Burglars take off with furnishings at staged home for sale in Ballard

The My Ballard team received a worrying email from local realtor and staging business owner Cari letting us know about a burglary that took place at a staged home for sale in Ballard. Cari reports that the burglary was discovered early on Thursday morning by the new buyer and his realtor who arrived to inspect the home and take measurements.

Cari staged the home at 80th and 25th Ave NW a few weeks ago for another realtor and was called to the home after reports of the burglary. When she arrived she was shocked to discover that all of the furnishings in the home had been stolen. “Dirt was tracked everywhere, the walls were dinged up and damaged, the shower heads and towels racks were also stolen,” writes Cari.

After making the shocking discovery, Cari then reports that she spoke to neighbors who confirmed that someone had arrived with a U-Haul truck at 4 a.m. and taken one load and then arrived again at 7 a.m. to pick up a second. “The neighbors thought it was just the stager (me) moving everything out or the new buyer was moving in. One of the neighbors actually saw one of the suspects popping off the trim on one of the basement windows and thought he was ‘just doing work on the house,’ writes Cari.

Cari reports that she has heard of this happening to staging colleagues in other neighborhoods, but never here in Ballard. “We need to be on alert for each other,” writes Cari.

As a Realtor she will now be alerting all surrounding neighbors of any properties nearby that will be coming on the market that will be vacant and staged. “At least people can be aware of any suspicious activity or alert someone if they see a moving van coming on multiple occasions at odd hours,” writes Cari.

Cari reported the burglarly to the police who allegedly took 5 and a half hours to respond to her call.

Email us at tips@myballard.com to report any burglaries or suspicious activities in Ballard so we can keep our neighbors and their belongings safe.