I just finished reading your horror story. It sounded frigtheningly familiar. Years ago, I read that the three most stressful experiences in life are divorce, losing a parent and moving. (I think the moving must have included selling a Co-op) I've lived in two co-ops, and selling both of them was a nightmare... not as lengthy as yours, but enough that I wouldn't buy a co-op for $.39.
When we finally sold my wife's co-op, five and a half years ago, we'd gone through legal problems of our own, even though we had the money. When we finally signed all the papers at the lawyer's office (despite the sellers not being there because of another snafu,) we breathed an enormous sigh of relief and drove up to our new home. We finally owned it, and we had sold the co-op. The only problem was that the seller hadn't left the keys to the house in the lock box, and our realtor didn't have any keys, so we couldn't get in to our own home. No where near the horror story you told, but it sure aged me prematurely.
Sometimes, when you go through something like that, it takes a couple of days for it to become real, after it's over.
Glad you story had a happy ending. Didn't much like the beginning and the middle, though.