Noun. 1. specific heat-the heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance one degree centigrade. heat, heat energy-a form of energy that is transferred by a difference in temperature. 1  Facebook.
You begin to depreciate your property when you place it in service for use in your trade or business or for the production of income. You stop depreciating property either when you have fully recovered your cost or other basis or when you retire it from service, whichever happens first.
Since you can only depreciate the cost of the building, and not the land, you must determine the value of each to depreciate the correct amount. To determine the value, you can use the fair market value of each at the time you purchased the property, or you can base the number on the assessed real estate tax values.