In today’s real estate market, saying no is becoming a competitive advantage. Louis Savinetti, a Tampa-based realtor with Three Avenues Group, says agents who challenge unrealistic client expectations on pricing and affordability are earning more trust — and closing more deals — than those who simply take every listing.
Overpriced homes sit on the market longer, he reasons, which signals trouble to buyers and ultimately means that the houses sell for less than they would have with the right price from the start. Sellers who ignored his advice often figure this out the hard way. “I’ll tell them sometimes, I’m not the best realtor for you,” Savinetti says. “Most of the time, those people end up calling me back.”
This approach marks a clear break from the pandemic-era market, when almost any listing would attract multiple offers and agents could succeed by moving deals quickly. With elevated inventory and more cautious buyers, homes that are overpriced or poorly presented now sit on the market for months. Agents who continue to take every listing, regardless of price or seller motivation, are seeing fewer successful sales.
Savinetti believes the agent’s job has shifted from simply facilitating transactions to acting as a trusted advisor — one willing to decline a listing, even at the cost of a commission, if the seller’s price expectations are unrealistic. “I’m going to challenge you,” he says. “That can mean asking tough questions or helping clients avoid decisions that won’t get them the best outcome.”
Savinetti also refuses requests that he reduce is commission. Recent changes to how agent commissions are structured — the result of a landmark 2024 legal settlement that upended decades of industry practice — have increased pressure on agents to justify and often reduce their fees. Savinetti points out that people don’t negotiate price with doctors or lawyers. “In any other job, people don’t just ask you to cut your pay,” he says.
Financially insecure agents are more likely to accept unfavorable terms, but Savinetti says this usually leads to poor outcomes for everyone. When agents accept discounted commissions, they often lack the incentive to invest in proper marketing, staging, or negotiation. This results in weaker sales, even if the agent technically fulfills their contractual duties.
Savinetti applies the same tough love standards to buyers. Before he shows a single property, he wants to know that a buyer understands what they can actually afford — not just the purchase price, but the full cost of ownership. “I don’t want to be just a door opener,” he says. “I want to work with people who take my opinion seriously.”
That means walking buyers through costs that often get overlooked: HOA fees, property taxes, and insurance premiums that can add hundreds of dollars a month to a mortgage payment. It also means flagging less obvious risks, like how rising insurance costs have made waterfront and flood-prone properties significantly more expensive to own than their listing prices suggest. A home that looks affordable on paper can quickly become a financial strain once those figures are factored in.
Only after those conversations does Savinetti narrow the search, asking targeted questions to match buyers with properties that fit both their budget and their needs, rather than showing dozens of homes and hoping something sticks.
The cost of skipping that education shows up late in the process. With purchasing power squeezed by higher interest rates, buyers are arriving at inspections ready to fight — demanding credits or repairs for minor defects in ways that were rare when competition was fiercer. “They want every little thing fixed,” Savinetti says. Agents who haven’t set realistic expectations early are watching transactions unravel at the finish line — sellers balk at excessive demands, buyers dig in, and deals that were close to closing fall apart over relatively minor issues.
The broader question is whether the industry will catch up. If the current market conditions hold — elevated inventory, cautious buyers, sustained pressure on commissions — agents who can’t have honest conversations with clients may simply wash out. That kind of natural selection could gradually reshape what clients expect from an agent, and what agents expect from themselves.
Savinetti sees the role continuing to evolve toward something closer to a financial advisor than a salesperson — someone clients call before they’ve even decided to buy or sell, not just when they’re ready to sign. Whether the industry gets there depends on how many agents are willing to risk a lost listing to build that kind of trust.
About the Expert: Louis Savinetti is a Tampa-based realtor with Three Avenues Group specializing in luxury residential real estate across the Tampa Bay area. He previously founded the Savinetti Team at Keller Williams, where he generated more than $57 million in sales at an average price of $1.1 million.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
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