NEW YORK CITY

A READER ASKS: I recently moved into my very first co-op apartment. Things were going pretty well, until the people in the unit before me said they had a leak in their bathroom. Ever since, the board has needed to gain access to my apartment to check that I'm not spilling water, that my toilet is running properly, that my bathtub is caulked and my faucets are all okay. I understand it's vital to fix a leak, but I'm not very comfortable with strangers being in my apartment when I'm not home. Am I being unreasonable if I ask for some advanced notice so I can make arrangements? 

If an app can let you find your soulmate, then why shouldn't it help you find your dream home? That's the question Staten Island Tech grad Michael Lisovestky, 22; Jason Marman, 18; and Dean Soukeras, 43 asked themselves when they came up with the idea for HomeSwipe. Like dating app Tinder, HomeSwipe lets users swipe left to skip a listing and swipe right to add to favorites. The trio discussed how the app works with DNAinfo late last week: "The homes are posted by city realtors. But developers use an algorithm and vet agents to cut down on bogus listings. Soukeras, a former broker, meets with agencies before allowing them to use the feature to find clients." Soukeras told DNAinfo that "about 50 brokerages and 400 agents use the app to show off their listings. They are highlighting about 20,000 listings." There are listings for every borough in the city, and recently expanded to Chicago. Not bad considering that last October they were just raising capital to get the project off the ground. "Since it launched, the app has gotten more than 62,000 total downloads," reports DNAinfo. But the trio are not done improving an already pretty ingenious tool. Right now, when you swipe right to favorite a listing, it's up to you to contact the realtor to view the apartment, "but the developers are working on a way to communicate directly inside the app. The developers are also working on a way for the app to learn user preferences based on the apartments you skip or favorite so that they can tailor listings better." Nice. HomeSwipe is available for iOS and Android.

It looks summer has been good for New York City real estate. According to the New York Daily News, Manhattan enjoyed a record second quarter. "The average sales price for an apartment was the highest ever recorded since tracking began in 1989," reports the Daily News, citing a new report by brokerage Douglas Elliman. An apartment in the city averaged $1.8 million, up 11.4 percent from the same period last year and 8% from this year's first quarter. Condo prices hit a record high, soaring 20 percent thanks, in part, to stalled inventory growth and a rise in the number of new luxury towers hitting the market in places like — surprise, surprise — Billionaires' Row. Co-op prices increased 5.8 percent, but despite not posting double digits as condos did, they also hit a record high.

The Fourth of July is upon us, and that means many New Yorkers — depending on where they live — will be heading to the rooftops to catch the fireworks displays. Unlike most other community events held in a co-op building's common areas, however, a get-together on a rooftop does pose some risks. The good news is that co-op boards planning to host fireworks viewing parties can take steps to protect themselves and their buildings. 

Co-ops seeking to upgrade their buildings' retail spaces to market rate face a complicated task. But a cross-section of professionals agrees that a set of specific steps can help in this new arena. Last week, we took a look at the first step: determining your financial goals. Today, we'll take a look at the next step, which is deciding what type of tenant you want to have.

"The biggest thing with co-ops is concern over how the space is going to be used and whether that use will interfere with, or have some sort of negative impact on, the residents," says attorney Jeffrey Schwartz, a partner at Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg & Atlas.

How soon is too soon? That's the question on the minds of two neighbors in a building who are interesting in purchasing an apartment and splitting it, so each can add on to their current individual units. The problem? The available apartment belonged to another neighbor in the building who recently died. The duo asks Brickunderground for advice on how to appropriately handle the situation, especially since the deceased neighbor's children are handling the estate. Brickunderground experts weigh in on the delicate situation: "While you're right to think you should tread lightly here, if you approach the situation the proper way, there's no reason you and your neighbor can't put in a polite offer for the apartment in question." A little sensitivity and tact go a long way, they all agree, but one of the experts, CORE NYC broker Douglas Heddings, adds that if the neighbors rather not bother (or offend) the grieving family, they should consider instead calling or sending a letter to the attorney for the estate instead. Heddings also notes that "the doorman or super may be able to help [the pair figure out] who to contact."

Contested elections. Sometimes you just can't avoid them. In a matter with twists and turns worthy of a law school exam, the court had to decide which candidate was successful where the inspector of the election had failed to count a proxy that would have changed the winner. The case is Richard Mishaan, Charles Koppelman, Geraldine Kunstadter, Arthur N. Abbey, and Wayne Nelson v. 1035 Fifth Avenue Corporation, Eugene Atkinson, Emil Rad, Alex Green, Robert Schmon, Joyce Menschel, and Michael DiGiacomo. The property at 1035 Fifth Avenue is a cooperative housing corporation with a board of nine directors. Each director serves a three-year staggered term. In 2014, five candidates ran for three seats. 

Good news for greening advocates. The Urban Green Council has launched a new website, Metered.nyc, to make benchmarking information simpler to access and easier to understand. Energy benchmarking is required under Local Law 84 for buildings larger than 50,000 square feet. What makes this new website so useful is that a building's data is compared over time, and if you have made energy improvements it will be reflected there.

Buying an apartment in New York City is a complex affair. In this week's Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times, a reader asks Ronda Kaysen whether it would make sense to take a home inspector along on a final walk-through before closing on a one-bedroom apartment in a new condo development. Having an apartment inspected before you sign on the dotted line is always a good idea, explains Kaysen, adding that "even new construction can have windows that leak, faulty ventilation systems or poor water pressure." But say the inspector finds something wrong: "if an inspector finds that, say, the windows do not close properly, you would need to negotiate any repairs with the seller, and the seller would need time to fix the problem," she says. Kaysen advises having an inspector check out an apartment when you initially sign the contract, not right before closing. That way, if there's a problem, there's plenty of time to resolve it. So what's the point of a final walk-through then? "Use it to confirm the obvious," says Kaysen. "Do the doors have knobs and do the outlets have covers? Are the kitchen appliances installed and can they be turned on? Is there running water?" And take your broker with you!

In Manhattan, Gani Gjonbalaj has been superintendent since 2006 at a state-of-the-art condominium that comes with many bells and whistles. The Lion's Head, at 121 West 19th Street, was the scene of a headline-making explosion in 2002 and was subsequently gutted and converted from a commercial space into residential condos. The building opened in 2005 and now attracts A-List celebrities.

"The renovation meant that we had the opportunity to put in new systems and new technologies," says Gjonbalaj, who boasts of the building's 21st-century heating systems, cooling tower, security cameras, fire alarms, and video intercom systems that are all monitored or controlled by computer. While those digital cogs turn over behind the scenes, Gjonbalaj says it is a communication platform called BuildingLink that most residents recognize as their building's technology front line.