You being aware of your situation and mindset is a darn great place to start. Welcome to the beginning of your rebirth. Learn to love the hard and that adversity is a source for opportunity. Start studying everything, start with finances.

It is, it’s not super common as it’s seen as honorable to refer one client out to another realtor (unless both parties are established clients and all parties agree).

I can tell you from experience that it’s A LOT more work for the realtor if one party doesn’t have representation (or even good representation) unless they really really know what they’re doing. The buyer repping themselves could mess something up half way through the transaction and ruin the whole thing, then you go back on market and sell for less.

I can’t say anything about your specific realtor, but just offering perspective from the industry