How long would you (seller) extend a contract to purchase
Hey, so I buy and rent sfh--pretty strictly stay out of commercial so I couldn't give him a real answer but I imagine y'all can-- a friend has a piece of old family land a little over an acre right between two large shopping centers. He finally decided to sell it about a year ago and got a realtor to list it, from what I understand it was put under contract with no earnest or due diligence money for 180 days and has been extended another 60 and now his realtor is wanting to extend another 60 and telling him it is standard as well as standard to have no money for what I see is almost an option to purchase deal.  The buyer looks to be an out of state real estate investment firm and it sounds like some sort of wholesaling deal to me.  
My question is, is this pretty standard for deals like this?  What should he tell his realtor/ask for? 
It's obviously extra terrible deal now that everything has gone to shit over the last 8 months.
[{"id": "fnhwi62", "text": "Based on the details you provided none of this is standard.  With that being said, we have extended several contracts from the sellers prospective during all of this.  None of them without earnest deposits. Some of them became non-refundable when agreeing to the extension.", "replies": [{"id": "fni9tpg", "text": "This - There needs to be money down even if there is a look for due diligence. Extensions cost money to make sure this deal is not just getting jerked around.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fnhym72", "text": "Sounds like a development deal. You need to understand what the delay is for, whether because of entitlements or because of funding issues. Extending another 60 days is not unheard of, I know deals that go through 3-4 extensions. In the future, what would be smart is to request a non refundable deposit for every extension in order to keep the buyer from bs\u2019ing the seller", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fni2v1x", "text": "I would never let anything I own go under contract without earnest money, even raw land. And some of it would need to go hard (non-refundable) for extensions like others wrote. Or, would need to have a good honest conversation about where they are in the DD process and what they need for some of that deposit to go hard etc. There's too many people out there that throw around offers they have low probability of closing on. \n\nAs someone else mentioned, your friend basically gave them a free exclusive option to purchase.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fni6ngp", "text": "No, this is not normal. \n\nIf I was a gambler, I\u2019d bet a good amount of money something substantial is wrong with the property. \n\nIf I was a degenerate gambler, I\u2019d bet even more money that there\u2019s an environmental or structural  issue with the property.", "replies": [{"id": "fnihtnq", "text": "Never underestimate incompetence.  Plus if they can extend indefinitely for free - why not, especially now.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fnihgm6", "text": "&gt; his realtor is wanting to extend another 60 and telling him it is standard as well as standard to have no money \n\nYeah that's a lie.  30 days at most before money is required - even a small, refundable sum.  Depending on a lot of factors, there's another date when more money is required and/or some money becomes non-refundable or even released to the seller.  Why should the seller give something up (the right to sell to someone else for a long time) for nothing?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fniyy5y", "text": "His realtor is an idiot and not working in his best interest.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fnjdibq", "text": "not normal.  I most commonly see some earnest money but it is fully refundable in early stages of contract.   Once you get 4-6 months in buyer should know if there is environmental, title or some other issue which needs to be addressed.  If buyer wants longer inspection/due diligence period, they should be paying non-refundable money for this opportunity.  As someone else mentioned, long period with no earnest money could easily be an attempt at wholesale although that isnt a very common practice from what i have seen.  Buyer who won't spend any money seeking entitlements and won't pay for opportunity to tie up your friend's property isn't much of an opportunity if the parcel is desirable.\n\nhowever, i don't think many new buyers are going to show up in next 60 days due to COVID chaos.  if buyer could provide any logical reason for what they have been up to or what has caused delays, I would be more inclined than ever right now to give someone a little additional time for free.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]