Mortgage set-up

[Jason Ahrens]

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 12:41 PM, Ernesto Reyes <ernesto at ernestoreyes.com>
wrote:

> My partner and I are paying off a mortgage on a rental unit.  I can account
> for the expenses, utilities, property taxes, etc.  I also record the rental
> income as such.
>

I'm in the exact situation. I just bought a house, have a partner, and now
have to reconcile how to account for his payments towards it.

I think a big question is: is your partner's name on the mortgage along with
yours? I think the answer to the question affects the outcome.

In my case, the mortgage and deed are all in my name. I'm wondering if I
need to consider money he gives me as "rent" legally and claim on my taxes
as additional income.

Whereas, if his name were on the mortgage/deed along with mine, it would be
less legally ambiguous.

The issue becomes that the house is a 'shared' asset, and you're only one
half of that equation. I'm guessing that like me, you maintain separate
financial accounts with your partner so the books don't cover the entire
"financial view" of the household. In essence, only 1/2 of the house as an
asset is yours, and only 1/2 of the mortgage as a liability is yours. But
you're trying to use GNUCash to track it as if it was all yours. Am I right?
That's the same situation I'm in.

It's in situations like this that private-citizen accounting starts to get
interesting. I'm tempted (if I don't have to claim money my partner gives me
as income) to use an Equity account for the payments he makes.

Jason