Edit Property & Housing

Create one property record for each place the household owns or expects to own

Property & Housing describes a current home, rental, vacation property, pending inheritance, future purchase, or planned sale. The property record carries value, ownership, recurring costs, use, and the future role in the plan. A renter normally records rent under Annual Spending and does not create a property.

A property is distinct from its financing. Add each mortgage, home-equity loan, or HELOC in Debt & Loans and link it to the property so value and liability remain separately reviewable.

Use a dated estimate and include costs that continue without a mortgage

Enter the whole property value, expected acquisition value, and expected sale value, then set Household ownership share. Projection applies that percentage once to property value and sale proceeds after percentage selling costs. For example, 50% ownership of a $400,000 sale with 6% selling costs supplies $188,000 before household debts and moving costs. Zero ownership supplies no sale proceeds.

Enter purchase payments, recurring costs, rental income, moving costs, exit costs, and linked debts as the amounts the household actually pays, receives, or owes. The ownership percentage does not reduce those separately entered household amounts. Recorded and intended legal title do not change the economic share.

Enter the estimated property value with an honest as-of date. Include supported annual property tax, insurance, maintenance, association, and other ownership costs. These costs can continue after a loan is paid off, so do not hide them inside the mortgage payment.

Ownership identifies the household interest being modeled. Recorded trust or intended ownership is organizational information and does not prove title. Keep appraisals, statements, deeds, and trust documents as the authority for real ownership and value.

A planned purchase or sale needs timing and a clear use of proceeds

Choose the status and planning role that match the plan: continue owning, sell, purchase later, or receive later. A planned sale can release modeled net value after supported costs and linked debt, while a future purchase creates a need for the purchase amount and ongoing ownership costs.

Do not assume the displayed estimate includes every closing cost, tax consequence, repair, vacancy, or transaction detail. Selecting Rental property alone does not create income; enter its Annual rental income in the property dialog.

Enter rental income and property costs once

In Property & Housing, edit the property, choose Rental property under Use, and enter Annual rental income and Annual rental income growth. Enter the household’s rental receipts, allowing for expected vacancy. Blank growth uses plan inflation; zero keeps the nominal receipts fixed. These amounts are not multiplied by Household ownership share.

Record the household’s property tax, insurance, HOA, and maintenance under Annual ownership costs, and the loan under Debt & Loans. Do not subtract those same costs from rental income as well. Do not add the same rent again in Income & Benefits: the property already supplies modeled ordinary income while active, including its sale year, and stops supplying it in later years.

Inspect rental income, ownership costs, loan payments, and sale proceeds together in Projection. The annual calculation does not prepare a rental tax return or calculate depreciation, passive-loss rules, or sale-gain tax.

Review value, costs, debt, and sale timing together

After saving, check the property summary for its value date, annual costs, status, planning role, and linked-debt count. Open Projection around a purchase or sale year and confirm that property value, costs, loan payoff, proceeds, taxes, and housing spending are not duplicated.

Update the value and as-of date when a material valuation changes. Update Balances can record later snapshots, but a carried-forward value is not evidence that the property has been reappraised.