How CRE Redline works,
step by step.
You are the tenant’s broker. Your client, a veterinary practice, is taking 4,385 square feet in a shopping center. The business terms are agreed in a letter of intent. The landlord’s lawyer has just sent the first lease draft. Six steps, under a minute. Below it, the same steps at reading pace, with the documents laid out in full.
Step 1 of 6 · You and the landlord
The letter of intent sets the business terms.
Both sides signed it on August 12. The improvement allowance is $45.00 per square foot: $197,325 on 4,385 square feet. You type these six terms into CRE Redline once.
Letter of Intent
Non-binding, August 12
- Premises
- Suite A, 4,385 sq ft, Harbor Point Shopping Center
- Term
- 10 years, two 5 year options
- Base rent
- $16,078.33 per month ($44.00 per sq ft per year)
- TI allowance
- $45.00 per sq ft ($197,325)
- Free rent
- 4 months of base rent
- Security deposit
- One month's rent
Deal terms from the LOI, typed in once
- Square feet
- 4,385
- Term
- 120 months
- Base rent
- $44.00 per sf per year
- TI allowance
- $45.00 per sf
- Free rent
- 4 months
- Options
- 2 × 60 months
Every lease draft is compared with these six numbers.
- 87
- tracked changes in the draft
- 1
- contradicts the LOI
- $65,775
- the difference it makes
- 18
- changes to read in the next draft
The clause above is an illustration. The sample deal inside the app is two real lease drafts, already read.
The same steps, slowly
The documents in full
The letter of intent, the clause as the landlord’s lawyer marked it, the flag as you see it, the client update, the counter draft, and the next draft coming back.
Step 1 · you and the landlord
The letter of intent sets the business terms
The letter of intent is the business deal: rent, term, allowance, free rent, options. You negotiated it. You enter the same six numbers on the deal, once.
Letter of Intent, Northgate Veterinary Groupagreed August 12The business terms both sides shook on, before any lawyer touched a lease.
- Premises
- Suite A, 4,385 sq ft, Harbor Point Shopping Center
- Term
- 10 years, two 5-year options
- Base rent
- $16,078.33 per month ($44.00 per sq ft per year)
- TI allowance
- $45.00 per sq ft ($197,325)
- Free rent
- 4 months of base rent
- Security deposit
- One month's rent
Step 2 · landlord's counsel
The first lease draft arrives with tracked changes
Forty-one pages, 87 tracked changes. Somewhere in section 9 the allowance you agreed at $45 is now $30, and payment waits for lien releases. Forward the email to your deal's address, or upload the .docx.
Northgate Lease, Landlord Draft, tracked changes.docxmarks by Landlord Counsel9.2. Tenant Improvement Allowance.
Landlord shall provide Tenant an allowance of
Forty-Five Dollars ($45.00)Thirty Dollars ($30.00)per square foot of the Demised Premises Floor Area (the “Tenant Improvement Allowance”) toward the cost of Tenant’s Work, payable within sixty (60) days after the later of substantial completion and Tenant’s delivery of unconditional lien releases from every contractor.Step 3 · CRE Redline
Each change is shown word for word and compared with the LOI
The change list is read straight out of the file's revision marks, never generated. Each one gets a plain-English reading, a materiality rating, and a check against the LOI number you entered. Accept, edit or dismiss. Nothing enters the record without you.
CRE Redline · Review round 1change 12 of 879.2. Tenant Improvement Allowance.Materiality 5 of 5Appears to favor landlordDeparts from the LOI…an allowance ofForty-Five Dollars ($45.00)Thirty Dollars ($30.00) per square foot… payable within sixty (60) days after… lien releases from every contractor.Reading, for your review
Cuts the allowance from $45.00 to $30.00 per square foot, $65,775 less on 4,385 square feet, and makes payment wait for lien releases from every contractor. The LOI fixed the allowance at $45.00 per square foot.
Suggested language:Landlord shall provide an allowance of Forty-Five Dollars ($45.00) per square foot… payable within thirty (30) days after substantial completion of Tenant’s Work.
LOI conformanceLOI: $45.00 per sfLease says: $30.00 per sfDiffersAcceptEditDismissStep 4 · you, to the client
You send the client an update, drafted for you
What changed, what matters, what you propose, composed from what you accepted. You edit it in your words and press Send. It goes out from your name with your reply-to, and a copy sits on the deal.
Email · Round 1: where the Northgate lease standsfrom Tenant Rep via CRE RedlineTo: dr.patel@northgatevet.com
What matters
TI allowance: the LOI set $45.00 per sq ft; the landlord’s draft says $30.00, a $65,775 difference, and delays payment until every contractor signs a lien release.
What we propose
Restore the allowance to $45.00 per sq ft per the LOI, paid within 30 days of completion.
Not included
One table-of-contents update and 3 cross-reference fixes were set aside.
Composed from what you accepted. Edited in your words. Nothing is sent until you press Send.
Step 5 · you, to landlord's counsel
The landlord's lawyer gets the draft back with your changes marked
Your proposed language goes into the landlord's own Word file as tracked changes under your name. Accept and Reject work in Word. The memo version is there too, for the email.
Northgate Lease, Tenant Counter.docxmarks by Tenant Rep via CRE Redline9.2. Tenant Improvement Allowance.
Landlord shall provide Tenant an allowance of
Thirty Dollars ($30.00)Forty-Five Dollars ($45.00)per square foot of the Demised Premises Floor Area (the “Tenant Improvement Allowance”) toward the cost of Tenant’s Work, payable withinsixty (60) days after the later of substantial completion and Tenant’s delivery of unconditional lien releases from every contractorthirty (30) days after substantial completion of Tenant’s Work.Step 6 · landlord's counsel, again
The next draft comes back and only what moved is read again
The returned file still carries every mark from round one plus your own edits. Repeats are set aside as carried over, yours are filed as yours, and each open item is reported against the new round: revised, unchanged, or no new marks at all.
CRE Redline · Round 2 arrives18 new, 58 carried, 10 yours9.2. Tenant Improvement AllowanceRevised in round 2now $40.00 per sq ft, 45 days14.1. Assignment to affiliatesNo new marks in round 2accepted, or ignored. Worth a call.4.3. Abated rent clawbackUnchanged in round 2same mark as round 1A returned redline still carries last round’s marks and your own edits. Repeats are set aside, yours are filed as yours, and the queue holds only the 18 changes that moved.
Who does what
The software reads, sorts, checks and drafts. You decide. Counsel drafts the lease and gives the advice.
| Person | Software | |
|---|---|---|
| Reads the marks out of the Word file | — | CRE Redline |
| Sets aside repeats and your own edits | — | CRE Redline |
| Explains each change and rates materiality | — | CRE Redline, as a suggestion |
| Checks each number against the LOI | — | CRE Redline, in arithmetic |
| Decides what to accept, edit or dismiss | You | — |
| Writes the words the client reads | You, from a draft | — |
| Chooses the counter language | You | suggested, never sent without you |
| Drafts the lease | Counsel | — |
| Gives legal advice | Counsel | never CRE Redline |
Try it on the sample deal, or on your own round.
Sign in and open the sample deal to click through both rounds. Or upload your own first round: it is free, no card required.