Best finish for exterior paint.

I always opt for something with a little sheen to it. I find flat paints will hold dirt easier.

Whatever you do, go with exterior latex paint. I've painted quite a few houses in my time and I'd never use oil base paint except for priming bare wood.

The latex exterior paints hold up great now. I repainted my house 4 years ago now and it looks like it was painted last week as far as how it's holding up and staying clean.

As for trim, I'm old school and prefer white. My current house color is light gray body, white trim around doors, wood windows also white, dark green for the functioning shutters, powder blue for porch ceilings and dark gray for porch deck.

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I’m a SW guy the Emerald Exterior stuff is really good paint.

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The only 2 paints I consider quality house paints for all applications are Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore.

I've painted a lot of houses over the years and used BM for a long time, then gave SW a shot and really liked they product and have been using that stuff for well over 30 years now almost exclusively.

None of it is cheap, but you get what you pay for when it comes to paint. Cheaper paints usually mean more coats to cover and do what I consider a finished job. So you either pay up front for the paint, or pay for the labor if needing more coats.