Why CRE teams are adopting NotebookLM — and what it means for your workflow

AI tools aren’t new to commercial real estate. But the first AI built specifically around your documents — with privacy at the center — is changing how teams analyze deals, manage portfolios, and make decisions.

The CRE industry runs on documents

Offering memorandums, rent rolls, T12s, market reports, demographic studies, lender term sheets, engineering reports — every week, CRE professionals sift through hundreds of pages. And buried in those pages are the details that matter: cap-rate assumptions, deferred maintenance, rent bumps, lease expirations, and trend shifts that can quickly change a deal.

What slows teams down isn’t the analysis — it’s the searching.

NotebookLM, Google’s new AI research assistant, is designed to change that dynamic. Instead of pulling from the open internet, it becomes an expert on the documents you upload. And because it’s built with privacy at the center, CRE teams can finally explore AI-driven insights for sensitive deal work without introducing risk.

This is why the industry is paying attention.

A privacy-first design built for CRE reality

CRE firms have been understandably cautious about AI tools. Many platforms use your data to train future models — a nonstarter for teams handling confidential financials, off-market opportunities, or competitive intelligence.

NotebookLM takes a different approach:

• Your uploaded documents are not used to train AI models.

• Each notebook is isolated, with no cross-document bleed.

• The AI can only reference sources you intentionally upload.

• Everything runs on Google’s secure cloud infrastructure.

In CRE — where information is edge, currency, and liability — this architecture isn’t just reassuring. It’s essential.

Why NotebookLM feels like an analyst that works alongside you

Once materials are uploaded — OMs, rent rolls, market studies, comp sets, due-diligence files, financials — NotebookLM behaves like a research assistant that already knows your documents.

You can ask questions across multiple sources at once

Instead of toggling between PDFs, spreadsheets, and bookmarked pages, NotebookLM synthesizes everything and returns cited answers based strictly on your documents. Questions like:

• “What’s the average rent per unit and how does it compare to the comps?”

• “List all deferred maintenance items and related costs.”

• “What occupancy trends appear over the last year?”

This moves analysis from “hunt for the data” to “interpret the data.”

It can turn dense documents into video or audio briefings

Long market reports or economic outlooks can be converted into narrated summaries, complete with diagrams or extracted figures. This is especially helpful for:

• IC meetings

• investor updates

• onboarding briefings

• executive summaries

It’s the kind of communication leverage CRE teams rarely have time to build themselves.

It can perform deep web research with citations

NotebookLM’s Deep Research feature scans large volumes of online material, prioritizes credible sources, and produces a structured research report you can query like the rest of your documents.

Real use cases include:

• industrial submarket scans

• tenant credit reviews

• rent growth comparisons

• macroeconomic outlooks

It’s a powerful way to turn “I need background on this market” into a usable document in minutes.

Practical use cases across CRE roles

While the tool is flexible, its value shows up differently depending on your seat:

Asset managers

Upload ops reports and variance analyses:

• • “Which properties underperformed budget, and why?”

  • “What themes show up across maintenance logs this quarter?”

Acquisitions

Build a notebook per deal:

• • Cross-reference OMs, due-diligence reports, rent rolls, and comps instantly.

  • Reduce the time spent hunting through PDFs for key details.

Researchers & analysts

Generate market briefs quickly — without losing nuance or structure.

Property managers

Surface trends across service requests or lease terms in minutes.

Brokers

Create neighborhood notebooks or zoning files and instantly answer client questions.

NotebookLM doesn’t make decisions for teams — it removes the friction that slows those decisions down.

Why this matters for Kardin clients

Kardin’s mission has always been clarity: giving CRE teams the tools to make decisions grounded in reality, not assumptions.

NotebookLM isn’t a budgeting tool, but it can significantly improve the inputs that budgeting and reforecasting depend on:

• Faster analysis means cleaner assumptions.

• Better document understanding means stronger narratives in IC memos.

• Clearer communication supports stakeholder alignment.

• Privately contained AI avoids the risk of leaking sensitive data.

It’s not replacing underwriting, asset strategy, or property operations — it’s reducing the noise that competes with them.

The takeaway

CRE is an information-heavy business. NotebookLM gives teams a way to transform dense, scattered, and often overwhelming documentation into something structured and accessible — without compromising security or confidentiality.

And for CRE professionals who rely on disciplined, scenario-based budgeting and reforecasting, tools that accelerate clarity are worth exploring.

Bottom line: NotebookLM doesn’t replace your expertise — it amplifies it.

Disclaimer: Kardin Systems is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google or NotebookLM. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement of any third-party products. Kardin uses common analytics tools, including Google Analytics, to monitor website performance.