Petty thievery against homeowners is certainly upsetting; still, for one Tennessee homeowner, she was not only upset but also confounded as to how and why someone stole the whole driveway of her home. Now, the Tennessee woman is worried because she plans to resell the home, and can’t do it without the driveway, which would cost her thousands of dollars to repair.
Paige Batten is the homeowner in question, and she’s also a realtor. Batten bought the house back in October 2024 with the intent of flipping, and now, it’s up for resale. However, a potential buyer notified Batten on November 14 that her whole driveway was missing, and something was clearly wrong with the house.
“I had a call on Saturday morning…and she was like, Hey, we’re thinking about putting in an offer. When are you going to finish up the driveway? And I’m like, well, the driveway had a couple of cracks in it, but we’re not planning on redoing the driveway. And she’s like, well, maybe we’re at the wrong house,” according to Batten, initially thinking the buyer was just being picky.
Neighbors then told Batten that at least three trucks were at her home on November 14, and they were equipped with backhoes and dump trailers. Some workers apparently hauled Batten’s whole driveway– the full concrete slab, in just two hours. Neighbors thought that it was an official renovation, which explains why they didn’t see it as a harmful activity.
“So I was taking my kids to the bus every morning, like we do, and we saw them taking up the driveway. And I thought they were just replacing it for the homeowner. The cop came by, and somebody unfortunately stole it somehow, which is bizarre,” recalls a neighbor, transcript courtesy of Local3News.
People online think the contractors just went to the wrong house
Batten is now conducting her own investigation, along with the cops, and hopes to find the workers who hauled her driveway, as building another one can cost $12,000. “Not trying to accuse anybody or anything, but just hopefully somebody will come forward and go, Hey, we made a mistake. And, you know, own up to it, and hopefully we’ll get a driveway, porch without us paying out all the money,” says the Tennessee woman.
People online have echoed Batten’s sentiments, saying that it seems unlikely someone would “steal” a whole driveway, and even breaking it down with a backhoe, rendering the theft angle questionable. “Obviously the contractors were at the wrong house, nobody would do that work for free,” suspects a Reddit user.
In any case, others have simply found the predicament somewhat hilarious, considering driveways made out of concrete slabs usually don’t get stolen, as they’re useless after you tear them off. “The new type of porch pirate,” jokes a commenter, with another wishing the realtor luck in finding whoever tore her driveway away, “Hopefully her investigation will pave the way to preventing it from happening again.”
