Choosing a Realtor- Overall Experience vs. First-Time/Lower-Budget Buyers

I’m starting to look for an agent to help me through the process of purchasing my first home. I’ve been doing a lot of research online, asking friends and family for recommendations, and plan to speak with several agents to find a good fit before I decide.

I have a pretty tight budget, even for the LCOL area I’m looking in. I’m also not in a rush and perfectly fine waiting for the right home.

As I’ve been researching agents, I’ve noticed a general trend that the more years of experience an agent has, the higher the average purchase price of the homes they work with tends to be, which makes perfect sense. A lot of the agents who market themselves with a “specialty” of first-time home buyer seem to have less experience (~5 years).

I definitely want the knowledge and wisdom that come with experience, but I guess I worry that if my budget is significantly below what an agent typically works with, they may be less interested/invested in working with me since the commission they’d make from my purchase would be small or not “worth it“.

My question is: Is it better to work with a realtor who has fewer overall years of experience but the bulk of their clientele is more similar to you in terms of budget/situation? Or is there more value in choosing someone with many more years of experience?