NEW YORK CITY

It sounds like one of those Internet "clickbait" headlines, doesn't it? Except in this case that headline is pretty accurate. In a sampling of banks large and small, Chase, Citibank, and TD Bank all refused to comment about this "foreclosure trick." What are they going to say? "Congratulations! You got us! Condo boards really can foreclose on apartments in arrears faster than we can, and thus gain leverage over us."

There's a gas leak. And in swoops Con Edison to shut the gas off and leave the dreaded red tag behind. You may be gasless for weeks, if not months. So what happens next?

Well, the first step, and probably the most important thing that your board can do, is to start communicating. It sounds so obvious. The challenge at the beginning, though, is that you don't have anything to say except the obvious: we have no gas. 

Jeff Glasser loves his annual shareholder meetings so much that he has them twice a year. "We have one official meeting, which is our annual meeting, and then we have a budget informational meeting the first week of December," reports the board president at the 128-unit Normandy co-op in Forest Hills, Queens. "In November, the board makes a final decision as to what the budget will look like, and if and how much of a maintenance increase there might be. Then we present that budget to the shareholders at our meeting in early December."

You heard that right: a board member who actually enjoys the building-wide get-togethers, those sessions that occur every year, which usually deliver frustrating and/or debilitating challenges to boards. 

CityRealty, a company that tracks apartment sales and offers high-level data and analysis of the major trends in the NYC real estate market, has released its latest Monthly Market Report. In the four weeks leading up to September 1, the average sale price for Manhattan apartments dipped slightly, while the total number of sales remained unchanged. The average price for an apartment — taking into account condo and co-op sales — was $1.7 million, down from $1.8 million in the preceding month. The number of recorded sales, 1,071, was about the same as the preceding month. The average price of a condo was $2.5 million, and the average price of a co-op was $1.2 million. There were 462 condo sales and 609 co-op sales. Click here to download the complete report.

Do you have a land lease? That's when a condo or co-op corporation owns a building but another entity owns the land underneath. The entity typically rents it for long terms, such as 90 years.

As the lease ages, it can become a problem for people buying apartments in the building. For instance, if a potential buyer wants to take out a 30-year loan, but there are only 35 years left on the land lease, it can make banks skittish — which means they often stop lending to shareholders trying to buy into those buildings.

In this week's Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times, a longtime resident and shareholder in a Greenwich Village co-op asks Ronda Kaysen what he can expect if he decides to run for his building's board. Kaysen opens with an important dose of realism: "There are many thankless jobs in this world, and being a member of a co-op board often makes the list. It is an unpaid — and frequently time-consuming — position. When things go awry, your neighbors blame you. But it has upsides. You get to know the inner workings of your building and help decide its future." Some boards are more hands on, while others prefer to let their managing agents do the heavy lifting. If you're wondering what you can expect as a first-time board member, be sure to check out our extensive coverage on everything from board politics to reading a financial statement. We've also compiled five articles that offer a snapshot on board life:

• Three board veterans dish on what it takes to serve year after year. 
• A board president reflects on the lessons he’s learned.
• See how serving on a board means automatic enrollment in continuing education in financial planning, contracts, management, and more.
• Check out how something as simple as a survey can help you maintain harmony in your building, especially when tackling hot-button issues like lobby renovations.
• A board shares how it managed to protect its building from a shady managing agent.

Luxury condo towers are rising anywhere you look, and it's not just Billionaires Row, either: Brooklyn, the Upper West Side, Union Square, and even a wooden tower in Chelsea. Naturally, these high-rises are transforming the city's skyline at a dramatic pace. VisualHouse, a 3D architectural visualization company, has created a rendering that shows what Manhattan's southern half will look like in 2030. Curbed reports that "while the rendering itself dazzles with a nighttime cityscape that almost looks real, it provides a valuable view of the various projects that will usher New York City into its next iteration as home to some of the world's tallest buildings."

Rendering of Manhattan skyline in 2030 by VisualHouse

It's a new season, and that means brokers are taking a look at what direction the real estate market will take this autumn. A panel of experts offered DNAinfo five predictions of what potential buyers can expect in the next few months. "Many are doubtful that out-of-control bidding wars — which became commonplace this spring — will return, at least in Manhattan," reports DNAinfo. "But limited inventory will still be a thorn for many buyers, especially at the lower price points of the market, which nowadays many brokers consider to be under about $2 million." One of the five predictions is that the summer's dip in the stock market, which was the "first wave of real volatility since the 2008 credit crisis," may give buyers a little bit more leverage for the first time in years.

When it comes to dealing with hot-button issues in cooperatives and condominiums, many boards have realized that transparency and communication are essential. Today, we examine one very simple way a board can maintain harmony and make building residents feel that their voices matter: conduct a survey. 

When it comes to selling your apartment, you can use all the help you can get.

You've heard all the sayings: one is the loneliest number, it takes two to tango, there's no "I" in team, two brokers are better than one. Well, maybe you've never heard the last phrase, but as a board member and a potential seller of your apartment, you may want to consider it.

So what is a co-broker arrangement, and what can it do for you?