@Jon Dorsey - I've tried this on a few occasions, my experience was that the mills around here are very specific on the size and straightness of the raw lumber. 

My Raw.

A lot of people really are challenged looking at raw deals and being able to see the final product, or potential.

New construction loans are also very reliant on the investor and the investor's experience since there is really no asset other than raw land. 

@Nick Capriotti as you can tell from the responses above, there are two different ways that people value raw land.  

I just wanted to highlight the element that people need to not look for big construction projects, but instead look for cheap deals.I started with rentals in war zones, and spent far to many cold winter nights knee deep in raw sewage and flooded basements to count how many mistakes I have made over the years..

We decided to start with an STR to generate more cashflow upfront and use this income to fund some long term rentals and some raw land.

Bonus... it smelled like raw sewage.

We have been very successful buying raw land and getting it entitled for development through the local municipalities for high profit sales to national track home builders. 

Instead, I settled on a property (raw land in a subdivision) on which I could build a home with the goal of renting it out and eventually retiring there (~15 years from now).