Useful Life of a Commercial Property

[Reinhard Kurzen]

Hello BP,

I just purchased a 26 unit building in Spokane, WA. On the appraisal they listed 25 years remaining as the useful life of the property. Thus I was only able to amortize over 25 years instead of 30. Will this continue to go down as the years pass? If I want to refinance in 2 years will I only have 23 years useful life left? What does the useful life mean and how can I start it over? I plan on putting about 100-150k into renovations over the next year. Is it better to use Capital expenses or repairs of $2500 and under. Thanks!