing, Habitat says Olga Ramsey executed two notes with the organization on January 24, 2014, for the property located at 1509 NE 30th Street in Ocala. Those notes were for $63,100 and $5,000, according to the complaint.
Ramsey was allegedly required to “make bi-weekly payments of principal and interest” of $200, and “failed to make the second payment due in March 2023,” as well as “all subsequent payments thereafter.”
Similarly, Habitat says there is an “unpaid principal balance of $33,909.95.”
In each case, Habitat is asking the court to place a lien on the property, foreclose it, and “dispossess” the previous homeowners in order to “ascertain the amount of money” needed to cover the amounts remaining on the agreements, as well as attorneys’ fees and associated costs.
