quattroworld

Agree with the others...
1. Looks very nice as is. The front profile doesn't do it justice, but seeing the back profile, I love it.
2. Man made products are easier to maintain but aesthetically, something gets lost.
3. It's not going to increase your property value by much, if anything. As pointed out below, it may go the other way depending on your buyers tastes, local market, etc.
4. Paying someone sucks, but look at it this way...assuming you spend $5K today for maintenance, the remaining $35K invested will return enough to pay for the continual maintenance every 3-5 years. And when you move, you get to keep that $35K. :)

For someone that's admittedly attached to his money, I can't understand why you're willing to part with $40K so quickly. :) So what am I missing here?