Value of siding - Wood vs Fiber Cement vs Aluminum

[Stephen Newport]

Hello,

I am a homeowner and I wanted to get experienced realtor input on siding materials and how it relates to the future value of a home.

We currently have a mixture of aluminum (overtop original shiplap wood siding) and vinyl (original to the addition on our house). We want to update to a more modern color (dark grey.... currently it's manilla). Because of this we are looking into replacing the vinyl + paint or strip the aluminum down to the wood. We know replacing with vinyl is not something we want to do.

I wanted to know if you notice valuations or selling benefits of specific materials. Does wood siding bring more value to a home, even though the upkeep is greater? Do you anticipate fiber cement maintaining its current appeal? Is aluminum siding seen as cheap?

Any input you have would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much!

[Max T.]

this is probably specific to your local market.

In Philly we have old brick rowhomes. They look and sell better than homes clad in vinyl. A nice smooth coat of stucco over the brick probably comes in 2nd place. A lot of the new construction are incorporating hardi.

[Stephen Newport]

Ok, good point, I'll clarify.

Our market (Columbus, OH) is strange architecturally. The city destroyed a lot of its historic aspects and replaced it with vanilla new builds over the past 50 years, but there is still some history left which is valuable on the market. Our neighborhood has a really good, varied housing stock of original housing, representative of the midwest, mostly brick/stone and wood(-ish) paneling.

I guess a more general question, excluding vinyl, when it comes to shiplap style siding, does wood win over fiber cement or aluminum when it comes to resale? 

[Jason D.]

@Stephen Newport I would say fiber cement is most desirable, by a long shot, for most buyers. Looks great and low maintenance. Wood and Aluminum are close. Wood has a better look, obviously, but most people don't want to deal with the maintenance. Aluminum doesn't look great, but is low maintenance. It depends on the style of house. Someone buying a historic home may expect wood, and deal with the maintenance to keep the "character".

[Austin Steed]

Hi Stephen,

What part of Columbus is the property in? Best option would to have some comps run for your house. I'd love to help with this. If you don't want to disclose publicly feel free to pm me. 
 

[Stephen Newport]

Hey Austin,

We are in the Central Eastmoor area just east of Bexley, and really enjoying it so far. Don't bother yourself too much, we aren't hoping for any free work, and we're not selling anytime in the near future, just hoping to get a clearer understanding on how the materials affect future market viability!

[Ken Wilkinson]

Stephen,
I certainly don’t know your market, but in southern CA Hardie plank siding would be more valuable to a future buyer in most cases because it looks good and assuming the install was done right, it won’t need to be redone in about a million years compared to the maintenance required for wood.