You can be paid $50,000 to move to a quaint town

A quaint town has offered potential new residents a whopping $50,000 to move in.

Pawnee City, Nebraska, has announced the $50,000 down payment incentive to incoming residents in an effort to revive the dwindling rural community.

It may sound like a plot straight from the hit comedy 'Parks and Recreation', but this is no television town.

The tiny town - located just over an hour southeast of Lincoln - is launching an ambitious plan called Vision 2030 that promises to breathe new life into the community.

Once home to 1,300 residents in the 1970s, Pawnee City has seen its population decline to just 850 residents.

But economic Development Council chairman Steve Glenn is pulling out all the stops to attract new residents.

'What we really need is more people,' Steve Glenn, the chairman of the Economic Development Council for the Pawnee City Chamber of Commerce told Nebraska Public Media. 

'So, let's attract those people that work from home and want to move their family to a great little city to live in, and provide them an incentive, a massive incentive of $50,000 to do that.'

'We're putting up $50,000 per house in down payment assistance because that's one of the biggest obstacles for people,' he explained.

'You can imagine-that basically cuts 30 percent off the cost of housing,' he added.

The town's investment includes 25 new homes already in the pipeline, plans for additional affordable apartment complexes, and a $650,000 grant from the Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

'We think that housing is the secret sauce for small rural communities to grow, because in the virtual workplace, people can work from anywhere, and they just have to decide on a quality of life,' he said. 

But it's not just about attracting more residents - it's also about creating a sense of community in the small town. 

'We're trying to create a rural renaissance-and you do that with quality of life,' Glenn said. 

'Big cities are a big blessing when you can go to a Broadway show or a great restaurant,' Glenn said.

'But a lot of that stuff we can bring to a small city, to Pawnee City,' he added. 

'The beauty of a small town is quality of lifestyle, and there's still a tremendous amount of value to growing up in a small town where there's accountability,' he added. 

'Your kids are safe. It's really some of the fundamentals of a quality of life. And so, we think that there's a great quality of life, and we just have to maintain it.' 

'We're blessed in Pawnee City to have a great school system, great hospital, great retail stores,' Glenn said. 'What we need is just rooftops and people and houses,' he added. 

Just days after details of the scheme was announced Glenn said 50 applications have been received for just two homes.

Twenty-seven potential residents have already expressed interest.

'They came in really quickly,' says Glenn. 'We really haven't even started the advertising or promotion with a Realtor® or anything like that yet.'

'It's almost been a little overwhelming,' Glenn added. 'A lot of times, people are afraid to fail. You've got to just jump in with both feet.' 

'We're building a blueprint,' Glenn said. 'The whole key to rural America is housing. It's all about housing.' 

'I overheard someone say, 'Who wants to come back to Pawnee City?' he added. 'And I said, 'We've got to make it so we put the welcome mat out. You'd be surprised how many people will come if we just say 'welcome'.