Tutorial #Q5-2: An Account for Your House

Intro: Keep track of the cost of your house, plus the cost of any improvements that you make over the years, and you will have the total basis of your house stored in one handy place. If you ever sell this house in a taxable sale, this information will be particularly useful.

Step 1: Open New Account
From the My Finances main screen, click the Create an Account button. The Create New Accounts window will appear, listing types of accounts that you can create.

Step 2: Choose House Account
Click on House as the type of account you would like to create, then click the Next button.

Step 3: Name Your House
Enter a name for the house - "Home Sweet Home" comes to mind, but you may want something a little more formal to appear on your financial reports. You can also enter optional descriptive information. The description will not appear on any reports, so you can be more creative here. Click Next to proceed.

Step 4: Enter the Value
Enter the date you bought your house, the original cost, and an estimate of today's value. Click Next to proceed.

Step 5: Enter the Mortgage
If you want Quicken to keep track of your mortgage information, you can click Yes on this screen. If Quicken already knows about the mortgage, select the second option. If you don't have a mortgage, or don't think it's any of Quicken's business that you do, click No. Click Next to proceed.

Step 6: Confirm Information
Examine the Summary screen that appears and make sure everything you entered is correct. Make any changes that might be necessary. Click Done when you are satisfied with the information. The house will be added to your account list.

If you said Yes to the previous question about a mortgage (see Step 5), a screen will appear asking you about your mortgage information. See the next lesson, Enter Home Mortgage for instructions for this form.