[GNC] How to Properly Record Valuation Changes in Home Value?

[Ken Pyzik]

Tom - there are probably a number of way to do this.  Here is one that works for me:

I have one account (a placeholder account) called - My House / Properties - My Equity.  Then under it I have a list of sub accounts that includes one subaccount for each property I own.  (PS - account type of these accounts are ASSET).  Then whenever I receive assessments, or if I want to track significant market changes that significantly change the value of the property, I will place a transaction in the respective account with the contra account being  Property Values - Inc or Dec.

Interesting this second account (Property Value - Inc or Dec) is a subaccount under a main placeholder account called Increase or Decrease in Assets (which is a placeholder account).  Under this placeholder account I have the Property Values - Inc or Dec and I also have my Beginning Balances account and another account called Unrealized Gain and Losses - Other Assets.  To be clear, this small cluster of accounts are all type EQUITY.

This may seem a little convoluted for some people.  But for me it is pretty simple and tracks exactly what I want to track.

Account structure:

--My House /Properties - My Equity   {Account Type - Asset}  [PLACEHOLDER ACCOUNT]
-----Personal Home  {Account Type - Asset}
-----Property 1 (address)   {Account Type - Asset}
-----Property 2 (address)   {Account Type - Asset}

--Increase or Decrease in Assets  {Account Type - Equity}  [PLACEHOLDER ACCOUNT]
---- Beginning Balances as of (date)   {Account Type - Equity}
---- Property 1 (address) value Inc or Dec  {Account Type - Equity}
---- Property 2 (address) value Inc or Dec  {Account Type - Equity}
---- Unrealized Gains or Losses - Other Assets  {Account Type - Equity}

Hope that helps.


Ken


________________________________
From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+pyz01=outlook.com at gnucash.org> on behalf of Tom Route-36 <tom.route36 at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2025 7:57 PM
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Subject: [GNC] How to Properly Record Valuation Changes in Home Value?

Hi all,

This is more of a double entry bookkeeping question rather than
something specific to GnuCash; but I'd appreciate any input on the
proper way to do this.  I'm tracking the valuation changes of my
personal home based on notices that I get every 2 years from the County
Assessor.  When I was using Quicken, I did this in a single account
(named MyHome).  The opening balance of MyHome was my original purchase
price.  And then every 2 years as I got updated valuation notices, I'd
record a transaction back into that same MyHome account (since Quicken
would let me do that) to adjust the MyHome account balance to make it
match the current value listed on the County Assessor's notice.

Now that I'm using GnuCash and having to do things properly with double
entry accounting, I was wondering how to go back and fix things.  I know
I still want an Asset account for MyHome to track the valuation.  But
for DE accounting, what should I be using for that corresponding second
account to balance things out as the valuation changes?

Tom
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