I have a wonderful agent who worked very hard to sell my home. We sign the contract tomorrow and everything has gone smoothly thanks to her. I can't express how thankful I am to have found her. However, we plan to rent for a year or two before buying again. My husband plans to retire or cut back in a year or so and we need to stay in our area during this time. We haven't decided where we want to move.

We have asked our agent to show us some condo's in the area which are listed for rent. There are many but seem to be listed with specific agencies which handle those condo's. They seem to be the only listing agencies and seem to have an exclusive with these places.

I think we would have a better chance of finding what we want if we worked directly with those agencies. They seem to know in advance what units will be listed or which have not sold and might be interested in renting. I've discovered renting is quite different from buying. There are many condo's listed for sale and they haven't sold all year even with price reductions. Some owners can be convinced to rent for a short term.

I don't think our agent thought we would rent. I think it is time consuming for her to search for rentals and take us around looking at them. I don't think she is thrilled spending her weekend taking us around when she could be showing houses.

Long and short, would it be wrong for us to contact the agencies which list the condo's? I'm not sure what to do and don't want to offend my agent. I don't know if she would be offended or relieved to have us work with another agent.

Jane