Strictly, recreational land is land bought for use rather than for production or a residence: hunting, camping, riding, fishing, target shooting, a place to park a camper on weekends. It sits next to farmland, which is bought for what it grows, and residential land, which is bought to build on. A parcel is recreational because of the buyer's intent, so the same 40 acres can be a timber investment to one person and a deer lease to another.
Loosely, and you've spotted this correctly, agents also use recreational as a soft label for land that can't easily be built on or farmed. Steep, wet, or with no legal access, it gets called recreational because that's the honest remaining use. Both usages are in play in the same listings, which is why the word feels empty.
It does change pricing, because recreational buyers pay for specific features. Water on the parcel, mature timber, a food plot or an existing shooting lane, gated access, a level spot for a camper, and proximity to public land or a state forest all move the number. A 5 acre wet parcel with a creek can outsell a dry 5 acre field to that buyer.
The thing that trips people coming from houses is that the county doesn't care what you call it. What controls whether a buyer can camp there, put up a shed, or leave a travel trailer is the zoning and any private restrictions recorded against the parcel, and those vary by county and state. Read the actual ordinance and the recorded deed restrictions before you advertise the use, because a buyer who moves in a camper and gets a violation notice will come back to you.
