Hugely depends on the municipality, their work load, and the project's complexity.

Same process.. just more complex/complicated for large developments. 

It has potential to even fit 5 units, or four spacious apartments and one commercial unit (I think a soundproof event space in the HUGE basement would be incredible).

If you need to inspect units in an apartment building that will have to be arranged with the property manager and tenants, if you just need to check out the HVAC of an industrial property, that's usually a bit simpler to arrange. 

We opted to get an apartment for the time being.

I had a deal under contract that would have used up 150k of his commitment and 5k of my own, but he very much did not like that he had to be apart of the LLC and that he had to be a guarantor on the mortgage.

I'm going to say that was a part of your former life.

In real estate investing, there’s always demand for apartments in good and bad economies, so multi-family real estate is considered low-risk and therefore often yields lower returns.

Each tenant has their own thermostat in the office/apartment. 

I know I will have to look at a lot of properties before I find a good deal, but the lack of options makes it seem that this could be a journey that could last a year or 2 at this rate.So, what would be a good plan if I can't find a property (right now I have until May 1st to let me apartment know if I am renewing my lease or not)?