I know how this sounds but I would like to get some experienced feedback

[Paul Zofsak]

I have been working with this real estate agent for about a month now looking for my first rental property in the area; a year ago he sold me my primary residence. It seems like every time I send him a list of homes off the MLS that I want to check out he usually tells me that they have accepted offers and are not available. He then proceeds to send me a list of homes that he came across for us to go look at; ironically the homes on his list are about 15-20% higher in price than the ones I suggested. This week, same thing, I sent him a list of homes two days ago, he replied they were no longer available, even though the MLS listing still said they were in active status, and then sent me a list of home that were 20% over what I told him my target price was. Since we are set to go look at homes tomorrow I decided to do a little legwork my self and call the listing agents of the homes on my list. 5 out of 8 were still showing, had offers, but were still accepting offers as well. I then contacted my agent to reconfirm that he was telling me they were unavailable and we should go look at the list he sent. The market is really hot right now in my area and it seems he is always trying to push me on certain sales, the higher priced properties of the ones we look at.
So, my question here is, is there something shady going on, my gut says yes, or is he just trying to not waste my time or his with submitting offers on homes that might already have one? Or, am I overlooking some other reason; thoughts please?