Burglars moved in on Robin Smith's East Dallas house before she did.
She said her home on Monticello Avenue was broken into just days before she was scheduled to move into her fixer-upper in the M Streets neighborhood.
"They hauled a pretty good-sized refrigerator through the kitchen and out the back," Smith said.
She said she activated her security system since the break-in.
"One of the reasons we were attracted to the M Streets is it feels like a safe neighborhood, and apparently it's not that safe," she said.
But Dallas police say residential burglary is a citywide problem. So far this year, home break-ins are up nearly 2.5 percent over last year.
"We definitely recognize that residential burglaries are slightly on the rise," Sgt. Warren Mitchell said.
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There have been 3,660 residential burglaries in Dallas so far this year. But crime is down in double digits in every other category from homicide to rape to robbery.
"Property crime is always the driving force to our crime rate and something we've been working on," Mitchell said.
Dallas police said a plan is in the works to try and reverse the residential burglary trend. Details will be released in a few weeks.
