One of the most confusing and mix upped terms that I’ve heard regarding the NYC real estate market over the past thirty years is, “What is the difference between a Capital Improvement and a Major Capital Improvement”? To clear up any confusion people have on these two issues I will attempt to clarify.

Truth be told there is no similarity whatsoever between the two. Major Capital Improvement, or MCI, is a tool with which landlords can raise rents on their rent controlled apartments. Normally when a tenant in one of these buildings moves out there is a small percentage that can be raised on the new tenant above the previous tenant’s rent. The problems that building owners face is when they want to raise the rent to market value. If they improve the apartment such as putting in a new kitchen the laws allow a landlord to raise rents permanently based on a Major Capital Improvement. In general, a landlord can raise the rent of an apartment by 1/40th of the cost of any improvements (e.g. $4,000 spent on a new kitchen = a $100 rent increase) and he or she then continues to receive the additional rent as pure profit forever. Even after the improvement itself has ceased to function or been replaced, it lives on as a permanent rent increase.

Capital Improvement describes certain installations of tangible personal property and services performed upon real property. A renovation that is correctly deemed a Capital Improvement, exempts the building owner from sales tax, and the end user, in this case the contractor, is responsible to pay the sales tax. A capital improvement to real property must satisfy the following three conditions as set forth in the definition: 1) it must substantially add to the value of the real property, or appreciably prolong its useful life; 2) it must become part of the real property or become permanently affixed such that removal would materially damage the real property or the tangible personal property itself; and 3) it must be intended to become a permanent installation.  Work satisfying all three criteria is exempted from otherwise applicable sales tax. Therefore when a tenant moves out from one of these apartments, building owners usually renovate and replace their kitchens among other renovations.

Image via Wikipedia

We met with some marketing people and were brainstorming about the best way to get our name out there. We came to a conclusion of what it might be(don`t want to give it away just yet), but everyday it`s looking more and more like this will be happening. We also received the new catalogs from our main hardware supplier “Cliffside Industries” a great company to work with, their products are great and their customer service is just amazing. We hope to have some sort of display of theirs in the warehouse so people can choose from.
As far as Regal Kitchens is going you can see from our recent blog posts that not much has been in there, and were lacking some real kitchen/construction talk, we have been so caught up over here(thankfully), it`s been tough. I hope tommrow to be able to continue with the education part of the blog.

Image by mag3737 via Flickr

Our weekend in Brooklyn was beautiful, this past weekend we were in Lakewood, NJ. We did a little school supplies shopping for the kids, which will begin this week, and for the rest of us adults it`s back to work as usual. We got an update over the weekend from one of our suppliers, “Jim Bishop Cabinets” they added a little more than 600 SKU`s to their latest release, which is amazing. Jim Bishop is one of our vendors that produce Semi-Custom cabinets. If and when we do open to the public, for now we will only be opening with our stock stuff, which will be very limited, BUT, quick and cheap. Maybe at a later point down the road, depending on this all works out we will offer customization to the public.

Speaking of opening to the public, we are very close to coming to a final decision we had some very positive feedback over the weekend, (which can be seen here) from the public saying that we should open to the public(thanks for the input). Today we are meeting with a marketing team, to see what all our costs would be, and what type of commitment it would be for everyone here at Regal.

Promise to keep you posted as we know more over here.

Image by wallyg via Flickr

As the summer is coming to a close, we have to make the most of the last few weekends. I will be taking a much needed break this weekend, Regal Kitchens has been so busy this past week(thankfully), and the next week, I know will be even busier. So will be spending the weekend in Brooklyn, NY. Home of where this all start of the original Regal Kitchens. Maybe go drive by the old Regal Kitchen on McDonald Ave under the F train, go to the Coney Island beach. Don`t know yet, if anyone has any ideas looking forward to hearing them. Will definitely update you next week.

Image by G & A Sattler via Flickr

Todays we will discuss measuring your kitchen properly, so a proper layout can be made for you. Below are 10 steps to measuring your kitchen:

1)       Sketch the room out on a piece of graph paper. Make sure to show all doors, openings, windows and any obstructions such as columns, beams, soffits, baseboard heat, radiators and vents etc.

2)     Indicate location of plumbing for the sink.

3)     Indicate location of gas line or electric for stove.

4)     Indicate location of electrical outlets and switches.

5)     Starting from one side of the room start measuring the walls. All measurements should be noted in inches.

6)    First measure to any doors, openings or windows on the particular wall you are measuring. Measurements should be taken to the outside of any casings or moldings. Next measure from outside to outside of the casing or molding. Finally take an overall measurement of the wall. Continue the process around the whole room one wall at a time.

7)     Measure the width of the casings or moldings and how far the casings or moldings protrude from the wall. Measure how far the window sill protrudes from the wall and how far past the window casing it goes and noting the height above the finish floor.

8)    Measure the ceiling height and then measure the height of any existing soffits. Take note that if you are planning to remove any soffits to gain wall cabinet height, you must make sure there is nothing inside. Sometimes soffits cover beams, plumbing or electrical etc.

9)    Look over your measurements to make sure nothing was missed.

10) Create an appliance schedule noting the width, height and depth of all appliances that will be used.

The reason to use graph paper is to help you keep the lines straight. The sketch of the room does not have to be to scale. When more of the paper is used, there will be more space for noting dimensions and will be much neater. A scale drawing can be made later from the measurement sheet, also when measuring try keeping to 1/16″ tolerance.

click here for sample layout

We are coming to a final decision weather we will be opening up the the public or not, just working how all the logistics would work, before we open our doors to the public.

Any ideas on items you would like us to sell, or services you would like. Some examples are: Should we sell cabinets only, or sell the counters, sinks, faucets, hardware that go with it? Should we do installation, or supply only? Should we offer computerized layouts, or hand drawn layouts? Should we offer delivery or pick up only?