About 5 years post dotcom bubble.

I think it's worse considering the inflation in food and gasoline. A 6 pack of beer at the grocery store is $10 now. 1 L of carrot juice is $6. It's unsustainable especially considering how wages barely moved for anyone. I don't see how people are getting by.

For them it is, I think they're one of those companies that buys property from you without listings, etc. then you can move and they clean it up and list it. My guess is the property is on their books and prices have been fluctuating a lot so they could be upside-down on a bunch of inventory with less home buyers because the interest rates rose.

For a home owner selling and a realtor, the realtor likely has to compete to earn business but they are a third party to the transaction.

Also forget about a multi year slump of the early 1990s

For the greater world I'd say definitely.