In the hometown of Daniel Whitney — aka Larry The Cable Guy — the local nonprofit development corporation wants to build 25 new homes in the next five years.
To “Git-R-Done,” it’s offering new homebuyers $50,000 in downpayment assistance for people to move there as part of a campaign to revitalize the town of 878 people 80 miles southeast of Lincoln.
“There's just 100-year-old crappy houses here. And so, we can't keep our budding professionals,” said Aaron Sawyer, economic development director with the Pawnee City Chamber of Commerce.
Like a lot of small to mid-sized communities across the country, a lack of housing stifles the development of a local workforce.
“If they want a nurse or a teacher, they're going to have to build their own new home, right?” said Sawyer. “That's an impossible ask for a new teacher or a nurse. So, we've just got to get some housing stock.”
In September, the town announced it was awarded a $640,000 grant from the Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust Fund. And then in December, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the first two homes in the Vision 2030 25-home initiative.”
Now, Pawnee City is offering $50,000 to new residents who want to help revitalize the community. The $50,000 will bring down the sales price of newly constructed homes and remain attached to the property as a lien, so the savings can be passed on if the property is sold.
While Wyoming borders Nebraska, it wouldn’t be practical or economical for someone considering a commute to get a good deal on a house. The closest Wyoming town to Pawnee City is Pine Bluffs, which is 475 miles away, or about a seven-hour drive.
The Vision 2030 plan also aspires to support Pawnee City’s downtown commercial district. A couple of years ago, Pawnee City lost its only bar — The Blazing Bull — and the local winery just closed, Sawyer said.
By attracting new homeowners to town, Sawyer said the community envisions newcomers as potential customers for local businesses — or perhaps the city can attract new downtown business owners who want to live in the city as well.
“If the person has a business and wants to have a storefront in town, there’s a $35,000 grant for renovations on that building,” said Sawyer, whose grandparents used to run Sawyer’s Clothing downtown. “So we're really trying to help motivate people to move into the city limits.”
An Affordable Oasis?
“Affordable home prices, low property taxes, and a strong local economy make living here financially smart,” touts a press release announcing the $50,000 down payment program. Initially, this benefit is limited to individuals and families making 120% of the area median income, or AMI.
The AMI for a single person trying to buy one of the two homes now in the works is $69,450, so to qualify for the $50,000 down payment grant, a potential buyer would have to make less than that.
For a family of four, the AMI is $99,250.
Prospective buyers of the two new homes in the works should expect a sales price around $325,000, said Sawyer.
Construction began on two new homes in December and the properties will be ready for sale in July.
On a website promoting the program, it’s possible to tour the new homes virtually. Two models of a single-story, three-bedroom, two-bath layout are offered, with 1,205 square feet of living space and 9-foot ceilings.
“The lots themselves are like $1,000 whereas in Lincoln, they're $100,000,” said Sawyer. “So the lots are next to nothing.”
The Pawnee City Community Foundation and the Southeast Nebraska Development District are partnering to build the homes, which will also keep sales prices affordable, said Sawyer.
“That's a nonprofit building it, right? So there's not even a developer profit margin or anything like that. And we're not having realtors,” added Sawyer. “We're trying to keep it word of mouth.”
A Great Place To Live
Pawnee City Realtor Clay Schaardt said a buyer will materialize from somewhere.
“They're trying to get new people into the community,” said Schaardt. “Just like most small towns, the population instead of growing, it's been declining and they're trying to reverse that. The town still has a lot to offer.”
But for anyone home shopping in Pawnee City, the pickings are slim.
“There's usually anywhere from one to five listings at a time,” said Schaardt. “There's a five-bed, 2.5-bathroom house out there. And there's going to be a three-bed, two-bath coming here at the end of the week. That's kind of really actually that's about all they got in Pawnee right now.”
When the first two Vision 2030 homes hit the Pawnee City market, Schaardt predicts the $325,000 asking price will bring in buyers.
“I think it's a really great price on a house like that,” said Schaardt. “We're about an hour south of Lincoln, Nebraska, which is our state's capital, and a house like that in Lincoln's probably $550,000 house.”
Zillow recently set the average Nebraska home value at $260,028, up 3.9% over the past year. In Wyoming, meanwhile, the average Wyoming home value is $353,826, according to Zillow, up 6% over the past year
While there is no program in Wyoming quite like what Pawnee City is offering prospective homebuyers, down payment assistance is offered through the Wyoming Community Development Authority (WCDA) and Welcome Home Wyoming.
Angela Fuson is the director of single-family programs at the WCDA. She told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that last year, WCDA assisted 695 homebuyers. WCDA offers downpayment and closing cost assistance up to $15,000, and that is folded into the loan and paid back by the homeowner.
“Welcome Home Wyoming has a down payment assistance, which is a forgivable loan,” added Fuson. “But they premium price it so the interest rate on the first mortgage is a lot higher and that's how they're able to fund those.”
Celebrity Cause?
Sawyer said he and others working on Pawnee City’s Vision 2030 campaign joked about getting the actress Amy Poehler to revive her character, Leslie Knope, the overly enthusiastic city employee of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, in the hit series “Parks And Recreation.”
Perhaps Poehler could help bring attention to Pawnee City’s new downpayment program.
“Wouldn't it be fun if they were all like, ‘Save the real Pawnee?’” said Sawyer.
Turns out, Larry the Cable Guy recently lent his celebrity status to his own campaign to help Pawnee City and other small Nebraska communities thrive.
“He actually just put on a show in Pawnee on Valentine's Day,” said Schaardt. “He had a tour going on where he's going around to a bunch of small towns in Nebraska and doing shows, and he's donating a lot of the proceeds.”
As Larry, aka Daniel Whitney, put it in his promotional materials, “There's nothing like sharing some laughs with folks in small towns across Nebraska. These people have been my biggest supporters, and I can't wait to put on a great show and give back to the places that shaped me."
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
