How to Describe a Rental Property to Quicken 2012

The Quicken Rental Property Manager version of Quicken 2012 provides everything available in the other versions of Quicken. The Rental Property Manager version also includes tools for tracking both your rental properties and your rental income and expense.

In order to track rental properties with Quicken 2012, you need to describe each property. To describe a property, follow these steps:

1. Display the Rental Property tab.

   
   

   If you purchased the Rental Manager version of Quicken, you should also have a Rental Property tab available in the Quicken window. If you want to manage rental properties but didn’t buy the Rental Manager version of Quicken, you may be able to buy and immediately turn on the Rental Manager functionality by choosing Help→Add Rental Property Tools.

   
   



2. Click the Properties button and choose Add Property.

   
   

   Quicken displays the Add Rental Property dialog box.

   
   

   The Properties button also displays another command, Show Property List, which displays a window that lists the previously added rental properties. You can edit a rental property that appears in this property list by selecting the property and then clicking the Edit button. You can remove a rental property that appears in this property list by selecting the property and then clicking the Delete button.

   
   



3. Describe the property.

   
   

   Describe the rental property you’re going to track in Quicken. You’ll want to name the property using the Property Name text box. You can then create a tag for the property’s income and expense transactions using the Tag text box. Optionally, you can enter the street, city, state, and ZIP code information in the appropriately labeled text boxes.

   
   

   Note: You use the tag to mark, or tag, each income or expense transaction for a specific property. By tagging the transactions in this way, Quicken easily produces a profit and loss statement by rental property. You want a profit and loss statement by property to manage your real estate investments, of course. But you also need a profit and loss statement by property for your year-end income tax returns.

   
   



4. Indicate whether the property is a single or multiple unit.

   
   

   Use the Property Type Information option buttons — Single Unit Property and Multiunit Property — to specify whether the property is a single unit property (like a single family rental house) or a multiunit property (like a four-plex or a strip mall).

   
   



5. (Optional) Identify the multiple units.

   
   

   If you indicate in Step 4 that a rental property is multiunit, Quicken adds the Unit Information text boxes to the Add Rental Property dialog box. Use these boxes to name each of the rental units using, for example, apartment letters, suite numbers, or some similar identifying label.

   
   



6. (Optional) Track the net worth of the property.

   
   

   If you want to track the fair market value or your estimate of the fair market value of the rental property, mark the Yes I Want To Track The Value Of This Rental Property button. Then, without laughing, enter the fair market value of the property in the Approximate Value text box.

   
   

   Note: If you decide to track the net worth of the property, Quicken adds an asset account to the Quicken account list.

   
   



7. Click OK.

   
   

   Quicken displays the Rental Property tab, or window, with the rental property you just created.

   
   

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