In order to bring people  (who were all some form of Pagan at the time)  into the Church the early Catholics used a lot of incorporating:  re-working old Pagan traditions into something "Catholic" (which means 'universal' in the original Greek)  to entice people to convert more readily.Although in the case of the Pagan sacred number 13 the tactic was to discredit it instead:  13 became spoken of as "unlucky" and associated with death and bad things in general.It is no accident that Christian holidays all occur on the dates or previous Pagan holidays:  Christmas in on the Winter Soltice, Easter at the Spring Equinox.  

Welcome fellow New Yorker!

Since the court date was in two weeks I was planning on putting in the contract that the price was "contingent" on what the outcome of the suit will be.

They have a sale price and a closing date.

I'll post more on those at a later date. 

The knowledge I gained from listening to my fellow biggerpocket family.

You can use cash as a negotiating factor to get the price down along with coming up on your closing date. 

As a landlord I simply want thorough and up to date screening information (credit/criminal/eviction).  

An abstract can be done by an attorney, they can bring the history of the title to date, but a title insurance company will want that performed by an agent or an attorney approved by that company.

Saves you more money on a later date --remember if you are replacing the tub later, its going to cost more than what it would cost if you replace it now, unless you don't want to keep it for long.