...and somewhere in that wild scenario, the buyer's agent never shared this conflict with their clients over an opportunity to make up for the lost commssion at closing, but instead remained mum and lost the deal for their client? Sounds like a bunch of bullshit, but now that this lesson has been learned, the client has enough motivation to tell their agent to fuck off and buy without representation altogether. In a sellers' market, that seems like the route to me.
Or maybe this agent is woefully behind the times and realizes they need to :checks bootstraps: and find more sellable inventory while trying a more honest approach with his/her clients on future buyer representation.
We're not exactly in an extreme sellers' market anymore; the story above already hints at challenges to find qualified buyers, but at the same time, the number of NEW SFHs for sale has risen to 477,000, the highest level since the 2008 Financial Crisis, so read the tea leaves.