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It’s not uncommon for prospective homebuyers in today’s competitive market to send sellers a letter, perhaps with a family photo, pleading for their offer to be accepted.

So, instead, one licensed massage therapist offered a two-hour massage as part of an offer on a home in Southwest Portland. It worked.

鈥淲e’re just having to be super creative,鈥� said Lindsey Culver, a principal broker with Premiere Property Group.

Culver is advising potential buyers on ways to stand out from competing offers. In another case, a prospective buyer dropped off cookies.

The unusual approaches reflect a strong seller’s market, with few homes on the market and new migrants flooding into the area amid a surge in employment.

The Portland-metro area had only 1.8 months of inventory for sale in April, according to the listing service RMLS. That was slightly more than both in March (1.6 months) and a year ago (1.7 months), but not enough of an increase to change the underlying dynamics, brokers said.

鈥淭he average buyer is looking between the $300,000 to $400,000 mark,鈥� Culver said. 鈥淭hose are the hardest ones to get. We try everything we can do to get them in a house.鈥�

As the spring buying season reaches its annual peak, the low inventory is also pushing prices up. The median home price in April reached $405,000, according to RMLS. That was up 8.2 percent from $385,000 a year earlier. Many homes are receiving multiple offers.

Combined with higher interest rates, that’s putting more homes beyond the buying power of prospective first-time homebuyers. Average U.S. interest rates for a 30-year mortgage reached 4.47 percent in April, according to Freddie Mac.

Buyers are fast moving into formerly less desirable neighborhoods farther from Portland’s center, including Foster-Powell, Brentwood-Darlington and Montavilla, Culver said.

鈥淔oster-Powell is popular,鈥� she said.

Most buyers are placing offers on three to five homes before one is accepted, said Alexander Phan, a principal broker at Keller Williams Realty Professionals-Phan Hall Property Group. Phan focuses on the Beaverton and Aloha submarkets.

鈥淚t’s not letting up,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e still are getting multiple offers.鈥�

More prospective buyers, seeking to avoid a bidding war, are putting in offers the second week a property is on the market, Phan said. In some cases, that has just postponed a bidding war by a week.

鈥淭hose poor buyers,鈥� Phan said. 鈥淭here’s still very few homes for sale. Affordable housing is still very challenging to find. There’s not a lot of options.鈥�

Some prospective buyers have decided to jump into the market now with the expectation that interest rates will continue to increase, Phan said.

Sellers must be prepared to move quickly once their home is listed, Culver said.

鈥淲e usually can get 鈥� from the time we go on the market on a Wednesday 鈥� we can get them in escrow by Monday or Tuesday,鈥� she said.

Little new construction is occurring in Portland’s west side, said Edward Petrossian, a RE/MAX agent and president of the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors. New homes in Thompson Woods, in the Bonny Slope area, are selling in the $700,000 range, he said.

Construction of a planned development, West Ridge Estates in Forest Heights, is expected to begin in a few months, Petrossian said.

Nationally, the median sales price reached $312,400 in April, up 0.4 percent compared to a year earlier. Sales jumped 11.6 percent.