Christopher -- I totally follow your logic and reasoning. However, the only downside to your approach is that not recording the gain on a periodic basis leaves you with a total misrepresentation of your net worth.
For someone who owns multiple properties and/or for someone who wants to go to the bank to finance large purchase, creditors will want to know what a good approximation of your net worth is today (assets less liabilities). Just like undervaluing your net worth could see you denied credit, overvaluing your net worth (i.e., properties that have lost value - picture the example you gave in reverse) could find you overextended or give the bank a false picture of your true financial picture. So for your particular situation, you could setup even another account to track just the capital gains, if that is what you wanted to track (unrealized capital gain on assets/property). Tomato == tomAto - anyway you look it - it really all depends on what someone wants to track. Ken ________________________________ From: gnucash-user <[email protected]> on behalf of Christopher Lam <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2025 6:39 PM Cc: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [GNC] How to Properly Record Valuation Changes in Home Value? I can offer yet another opinion... I wouldn't record unrealised gains as Equity transfers. A house purchased for $40k in 1976 would enjoy increasing values via period transfers from equity; and if the up-to-date valuation is $800k, and you sell today, you'll be recording a negligible capital gain. It is in my view that appreciating assets are best recorded as purchase price and left alone until the sale, then a large capital gain is recorded as income. I would however unrealised losses as periodic expenses. A car purchased for $30k in 2020 and depreciates annually, and I may claim partially as a tax deduction. IANAA of course. C On Tue, 16 Sept 2025 at 09:02, Tom Route-36 <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I wanted to reply to all of you here who jumped in with your advice and > comments. I think I understand the proper way to handle this now. And > it seems pretty simple and straightforward too thanks to all your > feedback. To keep things recorded properly I just need to create a new > Equity account (named Unrealized Appreciation or something similar). > And then for each valuation change entry in my Asset account (MyHome) I > put a corresponding entry in that new Equity account to balance things. > Really simple now that I look back on my question. Anyway, thanks again > to everybody. > > Tom > > > > On 9/15/2025 4:30 PM, David Warren wrote: > > Most accountants will tell you to credit equity for unrealized > appreciation > > in your assets. > > > > But if you are doing your own books, it's really your choice in terms of > > what types of reports you want to see and how you want to use. Sometimes > I > > credit income accounts for unrealized appreciation because it makes it > > easier for me to track how a certain asset account has grown or shrunk > year > > by year and what types of income (realized, unrealized, taxable or not > yet > > taxed) it has thrown off. When the income is eventually realized I credit > > realized income and debit unrealized income, which works for me. But it's > > really a matter of how you want things to work for you. > > > > On Mon, Sep 15, 2025, 5:03 PM Kalpesh Patel <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >> I've done something similar. > >> > >> I've created a sub-account called "Appreciation" underneath the real > estate > >> asset holding account, and then I add the valuation transaction as > noted in > >> the appraisal report in "Appreciation" against "Retained Earnings" > >> underneath "Equity". > >> > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Murugan Mariappan <[email protected]> > >> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2025 8:49 AM > >> To: [email protected]; Harold Hallikainen < > [email protected]> > >> Subject: Re: [GNC] How to Properly Record Valuation Changes in Home > Value? > >> > >> Revlaution suplus / deficit should be treated as non P&L items, so best > way > >> to is to create a Revaluation Account under Equity and pass the entries > for > >> example > >> > >> > >> Dr Assets:Building (PPE) $100,000 > >> Cr Equity: Revaluation Account $100,000 > >> > >> If there is a loss then it will be in the reverse for example > >> > >> Cr Assets:Building (PPE) $50,000 > >> Dr Equity: Revaluation Account $50,000 > >> > >> > >> > >> Saludos Cordiales > >> > >> > >> Murugan > >> > >> ________________________________ > >> From: gnucash-user > >> <[email protected]> on > behalf of > >> Harold Hallikainen via gnucash-user <[email protected]> > >> Sent: 15 September 2025 00:03 > >> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > >> Subject: Re: [GNC] How to Properly Record Valuation Changes in Home > Value? > >> > >> I'd be tempted to have two subaccounts in the MyHome asset. These would > be > >> Purchase Price and Unrealized Appreciation. Then have an income account > >> called Unrealized Income. > >> > >> Harold > >> > >> > >> On Sun, September 14, 2025 7:57 pm, Tom Route-36 wrote: > >>> 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 > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your > >>> subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > >>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > >>> ----- > >>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > >>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > >>> > >>> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Not sent from an iPhone. > >> _______________________________________________ > >> gnucash-user mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > >> ----- > >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> gnucash-user mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > >> ----- > >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > gnucash-user mailing list > > [email protected] > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > > ----- > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
