Capital improvements and land improvements at rental property

Question

I am brand new to Quicken and just setting up my budget. How do I track capital improvements and land improvements at my rental property? I have seen other threads that indicate that they shouldn't be tracked as expenses, but rather as changes to the asset balance. I need a comprehensive step by step of how to do this in Quicken's service starting from when the cost of the improvements show as having been paid from my checking account. (I wish I could get this step by step from Quicken's own support, but they have directed me to the community or to an accountant! Yikes.) Thanks!

NotACPA · Answer

I'd also suggest that you review Q's built-in HELP for setting up accounts and categories and the "Manage your Rental Property" section of HELP.

NotACPA · Answer

The account value would be the initial acquisition costs plus any "capital items" (i.e. not taxes, etc) from your original purchases.  IF you have records going back far enough, any improvements should be recorded as transfers (as discussed above).IF your property has significantly appreciated in value, you can record that by creating a transaction for the adjustment amount that uses the Rental property account itself as the category, just like the transfers above except this is a transfer into the same account. I.E., a Self-referencing Transaction ... just like the transactions that Q created in your checking/etc accounts as the 'Opening Balance' when you first set those up.

KDickinson · Answer

Thank you NotACPA! Two follow-up questions:

1) I do not currently have an asset account set up. I think I figured out how (Add account/Other Assets and Liabilities/Assets) but how do I figure out my asset value amount and what do I put for the optional tax information, if anything?

2) What other asset accounts might I need that I don't already have? I didn't know I needed one for my rental property. What else? My home? My car?

Thanks again!