Marta Paulson was on a ski lift in Sun Valley last winter when the call came from Home and Garden Television: We loved your application. Would you send us a demonstration tape?

So when she returned home to Boise, Paulson invited a few of her neighbors over and pretended she was their real estate agent.

In fact, she is an agent for A.V. West, a brokerage at 1674 Hill Road owned by her mother. HGTV was seeking agents around the country for its show, “My House Is Worth What?” The show’s staff selected three Boise homes from a list Paulson submitted. She then had to do extensive research and writing on each.

That preparatory work made it easy for Paulson to talk about the houses on camera when the video crew came to Boise in April for three days — one for each house.

The result is a segment for each of three episodes of the show. The first aired Monday night. It featured a new unit at CitySide Lofts at 13th and Myrtle streets in Downtown Boise owned by a young couple, Brad and Laura Hunt. Paulson valued the loft at $240,000.

The second is a French Provincial home with a cottage on the rim overlooking Kathryn Albertson Park owned by Michael and Michelle Tullis, Paulson valued it at $840,000.

The third is a century-old home designed by Tourtellotte and Hummel that Jim and Monica Walker bought for $1 from the Cathedral of the Rockies, moved a block to a new foundation at 14th and Hays streets, and restored. The Walkers have been honored by Preservation Idaho for their work. Paulson valued their house at $580,000.

“The tough thing was telling people that their homes had not appreciated,” Paulson said. “I had to be realistic about what’s happening in the market. I knew clients would be disappointed, but I also felt I had the responsibility not to sugar coat it either.”

The Tullis home episode is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Mountain time Tuesday, Sept. 23, and the Walker house at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, she said. You can check HGTV’s Web site for reruns of the Hunt episode.

Paulson, a Boise native who was Miss Idaho USA in 1980, says she and the families enjoyed doing the show. And she sees silver lining the cloudy Treasure Valley housing market.

“People still move, and people still buy homes,” she said. “It’s not all doom and gloom. We have to keep the faith.”