25-year-old wins 116-year-old cottage after handwritten letter beats $60K bid

She wrote about her family ties to Malanda, her childhood nearby and her hopes of eventually raising children in the town she had always considered home. The personal appeal made an impression. In a property market where a higher offer can seem impossible to beat, Karli Bryant discovered that sometimes a house is worth more than its price tag. The 25-year-old had little reason to believe she would win the century-old cottage she had fallen for in Malanda, Queensland. Another buyer was prepared to pay $60,000 more. But Bryant had something the other bidders did not, a personal connection to the home and a handwritten letter that gave the seller a reason to choose her. Scroll down to read the story of connection and faith.A cottage with a pastAccording to a news report by ABC Information and Services, the timber-clad home was built around 1910, when the railway first reached Malanda, and was among the town's original cottages for railway workers. For Bryant, the property felt familiar long before she became its owner. She grew up in Malanda and attended the school next door. Her grandmother had also taught at the local primary school, and Bryant was studying to become a teacher there...