Commercial Land Purchase - Lawyer OR Standard contract

[John Loffredo]

Hey BP community! This is my first post on the forum. I am looking at purchasing commercial land in Florida for a business I want to start. This is my first time purchasing any piece of property so this is all new to me. I found a few that I would like to put an offer on that meets the criteria for what I want to do, however, there are a few other pieces of due diligence that I need to do before I can commit to purchasing the property. I know that there is normally a due diligence period between putting an offer in and the closing, but I want to make sure that all of the research I need to do is accounted for and works out before purchasing the property. My first instinct was to call a lawyer and he advised me that he can write me up a letter of intent with the criteria that needs to be met before purchasing the property and a time frame. I've also been advised that it is not entirely necessary to go through a lawyer and that there is a due diligence period intentionally for doing this kind of legwork. According to the listing agent, there was a board of lawyers that have worked together to draft a bi-partisan contract that is used to protect both parties as a standard for these kinds of transactions. I just wanted to get more insight as to the process of purchasing commercial land.