POCATELLO — A local Realtor is urging colleagues to promote her simple plan for generating new residential listings amid an acute shortage of inventory in the Southeast Idaho housing market.

Gail Bishard, of the Bishard Team with Silvercreek Realty Group, is convinced the way to make the inventory shortage disappear is by having would-be sellers add language to their listing agreement making closing subject to them finding a new home.

“I’ve talked to my association. I’ve talked to my agents. We need to spread the word,” Bishard said. “It has to be done. This is an easy fix.”

During the annual Spring Fair, hosted in late March at Holt Arena, Bishard repeatedly heard comments from attendees who wanted to move but were afraid to list due to the challenge of finding a new home.

“At the spring fair, every other person said, ‘I’m not going to sell a home. I’m not going to be homeless,’” Bishard said.

Bishard said there have been about 40 listings on the local market lately, with more than 400 Realtors competing for those listings.

“I worry about our agents. I really do. There’s not enough inventory to really survive,” Bishard said.

If her approach were to catch on, Bishard is certain there would be hundreds of listings on the market.

Bishard said local first-time buyers are having an especially hard time due to the lack of affordable housing in the community, as well as their lack of equity.

Most of Bishard’s buyers lately have come from out of state.

“Our growth was 3 percent, 3 percent, 3 percent, and these past two years we jumped up high,” Bishard said. “We should have moved up, but we’re still jumping.”

Bishard said there are drawbacks to buying new construction at the moment, based on rising construction costs.

“Builders can’t even give me a price. All of the costs keep going up and up,” Bishard said. “Numbers can change in four to six weeks.”

The good news, Bishard explained, is that home owners are now earning significant equity in their properties within just a couple of years. Though it costs more to buy a home now, she said locals can also sell for more, essentially making it a wash for them to exchange housing.