When Erica Perkins began looking for a home last year, Plant City wasn’t exactly on her list of neighborhoods. Perkins was interested in the Seminole Heights area, where her husband is from. When she got wind of the home prices in Tampa, the family of two decided to broaden their horizons.

“Honestly, we moved here because of the price,” Perkins said. “We were house hunting, and we couldn’t find anything decent sized and affordable in Tampa.”

The family of two opened their search to the I-4 corridor, and looked at homes in Wesley Chapel, Brandon, and eventually Plant City. They closed on a $350,000 four-bedroom, two-bathroom home near the Plant City Hillsborough Community College campus in November.

Their story is a typical one.

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Cameron Hamade, a Valrico-based real estate agent with Greco Real Estate, said that the Perkinses' home may have been worth significantly less in 2020.

According to Hamade, the median price for a four-bedroom, two-bath home in Plant City was $215,995 two years ago. In April, the median sale price of a home in Plant City was $335,500, according to Realtor.com. Homes typically stay on the market for just five days before closing, according to the local Multiple Listing Service.

By comparison, the median sales price for a home in Lakeland in April was $321,500.

It's a situation he doesn't see ending soon.

"If a home was purchased in Plant City in 2019 at the average price of $215,995, the annual appreciation rate was 15.17%, that same home is now valued at $333,500 ...  Even if the annual appreciation rate drops to 10% over the next few years, their home they bought today at $333,500 would be worth $439,230 in 2025,” Hamade said.

“The housing market here is much like the rest of what you’re seeing in Tampa,” Hamade said. “The numbers align pretty well. It’s hard to talk about Plant City without talking about the overall issue, Lakeland too.”

He said many of his buyers are single families priced out of Tampa and looking for good neighborhoods to raise a family. There are also investors buying land and lots and parceling it out.

Rosie Ziegler experienced this firsthand.

Ziegler lived in Plant City her entire life, but in January 2021 she and her four children were evicted from their mobile home at 215 South Webb Road after an investor bought the property.

Ziegler said she rented the three-bedroom, one-bathroom home for $500 a month from the previous owner, 91-year-old Curtis Bass. When Bass sold to an investor, they could no longer afford the rent.

“We lived there five years, and we loved it,” Ziegler said. “Well, we hated the house, it was a piece of garbage, but we loved our neighbors. They always watched out for the younger kids.”

Ziegler works two jobs; she’s a substitute teacher for the Hillsborough County school system and works nights as a bartender at Finish Line Saloon in Dover. Despite this, she can no longer find an apartment or home in her budget.

“Once we got the note on our door, I rode it out … went to the Plant City Courthouse, the first time the judge dismissed it because no one showed up,” Ziegler said. “But the judge told me ‘Mrs. Ziegler, you have to start looking for a place.’”

The family lives out of local hotels, including the Knights Inn, where they stay for $249 every three days.

“Before this, I had more money than I’ve ever had in my entire life,” Ziegler said. “Now it’s completely gone, it doesn’t matter that I work two jobs, my credit just isn’t right.”