Rehab construction. TO SIDE OR NOT TO SIDE ?

[Shawn Yezza]

Our renovation we just purchased has wood shake siding on the front and asbestos on the side and rear of house. What do you think about just siding the sides and rear of house and matching the front wood shake with paint?

Or just repair wood work and paint whole house?

This thought came to us to help save money and in our area allot of people put vinyl look alike siding on the front of home and double four siding on rest of house. 

Also we do not need the chimney anymore. we are installing high efficiency furnace and water heater. We dont know how we feel about leaving an abandoned chimney on the home. ANY THOUGHTS ? Plus the chimney could use a little re pointing too. And fake cement board that looks like asbestos siding for patch work is not cheap either.