Management is the easy part: It really doesn't require any. Just pay the taxes with the county and you're good and typically the taxes on some of this shit is so low it ain't even funny.
Give you an example: That 1.25 acres I saw in Colorado. It's in Alamosa County. I got the parcel number for the property, cross checked that with the county assessor to make sure I got the right one plus to see who owns it right now. I then checked with the county treasurer's office to see what the taxes are on that piece of land.
$4.04 in taxes. Fam I got that in change in my backpack.
The county also adds a $5 administrative fee for any taxes under $10 for a total of $9.04. Pretty sure I have that much is loose change as well.
That's it. For the cost of a combo meal you've paid the taxes for a year on 1.25 acres of land in Colorado.
The 20 acres I got up in Elko County runs me $41 a year. The 30 acres in Mohave County in AZ runs a bit over $100 a year. Contrast those lots to the spot near Grayling, MI; for 1.5 acres I'm looking at about $150 a year.
As for what do I look for... Dunno, it varies. In MI I look for places that I might want to eventually stick at least a tiny home on the land, so there needs to be resources nearby. In NV, AZ, and TX, I kinda don't care as long as there's a road of some sort that leads to it (which is also why I've been looking for an early Xterra or another Mercedes ML-class 'cause they're amazing off-road vehicles)