BiggerPockets

Not really in this market. There might be if you buy the lots in bulk from a bank and as part of the deal have them promise you construction financing to approved buyers. This is done in Milwaukee for the condo market. You can buy unfinished condos and have the bank finance the sale of them once you are done with the construction.

IMO, depends on the lot and the plans! There are many variables here, price range, and location being two big factors. If this is an upscale area and a custom home, those are still moving in my area, but I'm not familiar with NJ. I suggest you find a local Realtor who has experience in residential developments, you might look for a good builder to work with. Just selling the plans with a lot, depending on zoning/building requirements there, seems to me to be a slim market unless you can follow through to the finished product. So, I'd suggest you work with a builder and put a team together for your market. Doing one lot doesn't seem remarkable, maybe think about a subdivision development, mini estates with some land, which are popular in my area in the burbs...good luck...

I have seen builders use plans to promote their inventory of vacant lots, but the plan is more of a marketing piece to appeal to buyers rather than "this plan is approved on this lot".

where i live, getting a set of stamped plans for a lot takes no more than a couple of weeks... worst case scenario, so the value is more perceived than actual in that regard. it is also used as a tool to get clients that need a home designed and built on their own lots.

Lots with pre-approved plans seems like a slim market to me. When someone's looking for an existing house, they have to take what's already there. The upside is that it is already there and, more or less, ready to move in. OTOH, if someone wants to build a house, they usually want some input into exactly what that house is like. They have to wait, but then they get exactly what they want.

A lot with a pre-approved plan seems like the worst of both worlds. You have to take what's in the pre-approved plans (or, go back through the approval process) AND you have to wait for it to be built.

Back in the boom times, I did see this happening a lot in new developments. The building would have a few model homes, a bunch of lots platted out with the horizontal development done and a few options for a small set of plans. You picked the floor plan and options and they built it. But those days are behind us.