Miami Beach running legend says he faces foreclosure due to soaring condo fees
A Miami Beach legend known for running in the city’s streets every night is now in a fight to keep his home.
Robert “Raven” Kraft has run every single night, rain or shine, since Jan. 1, 1975. He has been honored and celebrated by the city, and even has a street named after him – but Kraft is now facing foreclosure after soaring condo fees.
“It’s a nightmare,” he told NBC6.
Kraft bought his condo on Ocean Drive back in 1988.
“This is my home, and I love being here,” he said.
For years, he said he and the other tenants paid about $400 a month in maintenance fees, but over the last few years, that price tag has changed.
It all started after his building was put under the control of a court-appointed special master tasked with completing repairs.
“Things went way up,” he said. “Now they want $78,000 assessments. They want like $18,000 for some kind of lawyer thing.”
Kraft said he paid more than $20,000 back in 2023, but the bills keep coming in.
“I have been wanting to pay. They ignore me, they don’t answer the phone, they don’t tell me how much I owe,” Kraft said.
Now he said he’s being warned to pay or lose his home.
“It’s been awful, they put a lien on my place, they put a foreclosure,” he said.
While Kraft isn’t asking for money, a GoFundMe page has been put together by the community in an effort to raise $50,000 to cover his legal costs in fighting the foreclosure.
“They’ve been so good to me,” he said. “Strangers are donating money. I’ve never owed money my whole life.”
Kraft said he’s using a lot of the money for lawyer fees, but in the meantime, he plans to come to the beach and run, where he finds peace and hope.
NBC6 reached out to the special master in charge of the HOA for a comment.
