Invest in Debt
Arizona and other states in the Southwestern United States were wide open to developers for many years. They are filled with subdivisions created from cheap land which was then sold to gullible buyers. However, with the passage of enough time, some of the valuation and profit claims made when the land was sold may begin to have some truth to them. It's probably to late to help the original purchasers; they have probably long since died of old age.
These subdivisions always have lots of interesting history. (Interesting means you didn't loose any money on the deal. If you did it is painful.)
Land development is an expensive and difficult game. It eats cash and developers always get tremendously strung out financially. Everything takes longer, costs more than expected and sales never happen as quickly as needed. Since it is all being done with borrowed money there is a lot of stress all around. However the financial rewards are sometimes huge and make the risk worth it for some. However, this operating environment creates a short term mentality that tends to put problems off to the future whenever doing that will postpone costs and/or shift them to someone else.
Consider the survey. Obviously a land developer has to have someone survey the property and draw lines on the map for roads and lots. There is an old saying "Good, Fast, Cheap; Pick Two." In the case of new subdivision can you guess which item is the odd man out? No consider what the low bidder might consider leaving out. Which would be more work, making the roads and lot lines follow the contours of the land, or laying out a rectangular grid? If there is a lot of brush blocking line of sight sightings is it easier to brush cut the line or stand in a clear spot and then move to the approximate location? Ask an experienced title company officer if they know of any recreational subdivisions where the survey won't close :)
These kind of survey issues don't matter much when the developer bought the land for $50 and acre and is selling it on nothing down terms for $5,000 per acre. However, time passes. Sometimes growth happens and over a period of years the land becomes valuable. When the land is worth $50,000 an acre the quality of the survey becomes important. Like I said, interesting history.