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How to track 5 live CRE deals without a spreadsheet

A tracker kept by hand falls behind your inbox. Keep each deal in its email thread instead, with six things on it and a weekly rhythm for five live deals.

Updated By Parcel Research

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Why spreadsheets fall behind

An investor asked on BiggerPockets' commercial forum how others keep track of multiple deals without missing anything (BiggerPockets). The answer is rarely a better spreadsheet. A tracker is a copy of what happened in your email, made later, by hand. The deal moves when a broker writes, and the tracker only moves when you remember to update it.

Keep each deal where the work already happens, in the email thread, and read its status from there.

The steps a marketed deal moves through

A brokerage's own case study shows the shape: signed confidentiality agreements first, then tours, then offers (Lee & Associates). After an offer is accepted, the parties negotiate the purchase and sale agreement and the buyer runs its due diligence (California Lawyers Association). That window is commonly 30 to 60 days and is negotiated, not fixed (Bay Legal).

  1. 01

    Teaser and confidentiality agreement

    The broker sends a one-pager. You sign the CA or NDA to see more.
  2. 02

    Offering memorandum and data room

    The OM, the rent roll, the trailing twelve months and the rest of the files.
  3. 03

    Tour

    You see the property, often with other bidders on the same day.
  4. 04

    Call for offers, then best and final

    Bids are due on a date. The best few are asked to sharpen them.
  5. 05

    Purchase agreement and due diligence

    The contract is negotiated, then the clock starts on diligence.
  6. 06

    Closing

    Or a pass, with the reason kept for the next time this broker calls.

What to keep on each deal

What to keep on each deal
FieldExample
A clean name"Riverside Flats, 120 units"The email subject is the broker's, not yours
The brokerName, firm, last replyWho to answer, and how long since they wrote
Where it standsOM in, tour booked, bids dueOne step from the list above
The next date"Bids due Thursday"The one deadline that can't slip
Your levelsBid, stretch, walk-awaySo a call from the broker gets an answer
The filesOM, rent roll, T-12Kept with the deal, not in a downloads folder

Leave out what you can look up when you need it. Every email and every version of the model belong in the thread and the data room.

A weekly rhythm for five live deals

  • Every morning, sort what came in. Each new deal gets one answer: pursue, pass or later. A pass keeps its reason in a few words.
  • Keep the live list short. A sixth live deal means one of the five should be passed or parked.
  • Answer by date, not by inbox order. The deal whose bids are due soonest gets the next hour.
  • Treat silence as a status. A thread that has gone quiet for a month is not a live deal, whatever the tracker says.
  • Keep passes searchable. The building you passed on in the spring can come back in the fall at a lower price.

Where Parcel fits

Parcel is a deal inbox that runs on your own Gmail. It turns each broker email into a deal with its emails and files, keeps active deals apart from new and passed ones, ranks your best new deals with a bid, stretch and walk-away, and drafts each reply for you.

Questions

There is no rule, but a short list works better than a long one. Many small teams keep about five live deals and pass or park the rest, so each live deal gets an answer before its next deadline.

A clean deal name, the broker and their last reply, where the deal stands, the next date, your bid, stretch and walk-away, and the files. Everything else can stay in the email thread and the data room.

Commonly 30 to 60 days, and it is negotiated in the purchase agreement rather than fixed.

Sources

  1. 1.Commercial real estate investors: how do you keep track of multiple deals? · BiggerPockets forum · read November 9, 2026
  2. 2.Seattle office investment sale case study: Gibraltar Tower (a brokerage's own example) · Lee & Associates · read November 9, 2026
  3. 3.Breaking down a typical commercial real estate purchase and sale transaction · California Lawyers Association · read November 9, 2026
  4. 4.Buying commercial real estate in California · Bay Legal, P.C. · read November 9, 2026

Changes

  • : First published.

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