Should I renovate?

Definitely paint and do the floors if they have issues. Little money, lots of return. Your broker just wants your listing ASAP (maybe I'm being uncharitable, but that would be my take).

Agree.
If the cost is minor, why not?

Painting is one thing (and a good idea always), but new kitchen, floors and bathroom is an entirely different deal. Having a finished apartment is obviously better, but you will have to wait several months while the work is done (and watch as the market continues to fall possibly), deal with the headache of logistics and then possibly face the reality that you cannot sell it for what you need. And you run the risk that ptoential buyers don't like your taste or the quality of the job and refuse to give you the return you seek. You are then stuck with paying the full cost of reno for god only knows how long. I say paint, finish the floors and make sure the apt is super clean and staged well. Good luck.

amazing what a real cleaning job can do for bath and kitchen.

Adding some decent appliances if yours are cruddy also makes a big difference. It costs a few thousand (vs. 10's of thousands for a full reno), but it can go a long way in convincing a buyer that the kitchen is ok and it will take only a few hours of your time (between buying them and having them installed). If the kitchen is a real dump though, it won't help much.

also, if kitchen is only so-so, and not awful, swapping out hardware can do wonders. some simple pulls and knobs, with maybe sanding and painting cabinets if feasible, can do wonders.

get rid of (almost) everything personal. sorry. but it really helps. organize and clean the closets. messy closets convince buyers that storage is tight. crazy but true.

Agree with all these suggestions, paint the walls white, declutter, remove most of your clothes. Get fresh white sheets, neutral duvet cover. Get the place deep-cleaned. Finish the floors if that's not too much hassle. Cast a critical over your furniture. If your kitchen cabs are standard-sized, might not be a bad idea to run down to Ikea to get new doors.

If your bathroom is beyond deepcleaning, maybe do a regrouting job and replace missing/cracked tiles. But that would be it.

It also depends how strict your co-op is, how capable your super & handymen are. For example, if your bathroom vanity is in bad shape, you can buy one (sink installed) and get that changed out. Ditto tile replacement - it's a 2-3 day job but not if you have to go through the hassle of getting co-op board approval, etc.

just tell them you're painting---no electrical or plumbing and you should be fine.

clean and paint and your floors

It really depends on how marketable your unit is without the renovation: if you have a Classic 6 with park views, odds are your buyer will be looking at that and not paying as much attention to condition (especially since a lot of those buyers are going to rip out whatever is in there anyway, even if brand new). But if you have a 'starter unit' in really poor condition, you may be cutting out a substantial portion of the market if the place really needs work: remember, the work gets paid for in cash after the buyer closes. If you do the work the buyer gets to finance most of the renovation through the higher purchase price. In many cases, the cost of the renovation may be equal to the cash they were putting down and having to do a renovation may mean coming up with twice as much cash to purchase.

Another thing is how savvy you are on the renovating of the apartment. Not too long after my partners and I started buying foreclosures, I got them to let me renovate ONE unit which had been sitting on the market and not selling. We made more profit on the renovation than we did on the flip. And that's the way it mostly went in the almost 20 years since then. But the big difference is that I was the "designer", oversaw the renovations, etc. and what cost us $45,000 would have cost most other people $100,000. So, we spent $45,000 and got $100,000 more, but a lot of that was because for the buyer, the unit really was worth $100,000 more because THEY would have spent that money, and they would not only have had to do it in cash, but would have had to carry the unit while it was going on. So our "turnkey" units sold very well. On more than one occasion I had people come to open houses who really had no business being there because they were looking for a totally different type of apartment and tell me "Take my number: if you guys eve have a unit of the type I'm looking for and make it like this, I'll buy it".

Do not waste time and money renovating kitchen and baths. Remember your taste is likely very different than that of your buyer.

I cannot tell you how many times I've seen a great apartment where the seller has slopped in a brand new (and hideous-looking) kitchen and bath in a misguided attempt to make the place more appealing to buyers. A lot of buyers will simply walk away, not wanting to incur the expense of ripping out and replacing.

All you need is a fresh coat of paint (forget any fancy skim-coating), clean (perhaps polished) floors, neat rooms. Make sure to get rid of ALL clutter, including family photos. Buyers want to picture themselves in the space, they don't want to see the seller's personal items.

I recently saw an apartment that needed serious renovation but it was in good condition (hence the lack of renovation) and it was perfectly clean.

I agree with 30yrs. This is a tough call for NiceGirl because I am seriously deterred from buying the apartment that I liked. The renovation would cost me big bucks and I might not be allowed by the coop board to add debt to the property. That would leave me locking up more NW in real estate and not having the deductibility of the property to make it attractive relative to renting.

And is the seller really ready to have me cut my cost of renovation (estimate of risk, hassle, labor, materials) off the purchase price?