Siding and home value

I went to a home the other day that offers new vinyl siding on the home. The old siding was t1-11. Most of the other homes in the area offers t1-11 siding and some of the homes offers vinyl siding as the subject. The home and homes in the area were newer homes.

The owner just spent close to $20,000 for this siding for his two story home and was sure this was a good investment and he thought that this would increase his home value. I'm here to tell you that most of the stuff that your read on the internet is not true and that most of the stuff that professionals are telling you may not be true if the final result leads to selling a product or a service that will make them or their company more money.

You see, I hear this all of the time. The gardener will tell you that their trees will increase your home value by 10%. The siding and window specialist will always tell you that these items will increase your home value. The roofer will tell you that a new roof will increase your home value.

The sad reality is that most or any item that you buy retail, whether it is a new diamond ring for your wife, new siding for your home, or a piece of new furniture will never increase your home value and in most cases, will cost you much more to buy retail than you'll get in increased value.

So, when should you replace your siding? Only when your siding is beginning to fail. If your t1-11 siding is beginning to bow at the bottom or rot or the nails are starting to pull loose and come out of the wood, you may want to consider replacing your siding.

If you have a newer home, the siding may be under warranty, so check with your builder. Sometimes, wood peckers will treat your siding as an old tree and dig holes in it and begin living in your siding. If this is the case, you may need to replace your siding, but before you do, find out why the birds are ruining your siding. In some cases, they are attracted to the bugs on your siding and you may need to spray for bugs. In other causes, the kind of wood your siding is made out of is soft and easy for wood peckers or other birds to make homes in. Either way, you need to find out the reason before you replace your siding, because you don't want to spend all of that money to replace the siding just for the birds to ruin in again.

If your siding is fine and if your home is newer, there is a good chance that you should not replace the siding. This will do nothing to increase your home value may cost you the full amount to replace the siding with no increase in home value.

So the question you'll want to ask is, will the cost of the replacement siding be more than the increase in home value?

The only way to truly find out is to hire an appraiser to study comparable sales that will compare the siding. And in most cases, you'll find out that you've wasted your money if you have a newer home, unless your home does not conform with the market (i.e. you put log siding on your home and it does not conform to your market area).

So, will replacing the siding increase your home value? No. When should you replace your siding, when you have to? What should you do when you are refinancing, buying or selling?

If your are refinancingUse the advice above and don't replace the siding unless you absolutely have to. The siding will not increase the value of your home, in most cases. Be sure your siding is well cared for. This means if there is any peeling paint, scrape and paint the siding and make sure that it is well cared for. The appraiser will call this out if it looks bad and they WILL take photos of the siding.

If your are selling your home

Make sure the siding is well cared for, cleaned and painted. If there are any damaged spots, go ahead and repair them before you paint. Only replace the siding if it has failed to do its job. This means that the siding is falling off; the nail holes are pulling through the siding and letting rain under the siding or something like this.

If you are buying a home

If your are refinancing