Overview
You have a sell-side assignment in hand. Buyers are asking for the offering memorandum and the rent roll. You need a deal room standing today, configured to keep confidential materials gated until each bidder earns access.
This is the first of three stages in the RealNex Vault deal room workflow:
Create (the wizard, this article), Build (load documents and add your deal team), and Publish (invite external participants and take the room live).
The 3-step Create a Deal Room wizard in RealNex Vault is built for that moment. The wizard is pre-configured for CRE, so the folder structure, the deal stages, and the participant model already match how brokers actually run transactions.
What the wizard does:
- Step 1: Deal Type and Folder Structure sets the starter folder tree (Buy/Sell, Leasing, etc., or custom)
- Step 2: Property Details drops the pin, names the deal room, sets the property type, and sets Deal Visibility (Public or Private)
- Step 3: Access Settings sets the NDA workflow, signature requirement, notification preference, and confirms watermarking
Note: The wizard creates the deal room in Build mode. Build is where the deal team loads documents, organizes them, and prepares the room before any external participant sees anything. When the room is ready, you Publish it from the Overview tab. See Build vs Live states for the transition detail.
Prerequisites
- Access to RealNex Vault. See Getting started with RealNex Vault for access details
- The property address for the deal in question
- An Investor NDA in PDF form if you intend to require NDA acceptance on the share link
- Optional: a property thumbnail image, an optional Broker NDA, and any custom folder names you want to add to the starter folder tree
Launch the wizard
Step 1: Open Create Deal Room
From the Dashboard, click the orange Create Deal Room button in Quick Actions. You can also open the wizard from the sidebar by clicking Deal Rooms and then Create Deal Room.
Wizard Step 1: Deal Type and Folder Structure
Step 2: Pick the deal template
On the first wizard step, select the deal type that matches the transaction you are running. Options include:
- Commercial Real Estate - Buy/Sell Transaction: sell-side or buy-side investment sale
- Commercial Real Estate - Leasing: leasing-side transaction
- Custom: blank folder tree if no default templates meet your needs
RealNex Vault loads a pre-built CRE folder template based on the deal template you select.
Step 3: Adjust the folder structure
Review the pre-built folder tree and customize as needed. You can:
- Add a new root folder
- Nest folders inside other folders
- Rename any non-system folder
- Remove a non-system folder
Note: The Internal Workspace is a system folder and cannot be renamed or removed. It is where every uploaded file lands before an admin publishes it to the participant-facing folders. See Document upload and the Internal Workspace publish flow.
Wizard Step 2: Property Details
Step 4: Enter the property address and deal room name
On Step 2, work top-down through the fields in the order they appear in the UI:
- Property Address: enter the property address, selecting it from Google autocomplete. Selecting an address from the dropdown drops the pin and standardizes the address format.
- Deal Room Name: the name every participant will see. Use the property address or a custom deal name.
- Property Type: Office, Industrial, Retail, Multifamily, Hospitality, Mixed Use, Land, or Other.
Step 5: Set Deal Visibility
At the bottom of Step 2, the Deal Visibility toggle decides how the share link works:
- Public: anyone with the share link can sign the NDA and enter the deal room. Use for marketed listings.
- Private: prospective participants click the link, sign the NDA, and submit a request. An admin must approve before they can enter. Use for off-market or confidential deals where you want to vet every prospect.
Note: Deal Visibility is separate from the NDA. The NDA controls what participants agree to. Deal Visibility controls whether prospects need your permission to enter at all. You can use one, both, or neither.
Wizard Step 3: Access Settings
Step 6: Configure the NDA workflow
On Step 3, configure how prospective participants accept the NDA before viewing any document:
- Toggle Require NDA acceptance before viewing on.
- Add the Investor NDA. Either upload a fresh PDF or select a template you have previously uploaded to Documents > NDA Templates. The Investor NDA is required when the toggle is on.
- Optional: add a separate Broker NDA for broker-team participants using the same upload-or-select-from-library options.
- Set Acceptance Mode using the Require signature execution toggle. Off is Acknowledgement Only (click-through). On is Require Digital Signature (typed signature with audit record).
- Leave Notify me on NDA execution (the in-product label for Notify Admins on Acceptance) on. RealNex Vault emails admins the signed NDA PDF when a prospect signs.
Step 7: Confirm Dynamic Watermarking
Dynamic Watermarking is on by default. Best practice is to leave it on. Every document a participant opens carries the viewer's name, email, and the deal room name across the page. Watermarking is the audit baseline that makes the deal room defensible if a confidential document leaves the room.
Note: The NDA settings and watermarking decisions you make in Step 3 set the deal room's default posture for the moment external participants arrive at Publish. NDA settings remain editable during Build. Watermarking can also be adjusted document-by-document during review and approval, the toggle in Step 3 sets the default that applies to every document.
Create the deal room
Step 8: Click Create Deal Room in build mode
When all three steps are complete, click Create Deal Room in build mode at the bottom of Step 3. RealNex Vault drops you on the deal room Overview tab with a Build status badge.
The deal room exists, the folder structure is in place, and the NDA workflow is configured. No participant can see the room until you publish it.
Continue with Document upload and the Internal Workspace publish flow to load offering materials, then Inviting deal room members and using access tiers to invite the bidder group.
Additional Options
Editing the wizard after creation
If you need to change anything from the wizard after the deal room is created, click into the Deal Room and NDA sub-tabs in the Settings tab. You can update Property Details, NDA Settings, and the folder structure at any point while the room is in Build mode.
Saving the wizard mid-flow
RealNex Vault tracks your wizard progress as you advance through steps. If you close the browser tab before clicking Create Deal Room, the deal room will not be created. Complete all three steps in one sitting.
Tips and Best Practices
- Pick the closest deal template and edit later. The folder template is a starting point, not a constraint. Add or rename folders to fit the actual transaction.
- Use the deal room name participants will recognize. The Deal Room Name appears on the share link and in every email RealNex Vault sends. Match the name to the property or the deal label your buyers know.
- Default to Require Digital Signature on the NDA. The signed PDF lands in your inbox automatically, and the audit record is stronger than a click-through.
- Leave Dynamic Watermarking on. The cost of leaving it on is zero. The cost of turning it off and losing a confidential document is high.