I live in BC and I've been using resources I've found via google searches.

I understand that New York is a "lawyer closing state" and that the lawyers are intimately involved in every step of the process and that they generate an abstract of title before the closing, which apparently goes back to the time of the French-Indian Wars.The lawyer we retained to handle the sale will charge $750 for the abstract search and claims it will take 6 weeks to complete.

Is the email search function broken?  

You might catch more buyers because most of them will search all listings up to increments like that.For example if they are searching properties 145K and under you are missing this group by being priced at 146K.

You are off better off looking at a local realtor's site or searching off-market. 

My specialty is identifying properties & understanding what that investment looks like long term.

I can’t find the search function and “My Discussions” isn’t working.

@Jerry Quintiliano congrats on starting your search.  

You can also see what the city assessor has it as in regards to # of units. http://cookcountyassessor.com/Search/Property-Sear...Warning though the assessor is often wrong and the zoning doc trumps what's on there.

I'd continue to save money while learning, building a network, and searching for a great deal.