At the risk of getting the cart ahead of the horse here on this knowing that an IOI is potentially just as important as the color scheme of your wedding invitations, wanted to get more guidance on including a time/date component to an IOI.

I am looking at an opportunity that is broker represented but it is not being run as a formal process (ex. listing on sites, adhering to a strict bid process timeline, etc.). However, I am aware that there are other interested parties (# unknown) and I get the sense that my IOI is going to be "shopped" around amongst the others at the table. At the risk of potentially coming off as a jerk, was curious to see if including a 3-5 business day expiration on my IOI submission would be prudent/advisable. What might be the reasons why I shouldn't do this? Or is the time expiration something that would be more appropriate for LOI?

Also, I would like to include an Escrow component to the deal and am curious on when this gets included in the written communications. Do you typically wait until the LOI stage or is IOI the place to mention? And is it typically based on a % of the consideration (ex. 5% of the acquisition price will be held in escrow for 18 months with half released at the 9-month mark and the remainder at the 18-month mark)?