New Siding Sells a Home Faster and for More Money
Curb appeal… it’s the sum of your home’s exterior that makes the first impression on your guests (and potential buyers). More than anything else, curb appeal tells a prospective buyer what to expect when they get inside, before they’ve even seen it. Curb appeal sets the lens–or expectations for the buyer. If the exterior of the house looks great, they see the interior through a postive light. If the exterior looks deteriorated, drab, or just plain old, the interior is setup for failure before the person ever enters the home.
Drab Siding Indicates Old Age
Consider this: Have you ever driven through an older neighborhood and noticed that all of the homes just looked old? Sometimes, its hard to put your finger on exactly why. Perhaps the architectural style is outdated (but not classic–those are different), the windows look old, the exterior trim paint is flaking, or–in many cases–the siding is stained, faded, cracked or practically falling off the house.
While some things aren’t within an owner’s control (you can’t really change the architectural style of your house), others aren’t. And one of the biggest others is your siding. Siding is one of those things that gets attention last in the home renovation, and here’s why…
Siding Continues to Perform After it Looks Bad
Somewhat unfortunately, siding starts looking dated and ugly long before it stops working to protect your house. Roofs are largely the opposite. A roof can look great for years, and only starts to really show wear at the same time it starts to leak. With a limited number of investment dollars available, most people want to keep the exterior in good functional repair, and improve the interior living space with the remaining dollar. After all, that’s the part the owner sees most of the time. This leaves the siding wanting… and wanting… potentially for years…
Also, New Siding May Not Appraise
Just like new hardwood floors, new siding may not add to the house’s appraised value at all (it depends on the neighborhood and the appraiser). And, since the average 2500 sq. ft. colonial could command a $10,000+ price tag for new siding, it’s hard to justify that kind of expense without a guaranteed reward in the appraisal.
Even Still, Sources Say Siding Sells
Despite the lack of appraised-in value and the high cost, all of the Realtors we’ve spoken with–including one who doubles as an appraiser–claim that new siding adds tremendous value to a home. How much? At least the cost to install it, they say, up to about 5% of the home’s value. In fact, for houses that look particularly worn down (perhaps sporting 20-year-old stained aluminum siding), new siding adds tremendous value.
Coupled with a good paint job on the exterior trim and a good window cleaning, new siding dresses a home for success (read: a quick, high-priced sale). In this market, that’s as good as cash-in-hand.
What do you think? Has siding affected your purchase of a home? Is your siding outdated?
(Photo: tandemracer)
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2 Responses to New Siding Sells a Home Faster and for More Money
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April 9th, 2009 9:45 am
Well, I do disagree that NEW siding is the only way to update or freshen your house up. What about a good, proper scrape and paint?
As far as outdated siding… if your house is a good quality house (before the 70’s, likely), then your siding was picked out as being the architect’s vision. It is what the house is supposed to have!
Now… there are many examples of older houses with “updated” siding on them from some point in the past that desperately need to go back to their original style of siding. That would be one place to definitely reside!
April 10th, 2009 6:25 pm
Very good post Fred! I recently did a similar post and learned that siding brings back on average 83% ROI. Now of course that depends on things like your areas of the country and market conditions, but it’s interesting to see how little things can actually cost. That is if and when you are able to sell your home.
It’s also interesting what you said about how siding continues to perform long after it looks bad yet a roof is the other way around. It’s true, I guess that it is the angle that you see it at from the street or curb appeal.