Knowledgeable agent or Responsive agent?

[Mark Miles]

I recently started looking at REI in a new area that I haven't invested in before. It's a fairly remote area - there aren't many real estate agents & the ones I've talked to are fairly low quality (uninformed about REI & generally unhelpful)

I’ve finally found 2 potentially good agents though & I’m trying to narrow down which one I should work with (it’s a pretty small area so definitely can’t work with 2 agents, not that I would anyway).

One agent is super knowledgeable about the area & he speaks freely & he’s happy to share his local knowledge - I’ve learned a TON from him just in speaking on the phone for 20 mins. But he’s not that responsive - it gets annoying when I can’t get a hold of him.

The other agent is extremely responsive at all hours of the day, but he’s suuuper ethical to the point that he won’t answer my questions such as “what do you think of this neighborhood vs that neighborhood?” Which gets annoying bc the other agent definitely dishes the dirt on parts of town, which is quite helpful.

Which one do I go with?! Both agents are very experienced with 20+ years experience btw. I’m learning a TON from the knowledgable agent who “speaks freely” but man I’m gonna get annoyed if I need to see a place or put in an offer & I can’t get in touch with him! Do I choose the highly-knowledgable lesser-responsive agent or the super-responsive agent who doesn't share any local knowledge with me?