Liberty City Woman May Lose Home On Thanksgiving

MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – A Liberty City activist may not be able to enjoy Thanksgiving in her home of the last 40 years unless she can come up with nearly $70,000.

Angela Samuels said her home has been in foreclosure for some time, but she has had some support from friends and family members. They have raised approximately $40,000 so far.

Samuels is worried she will be thrown out on Thanksgiving.

It prompted a demonstration by Samuels and more than a dozen people outside the Dade County Courthouse. Samuels and her attorney had hoped to get a hearing on this matter but that did not happen and the case was re set for a later date.

"Banks got bailed out and we got sold out," chanted the protesters as Samuels said she was worried about her future.

"I'm hurt, I have my niece I take care of my legally blind sister I take care of and we have nowhere to go," Samuels told CBS4's Peter D'Oench. "To be a victim of mortgage fraud and then be thrown out. I'll be out by tomorrow. You're going to allow someone to take my home for $27,000. That's ridiculous. Shame on you."

Her home was bought out of foreclosure at an auction for $27,000 and the company has offered to sell it back to Samuels for $67,000.

"They can come back to the same agreed order," said Joseph Dahan, a Director of Greatest Enterprise LLC of North Miami Beach, which is the company that owns the home. "I'll give them 30 days to execute on it if that makes them happy, for whatever unforeseen reasons that I don't know about that made them fall off the face of the earth. I'm in the business of making people happy."

"Take less, $67,000, you know the economy is low," Samuels said. "It's bad what they're doing."

Dahan hasn't said if he'll come down from his $67,000 asking price.

Samuels told D'Oench that she has lived in the home for 43 years, since she was two years old. She said that along with her father, a Pentecostal minister, and her mother, she has helped hundreds of people in need by providing them food and shelter.

She gave D'Oench a tour of the three bedroom home and said, "We have helped the homeless, runaway children, single parents, everyone who needs help. My father started doing this and paying for it out of his own pocket. This is my home. It's a shame. I can't raise any more money."

While Dahan says there could be room for compromise, Samuels says she technically could be evicted as early as Thanksgiving Day. "I won't go peacefully," she said. "Everyone knows that if you need help, you come to my home at 1740 Northwest 46th Street in Miami."

The protest also extended to Samuels' home, where demonstrators chanted, "Who's house? Angie's house!"