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You are in error.
I am not a Masonite proponent in any way, but if I pull 5 sold Masonite comps to a Masonite subject property, I should not adjust for Masonite on the subject as the sold comps establish a market price for Masonite.
My original point has nothing to do with what a sellers agent wants to present to the seller as a proposed asking price when they sell, or what a buyers agent wants to suggest their client should pay, my advice was to a buyer of a home with Masonite, from the perspective of the buyer and what should be paid for such a home. I would judge the amount of Masonite still on the home (100% original? Half replaced? Mostly replaced?) and make sure that the price I ultimately offered for the home took into account the cost of the inevitable replacement.
If my buyer's agent presents to me a "comp" there is pretty much zero chance in hell that the home is truly identical. One may be a little more improved than another, one may have a slightly newer HVAC system, etc. Something about the market like interest rates may have changed since the homes that the agent has decided to present as comps.
There are many factors that the buyer should consider, they are fools if they let any commission based agent influence the decision of how much they should pay.
So, when you said it was a non sequitur to adjust for presence of Masonite as opposed to the condition of the Masonite, I still disagree, because the condition of Masonite, by very nature of the material, is "needs to be replaced eventually", it's just a question of when. With most other major items (roof age, HVAC system age, etc) then I would agree that the condition is a factor. The difference is that the roof or HVAC on a selected comp could be brand new, or a couple of years old. Other siding materials (brick, solid wood, fiber cement, vinyl) have no real notion of "lifespan" (or at least a much longer one), where as things like roof and HVAC typically have a life expectancy that's approximately a little longer than Masonite, but dramatically less than most other siding materials. Yes, a 25 HVAC system can be band-aid repaired and kept going, but it's ultimately less valuable than a new system even if it still works.
To clarify my point a little further, if you present a client with two almost identical homes (same price, same square feet, same interior, same lot size, etc) one that is on the market now with a 19 year old roof, and a comp from 6 months ago that was sold with a 1 year old roof, the fact that the on-market home is listed at the same listing price as the comp on same street from 6 months back is probably irrelevant. At the end of it all, the selling price is probably going to be less for the one with the aging roof, not taking into consideration other variables like shrinking inventory and pressure the buyer feels due to less choice or whatever.
So, perhaps we aren't even discussing the same thing. I'm not speaking about realtor protocol or tactics, just buyer's common sense.
we sold our house because of the Masonite. It was a constant headache. Our previous home was on a heavily wooded lot so it held moisture more, but I couldn't get away from that fast enough
we sold our house because of the Masonite. It was a constant headache. Our previous home was on a heavily wooded lot so it held moisture more, but I couldn't get away from that fast enough
That seems like overkill to the extreme. The overall cost of selling and moving was probably close to total siding replacement, unless you let it go way too long.
we sold our house because of the Masonite. It was a constant headache. Our previous home was on a heavily wooded lot so it held moisture more, but I couldn't get away from that fast enough
You could have also pruned or removed the trees that are too close to the house.
I had a huge water leak inside my home and ended up having to replace one entire side of the house. Of course, it was replaced with fiber cement siding (hardi plank is just one brand name of fiber cement).
Being that my home has been painted twice in all these years, it is about due to be painted again.
Yes, I can tell that the fiber cement siding holds up much better than the Masonite BUT...we do proper maintenance and so, we can go about 8 years between painting.
When it is time to paint, the painter will replace the Masonite that needs to be replaced.
However, I would not go to the expense of replacing the entire home with fiber cement when the Masonite that I have is fine as long as it is maintained.
Wouldn't it be more cost effective to replace it with through-colored fiber cement cladding one time, rather than having to paint every 5-8 years?
Heck, even going with higher end vinyl siding would seem to be much cheaper over a period of time.
Curious, were the labor costs variable or relatively constant for each time you needed replacement?
Too many compromises with masonite exterior siding, me thinks.
Too many years between painting to really remember but when the painters replace the rotted boards, there are only a few. My house is now about 40% fiber cement!
Some time ago my husband and I purchased a home at the beginning of June after a very dry spring. The masonite siding looked fine. When we came from NY to move in at the end of August after a very wet summer, the siding was all wavy. It had obviously absorbed a great deal of moisture during the rainy months. It looked terrible and had to be replaced. As this was some years back, Hardiplank was a relatively new product, so we drove around many neighborhoods to compare houses with the various types of siding and noticed that our experience with masonite was not unique. Therefore, after much research, we chose to replace it with Hardiplank. In the nearly 17 years that we owned this house we had to have it repainted only once. The siding continued to look good for the whole time - keeping it's color and not expanding. On our recommendation, by brother-in-law put Hardiplank on his new home a few years ago and, like us is very pleased. In my opinion, there is no contest between the two types of siding.
Some time ago my husband and I purchased a home at the beginning of June after a very dry spring. The masonite siding looked fine. When we came from NY to move in at the end of August after a very wet summer, the siding was all wavy. It had obviously absorbed a great deal of moisture during the rainy months. It looked terrible and had to be replaced. As this was some years back, Hardiplank was a relatively new product, so we drove around many neighborhoods to compare houses with the various types of siding and noticed that our experience with masonite was not unique. Therefore, after much research, we chose to replace it with Hardiplank. In the nearly 17 years that we owned this house we had to have it repainted only once. The siding continued to look good for the whole time - keeping it's color and not expanding. On our recommendation, by brother-in-law put Hardiplank on his new home a few years ago and, like us is very pleased. In my opinion, there is no contest between the two types of siding.
I don't think anyone with disagree with the premise that Hardi is a better product---it certainly is. However, if hardboard (Masonite is a brand) is properly maintained with good paint and proper caulking it can hold up well. I've only needed to replace a few pieces on my house over the last 20 years.
I did a test on Hardiplank a few years back that involved placing unpainted pieces in direct contact with the earth. After 3 years they did deteriorate (falling totally apart). Harboard would not have lasted 6 months under those conditions.
All this being said, I would not hestate to purchase a house with hardboard that has been properly painted and maintained.
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