Vacant Lot - Offer contingent on development financing??

[Mike Watkinson]

For an offer on a ~$150k vacant commercial lot, is it common to include a financing contingency for the lot and my proposed build out? I will already need to make my offer contingent on getting a conditional use permit for what I intent to do, which is an approved conditional use but needs to get plans approved which will take around 6 months. 

If say I make the offer contingent only on financing for the lot itself and zoning conditional use approval, is it common to show some pre-approval/qualification like you would for a residential property? Or is it more a blind trust thing for these types of deals? 

I'm just looking for some opinions on what is the norm since I'm getting some "yes man" vibes from my agent and I haven't purchased a commercial property before. I don't want to get to aggressive on the offer and give them reservations about me tieing up the lot for such a long approval process.

[Joel Owens]

It depends on which side of the coin I am on. If I am the seller I want to give basic average timelines to perform with limited outs. If there are any extensions I want non-refundable earnest money.

I want the buyer to feel the pressure to perform and keep THAT PARTICULAR PROJECT top of their mind. I have found some investor buyers with multiple projects going on tend to put more time into the ones that are yelling at them the most and drag their feet on others.

If buyer wants to tie up with no non-refundable then I put in a (right to continued marketing clause) where I can kick them out if a better offer comes along. If they do not want to commit to me then I am not going to commit to them. What you can or cannot get away with as a buyer is the (experience of the seller, the quality of location of the land,etc.) when setting up a contract and provisions.