Obviously I have little information to go on but my gut suspects they are game players and they think once they are in the house they will be able to leverage the problems and live there free for a long time.

If your not a big player.

They will know the players (sponsors, lenders, investors) who are active in your type of deal. 

I believe there was another thread on this topic floating around were some local smaller player companies were mentioned.

Private money lender will give the same terms on either property, so financing is not a player. 

Also referred to as non qualified mortgages or "Non-QM", they are a burgeoning industry (has been for the last several years) and lately, since the loans that were originated (and sold) have performed well on the secondary market as mortgage backed securities, more players are entering this arena.We close loans with Finance of America.

I have some friends who are also very interested in investing here too, and they are counting on me to build a team, or find some key players with boots on the ground that we would be able to work with.

I'm sure there's some big players from those coasts trying to secure their investments.

the bigger the deals it weeds out those that cant execute but make no mistake there is a lot of money out there and many many folks who can execute.. they just are probably not on BP  LOL.. so in your area 320 acres could be one or two lots or it can be a subdivision.. and if it has subdivision potential i am sure most of the bigger players there know about it and what can be done with it.. now you maybe able to do some of the due diligence that i have to hire and pay folks for ..

You need to see some consistency in the market: a) have the jobs been coming in for the last few yearsb) have the population been increasing in the last few yearsc) does the area have industries diversityd) who are the major players in the employment industry?