How does one create an account...

Hi, Ed.

Which version of Quicken are you using?

I'm running Quicken 2007 Basic in Vista Ultimate x64.

By lending money, you have created an asset called a "receivable". Whether you call it a Note Receivable, a Loan Receivable, an Account Receivable or something else, it is an asset to you. It IS cash flow - out, of course - and will some day generate a cash flow in, you hope.

In Quicken, there are several ways to get to the Account List; +A may be the quickest. On this screen, click Add Account in the menu bar at the top right. On the next screen, click This account is not held at a financial institution. On the next screens, click Asset under Property & Debt, then name your new account (Receivable from John Smith?), and enter zero as the "ending balance on the [prior] statement".

Yes, you could consider it a negative liability, but Asset is a better term.

Since Quicken's Investment Accounts are designed for marketable securities, your best choice for a real estate investment is an Asset Account. You probably will want a separate account for each property, but I'll leave that discussion for later - and for other readers here who are more experienced than I in using Quicken to manage and account for real estate.

RC

If you want to track the interest and principal in Quicken, you may want to use the Quicken Loan Wizard to create the Loan account for you; Quicken will correctly create an Asset account when you are the lender. Quicken will create a complete loan payment schedule for the loan, which you can use with a Scheduled Transaction or a Memorized Payee to have the correct amount of each payment assigned to principal and interest.