The Property Developers Next Door: One Couple's Bet on 50 Acres

Red River Gorge in Kentucky is a recreational beacon for anyone east of the Mississippi—heck, for anyone, anywhere. Rafting. Rock climbing. Hiking. It’s all there.

For those who know what “The Gorge” and its surrounding landscape have to offer, it’s hard not to want to find a way to make this natural respite a permanent part of your life.

Brittany and Gabor Nagy did exactly that when they established The Glenmeade, a combination cabin and wedding resort tucked into the craggy, forested foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest. And in this landscape of plenty, if it weren’t for Land id®, they may still be looking for a suitable location.

Escaping the Nine-To-Five

“Like anybody else, the main thing we were looking for was a way to make passive income,” Brittany told Land id. “So, finding a good property where we could build multiple different cabins on and have guests enjoy … We really wanted a place that had a view and felt really secluded and quiet.”

While Red River Gorge does indeed offer solitude, it is by no means undiscovered. Few places this ruggedly beautiful are. Finding enough land to meet the Nagys’ needs wasn’t without its challenges.

For starters, visiting a wilderness area like The Gorge isn’t an easy Saturday afternoon drive. Because of that, the couple initially considered Gatlinburg, a tourist destination on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina.

Secondly, woodsy lots in recreational hotspots suited for resort-style development are far scarcer than single-family homes. That scarcity is precisely what makes them valuable—and competitive. Institutional builders and speculators tend to have the resources to outbid and outlast buyers like the Nagys. The longer a search drags on, the slimmer the odds of elbowing out the competition.

Finding That Just-Right Property

The Nagys toured more than 20 properties. None of them seemed to fit. Most of them were too big for their needs, and evaluating each one meant hours of travel just to get a feel for the terrain—only to find out it wouldn’t work.

“Unless you wanted to take two hours to hike the entire property to see … What did it look like? What were the elevation changes? What were the potential spots [we could build on]?” Brittany said.

The couple’s real estate agent suggested Land id for its ability to provide detailed insights on land parcels from afar, all from an app or browser. It was an ideal use case for how an ambitious buyer can act faster, with even more land intelligence, than deep-pocketed competitors.

“While Gabor would drive, I’d open Land id to see if a property was too concave, too flat. If it didn’t fit the criteria exactly, I would just nix it off the list,” Brittany said. “The fact that the app is all-inclusive is a big thing for me. We could see all the property details, all the elevation changes, all the features, play with overlays.”

The Nagys said that Land id’s unified platform accelerated their use, preventing them from “having to bounce around between eight different websites” to determine critical factors for making an offer.

Making the Dream a Reality

The Nagys found 50 acres of land on which to construct The Glenmeade, roughly 15 miles from Natural Bridge State Park.

The property has a waterfall, natural springs, and 300 feet of elevation change, striking a balance between buildable parcels and intrinsic ruggedness.

“Our vision for the property was to have multiple cabins available for people to come and enjoy, and that’s one of the things we used Land id for,” Gabor said. “As we were hiking it, we were looking for the flatter areas or cool spots where we could showcase some of our rock features, caves, and the spring. It was easy on Land id to pin on the map where the cabins would go. We’ll have a wedding venue, and the main house will become a restaurant in the future.”

The Nagys' experience with Land id reflects the value of using a single application to understand where real estate begins. Property investors like Brittany and Gabor—people with a dream and a willingness to do the legwork—no longer have to cede ground to whoever has the deepest pockets. They just need the right tools. For the Nagys, that meant trading the nine-to-five for 50 acres of waterfalls, rock caves, and natural springs, and building something worth escaping to.

Watch the full interview on YouTube.

Learn How They Did It

Our customer stories feature real Land id users—people like you who saw a challenge and found a solution. Here are the Land id features Brittany and Gabor Nagy used to find their perfect investment property.