NEW YORK CITY

It was a hot September night and almost everyone from my 25-unit building was in my pristine, newly renovated apartment. Multicolored ribbons dangled from hundreds of helium balloons that hugged the freshly painted ceiling. Platters of food were spread out on the purposefully pitted, reclaimed-wood dining table. Glimpses of the polished butcher-block kitchen island peeked out from under piles of plastic glasses and bottles of soda and wine. The new wide-plank, natural-oak floor was being pounded by more than 60 pairs of shoes that had not been left in the hall.

A READER ASKS: I live in a midsize co-op in Brooklyn. We have a huge pigeon problem. There are pigeon droppings everywhere. It's not just unsightly; there's so much of it now that I'm concerned about it becoming a health hazard. As far as anyone can tell, nobody in the building seems to be feeding them — we do have a policy in place against doing so. But is there anything the building can do to fix this problem and make the pigeons go away? 

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, having a 212 area code used to mean you lived in Manhattan. That was long before 646 came to ruin everything forever. According the Daily News, 212 has "become a status symbol and social signifier — and a pop culture mainstay," citing a Seinfeld reference. You don't get more New York or more pop culture than Seinfeld, right? But that's the area code… and based on that area code, and whatever cachet it still boasts today, new development expert Andrew Gerringer of the Marketing Directors is calling 212 Fifth Avenue — site of a condo conversion — a "magical address." The Fifth Avenue part certainly doesn't hurt, but, really? Is 212 a magical address just because the area code used to be (and arguably still is) a big deal? Joe Sitt, chairman and CEO of Thor Equities, one of the developers involved in the conversion, insists the "212 moniker will be an unstoppable branding tool, both for locals and international buyers." He adds, "Honestly, the address was 50 percent of the reason I bought the building." Whatever you have to do to generate buzz and get people excited. Considering that the soon-to-be condo is "less than a block from the tony Whitman condominium, at 21 E. 26th St., where Jennifer Lopez recently snagged a $20 million penthouse, and across the park from One Madison, the glitzy curtain glass tower that Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen call home," we can guesstimate that sales at 212 won't be a problem. 

Photo by Christopher Bride for Property Shark.

Just a little more than a month ago, a penthouse at One57 sold for $100 million, setting a new city record. But just as many real estate experts predicted, condo sales slowed down — and winter hasn't helped any. Only 310 Manhattan condos went into contract in January, representing a 6.3 percent decline in pending sales from December and the lowest monthly total in three years. Median time on market for condos jumped from 19 days in December to 82 days, the longest time on market since February 2013.

The last thing residents need is a sudden shutdown of heat on a cold winter night. The condition of heating system mechanisms should be addressed well before the cold weather sets in so that everything is ready to go when winter begins. But things happen.

Here's a look at some potential trouble spots, and how to stay on top of things to prevent headaches in wintertime. 

For New Yorkers with cars, the most sought-after location in a metropolitan co-op or condo is the coveted parking space. In return for their payments, however, shareholders expect a well-maintained facility. For outdoor lots, weather is a major concern. They’re the typically the last area to be cleared of snow. Constant exposure to environmental damage — water, salt, grit, and seasonal temperature change are among the culprits — means even the cleanest, best-loved lot has to be resurfaced and repainted with lines and numbers on a regular basis. Some buildings tackle this task in-house; others outsource it.

It happens to the best of us. We take off a piece of jewelry, put it down, and it seems to find the gateway to Narnia or wherever it is our socks go after we do laundry. In Brickunderground's latest Ask an Expert column, someone writes in about two missing gold bracelets. "I don't wear them often and don't always put them away after I wear them." Uh-oh. Despite searching the apartment top to bottom, the bracelets have yet to resurface — and then it gets really awkward. "I don't want to make false accusations, but … the super and the exterminator, who comes once a month, have access to my home." Brickundeground's experts offer solid advice: "without concrete evidence of theft, it's a bad idea to point fingers." One expert, a tenants' rights lawyer with Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph, points out that anything could have happened: "you [could have] lost [the bracelets], misplaced them, or a guest [could have taken] off with them." One way around this issue is to purchase additional coverage for jewelry. Jeff Schneider, president of insurance firm Gotham Brokerage, explains that having this additional coverage "allows you to avoid making an accusation of theft which might not be accurate." Other suggestions include getting a nanny cam, which feels a little Big Brother but might be what you need to set your mind at ease, or locking up all valuables in a drawer or small safe.

It's becoming a tale of two sides of one city. On the one side, you have the working and middle class, struggling to make ends meet, vying for affordable housing, fighting to keep rezoning plans from driving them out of their homes. On the other, you have the mega rich, snapping up ultra-luxury condos in high-rise buildings such as Midtown's One57. And which side ends up getting the tax breaks, you ask? It looks like, in this case, it's good old One57, which just sold its penthouse for $100 million and got a $35 million tax break, "a subsidy offered to billionaire developers under 412-a tax abatement program," reports the Daily News. It also looks like hundreds of New Yorkers got mad as hell and protested the program last week in front of the high-end tower. According to the Daily News, "the protest comes amid a growing push to end the abatement program, which is set to expire this year unless it’s renewed by Albany pols." The Daily News, which featured One57 as a symbol of the city's growing divide between rich and poor in a separate news item, reported that "the feds are probing how One57 scored its tax break."

Chatham Green had a "horrible season." As manager Orlando Torres recalls it, the contractors had just started work replacing one of the 420-unit complex's three roofs when a major thunderstorm struck the Chinatown complex on July 25, 2014. "It was terrible," Torres says, "After we had exposed the area, it started raining, and it came through in some of our commercial tenants' space. But," he adds, everyone — from the board and management to the contractor and the insurance company — "handled it well, minimizing the damage."

Dealing with water woes is nothing new for the 63-year-old property. According to Torres, who works for the Gerard J. Picaso division of the Halstead Property Group, one of the commercial spaces had been dealing with recurring leaks for some time. "We had leaks for quite a while and they were patched here and there."

A READER ASKS: I live in a small co-op building with a roommate. The other night I noticed my next-door neighbor was making a lot of noise at close to midnight. I went to check and saw through the peephole that he and another guy were moving his sofa out. My roommate thinks I'm being nosy and paranoid but I think he might have bedbugs. Who gets rid of a sofa at midnight? I think I should let the board know, but my roommate says we should wait to see if we get any bedbugs first. This seems crazy to me. What should I do?