When it comes to houses, you can’t overstate the value of a good exterior. A house needs to be attractive from the outside, or it’s going to suffer in the appraisal process. Owning a home is a significant investment, so you want to make sure that your house doesn’t lose value over time as it starts to look older on the outside. Alternatively, if you’re a realtor or broker who is trying to sell a house, then you want to make sure it stays attractive to your clients. Reports are saying that millennials don’t want to invest in properties that require extensive renovation—they want something luxurious that they can move into right away. So if you’re in charge of selling a house on the market, you want to make it look good, and one of the easiest ways to do that is by making sure that it has good siding.
Re-siding a home is proven to have a measurable impact on its resale value, but you need to get quality siding, or there’s hardly any point. Bad siding can really mess up a house. So what kind of options do you have for getting quality siding when you’re trying to boost the value of a home and impress clients?
Types of Siding
There are lots of great siding companies out there that offer a variety of siding, but you should know something about the different materials available before you call one. In the next section of this article, we’ll go over some common siding options, and take a look at what each of them is best for:
Vinyl Siding
Vinyl siding is one of the most popular choices for siding on houses across America. There are several good reasons why vinyl is so well-liked. First of all, vinyl is easily customizable. You can get it in all kinds of different colors and textures. You can even get vinyl that mimics the appearance of wood, stone or slate. This choice of style makes vinyl a natural choice for homeowners seeking a distinct look on the outside of their houses. It also means that new vinyl siding can make a house look attractive to potential buyers.
Vinyl siding is also pretty robust. All vinyl is manufactured using PVC, which is a kind of hard plastic, which makes vinyl siding quite resistant to rain and snow, as well as ice, and light. Good vinyl can even offer protection against hail, which is a big plus in stormy areas. Clients in the market for a new home want to know that it will survive in inclement weather, so vinyl siding is an excellent way to reassure them.
Fiber Cement
Homeowners looking to buff up a property seriously, on the other hand, should consider fiber cement. Fiber cement is a mixture of water, wood pulp, fly ash and Portland cement, which makes it an extremely durable covering for homes. Better yet, it’s not terribly expensive. Of course, if you want to invest in a house to raise its value, then you’re going to need to spend some money. But fiber cement is an incredibly cost-effective way to give your home modern day protection without spending a fortune.
Trying to raise the value of your property requires strategy. You need to think about what a potential buyer will be looking for. One of the first things any potential buyer is going to see when they look at a house is what’s on the side of it. Good siding on a house is like a good haircut on a person—it’s one of the first things people notice, and it has the power to make or break an impression. If you care about the value of your home, you’re going to want the right siding for it.
If you’re going to use new siding to drive up the value of a property, there are lots of options out there. There’s vinyl, which is modern, adaptable and reasonably durable. There’s also fiber cement, which is quite new and offers extra protection. Ultimately, the choice is up to you but think carefully. What do you want people to be looking at when they see your house for the first time?