Thanks to low mortgage rates and shrinking inventory, Bucks County housing market is seeing bidding wars break out over the too few currently available homes, writes Peg Quann for the Bucks County Courier Times.

Megan McCormick and Gerard Mann, who started looking for a new home online last year, really jumped into a scorching hot seller’s market in January. They put offers in on four homes, and their bids on three of the residences, all of which were above the asking price, still did not win.

Their fourth bid on the house was accepted, but only after the engaged pair added their personal touch.

“We wrote personal letters to the families, telling them what we liked about their home,” said McCormick. “The bids were very aggressive.”

The multiple bids are not surprising, considering that the number of houses available for sale in Bucks County in December was 57 percent below the same time last year.

Meanwhile, the median sale price increased by 19 percent, from $310,000 to $370,000, while the number of days on the market shrank to an average of 28 days from 46 days during the year prior.

Read more about the housing market at the Bucks County Courier Times here.