Clearly a very brief skim before the urge to unlock your word-hoard overwhelmed your feeble defenses. 

Populace in the not-so-violent parts of town are typically heavily armed (with the exception of TTU dorms), so you don't see much beyond night time car theft, looting of unlocked cars, or stealing unsecured property in back and front yards.

The only place they advertise is on wholesaler forums.my question for the victims: Aside from Mr NYC Wholesaler, who were the people "on the ground" that claimed to be with the title agency and unlocked the house?

You will be able to do things others can't, it will unlock private funds others can't get, it will open doors closed to many others. 

I have the municipality unlock the meter valve but I turn it on myself so I can check things out and make sure all the water devices are working properly.

But then those prior year losses come in and they are unlocked, no matter how high your income is, and you can sometimes make a lot of your tax exposure on the gain disappear with those prior year losses.It's not the bummer you're currently thinking it is. 

Thats one thing I want to look into, unlocking some  equity from a property in Oz and investing that into property in the US.

You got nipped in the *** pretty good, but I hope you are now learning the ways RE can unlock your freedom.

That being said, I've found plenty of ways to discover and unlock equity during all market stages that are not well known.

I did have solid back-up plan or two in case this didn't work out but I unlocked those "golden handcuffs" and now I'm free!