Not a fan of it. As mentioned earlier, it was usually a sign of foundation and/or other major issues with the house.

Sometimes it works. My Wife's old house was painted brick. But they always intended on painting the brick from the time it was built, in the late '60s. So they didn't have to use matching brick and put on a couple heavy coats of paint. It still looks good.

Other times it doesn't. The house right across the street was bought for a flip. Really nice old fashioned red fired brick. Painted it light grey. I was in my office on a conference call when I saw them start to paint and I started yelling STOP. I had to calm down and tell everyone on the call what happened. They went cheap and only sprayed one coat of paint. If you walked up and looked you could still see some red under the paint. The buyers made the flippers put another coat of paint on the house.

I can't stand white kitchens, that is the style right now. Glad mine doesn't look like that.

*Advice?

I would stucco over the brick then paint. Looks a lot better to me.

Under the right circumstances I think painted brick looks great.

I live in a horrible neighborhood

White brick is expensive! So people paint brick to make it look high dollar. I’m not a fan, once Donne there is no going back. At least use the paint that allows the brick to breath. Then the Mrs will likely want black gutters, shutters, and windows to offset the white.