I'd like some opinions on whether or not to put new siding on this house

[Robert Taylor]

This just might be my last rehab/flip project, at least for now. As I've mentioned in another post, I want to refocus my business on taking on clients looking to buy or sell in the Milwaukee area and to focus on investors because I know my experience in both being a landlord since 1999 and having rehabbed/flipped many homes gives me a good perspective and background on things related to investing. I also want to focus on growing my own buy and hold rentals as well, but that's going to take time of course, I'm not looking to jump into just anything. I do really like the rehab/flip business, I never have to drag myself through a day of work at all, its always interesting and sometimes even fun, but I just have a gut feeling that I shouldn't be relying on it for most of my income, as I have been recently. If a great deal on a possible flip came along, I'd certainly take a look, but it also ties up a lot of money as well, so I'm looking to move on. Plus, I've certainly read enough posts here on BP from other cities where investors are saying that the flip market has or is drying up already, which is what I saw back around 2007 here in Milwaukee. That time, it was mainly because so many people were trying to get into the biz, it seemed like every "project house" was getting bid up far past what made sense to pay to me.

So, that having been said, here's what I'd like some opinions on, its a house I just bought in one of the suburbs here. Its about a 1600 sq foot ranch, built in 1967 that has been taken good care of for the most part, the roof is nearly new, basement is solid and dry, furnace is nearly new, overall its in good shape but inside it definitely needs updating. It has 1 1/2 baths and both are original and need to be redone, hardwood floors in the bedrooms could certainly use some work, I have to get my floor guy there to see if he thinks they need to be sanded or not, it needs new carpeting in the living room and family room, kitchen isn't bad but we'll be putting granite in there along with new appliances. The whole interior needs to be repainted and that's the other big issue, the owner was a 3 or 4 pack a day smoker and it sure smells like he wasn't big on opening any windows when he smoked either! I've found several good posts on here on the smokey smell issue though and some good ideas there, so I've got plans for that.

My question is for the exterior and I'm attaching some pics of the house, as well as some of the surrounding homes for some perspective. Its a nice neighborhood, they built some of the homes in the late 60's, the street its on was a cul-de-sac and then they added another phase in the 90's and turned this street into a regular street, so most of the homes on the street are 90's homes and they're are pretty well kept. In fact, as you can see the grass is long on mine-I'm getting over there tomorrow morning to take care of that! As you can see though, the front of the house looks like it was updated at some point with the light blue siding and the sides and back of the house have the older looking, wider white siding and the color is kind of gray/white as I've seen before with older white siding. So, I'm wondering which way to go here, the budget is fairly tight on this one when I add up everything that's needed, so I'm not looking to spend money if I don't have to here.

I see three options:

1-replace the siding with new siding, in which case I'd replace all of it and make it all the same. Not exactly sure yet on a color, but I'd definitely go with narrower siding as opposed to the wider siding on the sides, as that seems to be the trend for a while now. I do have a 3rd partner on this one and he's a contractor who's done a lot of siding work, so I wouldn't be paying full price for new siding, but it still would cost a fair amount to replace it all

2-paint the siding, in which case I'd just paint the white siding on the sides on back, I'd leave the light blue as it is even though I'm not wild about that color, but I don't think it would make sense to paint over the blue siding

3-Leave it as it is!

Or, if anyone has any other options, I'm open to hearing them, that's why I'm here! Thanks!

The first three pics are of my house and the last three are of the neighbors for perspective and as I mentioned, I'm cutting the grass tomorrow!