ATLANTA -- Don’t sell your house: that’s Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ message to people living in the city’s Westside neighborhoods.
The historic neighborhoods continue to become a hotspot for developers thanks to the new billion-dollar Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Longtime residents like Bankhead’s Dorothy Pippins say they’re under intense pressure to sell.
"I was thinking that we would be here forever. But it looks like it's getting close,” Pippins said.
She said it’s like “you’re being robbed without a gun.”
Pippins opened up about all the phone calls she receives, the flyers in her mailbox and the bold door knocks insisting she sell her house - a home that has been in her family for more than 50 years.
She said that in 2017 the interest for the property went up thanks to the nearby football stadium. Developers are now lured to some of Atlanta’s poorest neighborhoods.
“I just feel like I could have lived a little bit longer without worrying about all of this,” she said.
John Ahmann with the non-profit Westside Future Fund said that as interest for the Westside increases, they are trying to educate the community to ensure the people in the community can stay in the Westside.
"I think people feel confused. Who can we trust,” he said.
He said buyers may try different tactics like creating a false urgency to sell now or they may tell residents to name their price because they assume they may not be aware of the property value increase.
“It’s a great time to hold on to your home because it's only going to get better and better. What we see a lot of is predatory speculators trying to buy people's home quick,” Ahmann said.
But Pippins said she's not even interested in hearing the price offers. The longtime resident said she's not going anywhere.
