I moved back to my Midwestern hometown to afford to buy my first house. The city gave me $15,000 to help pay for it.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Payton Friess, 33, a Topeka, Kansas, native who moved back to her hometown after living in Bend, Oregon, for years. Friess was granted $15,000 from the Choose Topeka program for moving back, which she used to help her pay off her mortgage. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I am "Top City" born. I've lived here a good portion of my life, but I've also been fortunate to travel around quite a bit.

The first time I left Topeka was right after college in 2014. I went to the University of Kansas, which is about 30 minutes from Topeka, and then I left and went to Minnesota to do the AmeriCorps program.

After Minnesota, I went and lived in Oregon, and then I came home to Kansas, and then I went to Southeast Asia for a while. Then I came back home, and then I went back to Minnesota, and then back to Oregon.

Most recently, I lived in Bend, Oregon, for about three years.

Oregon is very different than Kansas. Mainly, there was a lot of access to nature where I lived. I could go to the mountains, there was a river that I could float and kayak in, I was four hours from the coast. I was in the high desert, and there was a lot of national forest land around.

Friess enjoying a hike.  Courtesy of Payton Friess

But it was also very expensive. Since COVID and some other changes, a lot of people had flocked there because of all the recreational opportunities. Being so close to California, they started coming up, which increased the price and cost of living.

I was renting, and every time my partner and I rented, we always had roommates. That's a very common thing out West because the rent is so expensive — there were more community living-type situations.

Owning a home was not on my radar, at least not while living in Oregon. It definitely was not a possibility out there.

I had gotten tired of throwing rent away, and my partner had been listening to podcasts about real estate investment, so that planted a seed to start thinking about moving back home and buying something.

Moving back to Kansas opened the door for me to become a homeowner

While this whole idea of moving back to Kansas was percolating, my previous boss called me up and pretty much asked me to come back to Kansas to run a program I previously had run because it was growing.

It was serendipitous.

The program works with the Department of Corrections, and we bring parents and grandparents who are incarcerated to our museum, and then their children and grandchildren meet them there for a whole day of play outside the prison walls.

Friess said a major reason she returned to Kansas was a job opportunity at the Children's Discovery Center.  Courtesy of Payton Friess

Having a job that I believe in so deeply that's a passion is a big reason I'm back here.

I still followed different Topeka things on social media, and I had heard about the Choose Topeka program, but I didn't really know what it was. Then I learned it offered up to $15,000 in relocation incentives to move back and purchase a home.

I moved back to Topeka at the end of June 2024 and bought a three-bed, two-bath 1930s bungalow for $85,000.

I had already purchased the home when I got the incentive money, so it wasn't there when we made the down payment, but it helped us pay off our loan.

Since we were able to get our home paid off with the help of the Choose Topeka funding, we have also purchased our first rental property.

One of our good friends still lives in Bend. He still rents, but he's trying to buy a rental property, and the price on that is like $700,000. We were able to get ours in Topeka for under $100,000. It's such a different market.

So this has really helped us build wealth. Ultimately, my goal is to have more freedom in life and to be able to leverage my assets to live a life more aligned with who I am. So, while owning a home wasn't a specific dream I had, I'm realizing it's pretty incredible. I got really lucky.

I'm enjoying rediscovering my hometown as an adult

Everyone has different feelings about moving home. Of course, Kansas is not going to be Oregon, but I'm recognizing Topeka's strengths.

There's been so much momentum and energy in Topeka to enhance it and make it better and more desirable — that's something I've noticed since moving back.

There's been a lot of revitalization in our downtown area. There's a plaza that's a community space where people can come and gather outside, and festivals are held there.

A yoga studio in Topeka, Kansas, where Friess facilitates a class.  Courtesy of Payton Friess

I'm a yoga facilitator as well. I wasn't seeking it — someone said, "Hey, I have this space if you ever want to do class out of it." And now it's become such a lovely community.

Yoga is something that's always been part of my daily life, and now I get to share it with friends and family from here who didn't always have access to it.

Even though the nature here is different than Oregon's, I love some of the trails we have — I go to Shunga Trail and the Governor's Mansion quite a bit and walk my dog. I'm a prairie girl at heart, so it's nice to be in those forests again and see different plants.

It's been really cool rediscovering what Topeka has to offer, especially as an adult. It's different than when I was a kid.

An outdoor event in downtown Topeka.  Courtesy of Payton Friess

It's not lost on me what a privilege it is and how lucky I am to be able to own my home, especially at 33.

I own my home outright, so I don't have a mortgage on it, and that's pretty unheard of for my age. That's something that I'm really grateful for.

Topeka is one of the last places that still has an affordable housing market. I recognize now how owning my home is setting me up incredibly well for the future.

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