Am I wrong?...

Wrong.

If that's the case, then when a contract is signed, your attorney or title company would submit the contract info here to be recorded for public/government record keeping,  essentially making the transaction legal and binding in the eyes of Uncle Sam.I could totally be wrong, as I'm not familiar with NYC RE, but if I were a betting man I'd say this is probably pretty close.

First go learn about wholesaling then comeback and bash on the specific things those wholesalers you speak of did wrong not just call all useless and not needed. 

I'm always willing to share "what not to do," since I managed to do everything wrong the first time.

Guess I got that wrong.

Being from the area, i feel as though i am hyper-sensitive to over-paying and may wrongly dismiss a few deals becuase of my familiarity with how things "used to be." 

I'd think the buyer is now responsible for liens on the property - like Sewer , HOA, Property Taxes etc.Am I wrong?

well my advice is there is nothing wrong with investing in a state you have no ties to depending on the deal and you can always find a management company to over see project , rent collection , and dealing with contractors.

, ... even verbally sparring with the occasional challenger is all social exercise for me.I still say the wrong thing quite often, or say something folks don't understand.