re: Been following a vacant lot near me and I'm a little skeptical about the price drops

This is a little out of what you're asking about so not much relevance. There is a golf course in Weatherford Tx (Canyon West). The houses out there are what I would call mid-high end homes. I'd say homes are in the $800k+ range. There are two houses on the 4th hole that got to the end of the framing stage, then they just sat for the last several years. They have the OSB on the roof but no shingles. Tyvek siding on the outside but no masonry done. Wood is absolutely toast at this point. I got paired up with a guy that lived on the course, and he said that they didn't pour any piers for the house and the soil out there called for it. Apparently the builder ran out of money. At this point, anyone buying the lot, is going to have to absolutely tear everything down and start from 0. Builders do run out of money, and especially given the instability over the last few years of building materials, could be anything.

I'd be mostly concerned about if there is any nuisances on neighboring lots, building restrictions for the lot, and like someone else said, is there anything under the ground that's going to prevent you from doing what you want to do. Is the lot an awkward size or similar sized to the neighbors?