Showing Equity on Balance Sheet BRRR Strategy

[Jeff V.]

This question is to those accounting/bookkeepers out there.

Lets say I purchase a property for 30k and put another 30k in repairs/holding costs for an all in cost of 60k.  The property is now worth 110k and I'll be holding the property for a rental.

On my books I did the initial transaction:

Debit 30k - Property (Asset) and Credit 30k  - Cash (Asset)

Once renovations were made and the property put into service:

Journal Entry >> Credit 30k - Repairs and Debit 30k - Property

This zeroes out the renovations expenses and adds the costs to the value of the property.  The property now sits at 60k.

Finally going to refi the 60k back out:

Credit 60k MTG on Property - Liability and Debit 60k - Cash

My question is...  the property is actually worth $110k by appraisal.  How do I show this accurately on the books so that the company Net Worth is accurate as well as being able to use the $110k value when calculating my end of year depreciation amount?

I believe there is a step that I'm missing to reflect the true value of the property and possibly missing out on some depreciation in the process.  I believe my balance sheet should reflect an $110k Property in the ASSET column and 60k MTG in the Liability column to accurately reflect the 50k increase in Net Worth...  just not sure this is the case or not from an accounting perspective, nor how to actually record it properly.

This is a run down version of the accounting, but still fairly accurate...  hopefully it's enough information to be able to answer my question.  Also, if my CREDIT an DEBIT are backwards just chock it up to my inexperience with accounting and roll with it.

Please Advise,

Thanks

Jeff V

[Chris Soignier]

If you're using GAAP accounting (recommended), you should carry your assets at the lower of cost or market value, and you don't recognize the appreciation until the property is sold.   Additionally, depreciation is recognized against the adjusted cost basis for the property, not the market value.

If you're not going to bother w/ GAAP, I'd still book the assets @ cost, but then add a line item to assets like goodwill or unrecognized appreciation.