Notary Public

start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notary_public

Notaries are required for the signing of these contracts. You often still need witnesses.
Often the lawyers and folks involved sign up to be notaries just to reduce the need for another person, but there is no requirement that the notary be any of these people.

Notary is a licensed "outside 3rd party person" witnessing and verifying a signature. Of couse, for ease of the transaction, notary can be the attorney or a licensed notary in the attorney's office.

Don't be confused by "outside 3rd party person". I don't even know what that means legally. A notary has a license by the state to certify that the person signing a document is in fact the person they say they are. Nothing more. Someone signing shows the notary sufficient identification, signs, and the notary seals the document (or just stamps it). The notary does nothing to insure the accuracy or truthfulness of the document itself--only that the person signing is truly the person they purport to be.

Many attorneys and their staffs are notaries. So long as they aren't parties to the transaction (for example, the actual buyer or seller), they can notarize things. It doesn't matter that they have a connection to the transaction such as representing a party. In other words, if a person needs to have a document notarized in the sales process, their own attorney or his/her paralegal can notarize it.

Thanks for the replies- in the deeds on ACRIS there are notary publics listed and at the very least I'll assume that they're from the same attorney office that represents the purchaser. Time to call up 10 different notary publics and find me an attorney that knows the building I'm purchased in!