About Kim & Joel
Most Chicago families don’t plan to buy a lake house. It usually starts with a weekend. Or the third straight summer of losing the rental to someone who booked faster. Or a Sunday afternoon on the Geneva Lake Shore Path when someone says out loud, ‘we should just buy something here.’
That’s where Kim and Joel come in.
Between them, that’s more than five decades of helping Chicago families find their version of this place. Not just finding a property in Walworth County… but actually helping people figure out what they want from a lake house before they fully know how to ask for it. What’s the real difference between lakefront and lake access? Which communities work for families with young kids versus families who want quiet? What does owning property across state lines actually involve?
They’ve had this conversation hundreds of times.
And they’re still good at it.
Why Chicago Families Have Chosen Geneva Lake for Over a Century
Geneva Lake, Wisconsin has been the preferred summer home destination for
Chicago families for more than 100 years.
Just 90 minutes from downtown Chicago, and 60 to 80 minutes from the northern and western suburbs,
it offers lakefront living, world-class golf, four-season recreation,
and a stable second-home market with decades of demonstrated value.
The drive is the thing people underestimate.
You leave Naperville on a Friday afternoon and you’re there. The city doesn’t follow you.
If your lucky and can work remotely you leave on Thursday night, make a few calls on Friday morning and are
on the boat or golf course Friday afternoon.
Approximate drives from the Chicago area
Downtown Chicago /Lincoln Park: approx. 90 minutes
Naperville / western suburbs: approx. 75-80 minutes
Barrington / Inverness: approx. 65 minutes
Lake Forest / North Shore: approx. 60-65 minutes
Hinsdale / western suburbs: approx. 75 minutes
Meet Joel Reyenga
Joel Reyenga brings more than 40 years of experience in real estate, construction, and golf community sales to the Lake Geneva market. He served as Director of Real Estate Sales at Geneva National Golf Course Community and has guided families through hundreds of lakefront and recreational property transactions, giving buyers the kind of perspective that only comes from decades of hands-on work in this exact market.
Joel started in construction, which matters more than it sounds. He didn’t just learn to sell properties. He learned to read them. A foundation issue isn’t abstract when you’ve poured concrete. A renovation estimate isn’t just a number when you’ve managed crews.
That background led him somewhere unusual: Director of Real Estate Sales at Geneva National Golf Course Community. Then to Timilick Tahoe in Truckee, California. Then to The Cliffs Communities on Lake Keowee in South Carolina.
Each stop was a different version of the same thing: helping families make significant decisions about recreational properties and the communities built around them.
He’s sold hundreds of golf course and lakefront properties. What he’s actually done is help families figure out what they want from a second home and then find the property that delivers it. Those are different skills, and not every agent has both.
Chicago buyers tend to come with real questions. Pier rights. Association rules. Wisconsin property taxes. What a golf community’s HOA actually covers and what it doesn’t. Joel has answered all of them, more times than he can count, and he doesn’t mind the repetition. Because it’s not repetitive to the family sitting across from him.
Golf Course Communities | Lakefront Properties | Real Estate Investment | Construction Insight | Recreational Properties | Strategic Marketing
Meet Kim Reyenga
Kim Reyenga brings more than 30 years of experience in property management, home valuation, and vacation property sales to the Lake Geneva market. Her background in retail, hospitality, and renovation gives her a distinctive perspective: buying a summer home is the creation of a gathering place where families build their most important memories. That understanding shapes everything about how she works with clients.
Her career has been a mix of things that, in hindsight, all pointed here. Managing an apartment building in Lake Geneva in her mid-twenties while running retail stores downtown. Hospitality work at Geneva National. Renovation companies. And then in 2012, real estate. She joined Keefe Real Estate alongside Joel and moved to eXp Realty in 2019.
Three decades of working with properties means she knows what they need across seasons, which local vendors actually show up, and what to look for when you’re evaluating a place from two states away. That last part matters more than people expect. When a family walks through a property and says ‘this could be the one,’ Kim’s already done the math on what it will take to make it that. Not a skill that comes from a real estate exam.
Vacation Home Specialists | Property Management | Home Valuation
Vendor Coordination | Chicago Family Buyers | Lakefront Properties
What You Get When You Work With Both of Them
The Reyenga Team, Kim and Joel Reyenga at eXp Realty, specializes in summer homes,
lakefront properties, and golf course community real estate around Geneva Lake,
Wisconsin. Together they bring more than five decades of combined experience and a full-
service approach that covers every question a Chicago family brings to the second-home
buying process.
The Reyenga Team, Kim and Joel Reyenga at eXp Realty, specializes in summer homes,
lakefront properties, and golf course community real estate around Geneva Lake, Wisconsin.
Together they bring more than five decades of combined experience and a full-
service approach that covers every question a Chicago family brings to the second-home buying process.
Joel brings the construction background and 40-plus years in golf community and recreational property
sales. Kim brings the property management depth and the kind of patience that
doesn’t feel like patience from the client’s side.
Together they’ve built a reputation around making second-home ownership less confusing
for people who’ve never done it before.
Most of their clients are Chicago-area families who want a lake house and aren’t sure where to start.
Some have been thinking about it for years. Some stumbled into it on a weekend trip and called before they left town.
They work with what they describe as a teacher’s heart. Not trying to move you toward a specific
outcome. Trying to help you figure out what you’re figuring out. They believe that every family should be
able to make informed real estate decisions.
A couple of things worth knowing
Kim and Joel are golf members at Geneva National.
They hold memberships at Gordy’s Boat Club.
They’ve spent real time on this lake, in these communities,
doing the things their clients want to do.
That’s not a credential. It just makes them better at this.
They specialize in:
Summer homes and vacation properties for Chicago-area families
Lakefront homes and lake access properties on Geneva Lake
Golf course community homes — Geneva National, Abbey Springs, and beyond
Residential homes throughout Walworth County Lakes Region.
Condos and lower-maintenance vacation properties
Why They Built Lake Geneva Weekend
LakeGenevaWeekend.com was created by Kim and Joel Reyenga to serve the entire
Geneva Lake area, including visitors, residents, and the Chicago families who are still
discovering what this place has to offer.
It covers events, restaurants, community guides,
outdoor life, and the seasonal rhythms of the lake.
It’s the resource they wished existed
when they were first introducing clients to the area.
Over decades of introducing Chicago families to this area, Kim and Joel kept running into the same
problem. There was no good local resource. Tourism board content. Generic real estate copy. Nothing
that actually told the story of what life around Geneva Lake looks like week to week.
So they built one.
Lake Geneva Weekend covers events, dining, outdoor life, the communities around the lake, and
the seasonal experiences that make Geneva Lake worth the 90-minute drive. And eventually, for a lot
of families, worth owning a piece of it.
The real estate lives at YourLakeGeneva.com. The life that surrounds it lives here. Between the two,
you get a pretty complete picture of what owning something on this lake actually looks like.
Summer Homes for Chicago Families
That’s not a tagline. It’s what we’ve been doing for over fifty years combined.
Kim & Joel Reyenga, The Reyenga Team · eXp Realty
The Communities Around Geneva Lake
One of the most useful things Kim and Joel offer Chicago families early in the search process is a clear-
eyed comparison of what each community around the lake actually feels like, not just what the listings say about it.
Lake Geneva.
The most recognized name, and for good reason. Walkable historic downtown,
the Riviera Beach, active marina, year-round events calendar. Lakefront estates that have
anchored Chicago family summers for over a century. The Geneva Lake Shore path.
Williams Bay.
A quieter, more residential feel with exceptional lake front park and beach.
Families who want the lake experience without the foot traffic tend to find their home here.
Fontana-on-Geneva Lake.
The West End community comes alive in summer. The vibe here is
all about the lakefront. Funtana! Home to the Abbey Resort and the Abbey Marina.
Geneva National.
World-class golf, resort amenities, genuine privacy. Joel’s past role as Real
Estate Sales Director and current golf membership gives clients firsthand insight into this
community that goes well beyond what any listing can convey.
Abbey Springs.
Gated, private lake access, golf course, beach, and indoor-outdoor pool rec
center. Four-season living with the feel of a true community. A favorite among families who want
the lake life without the maintenance demands of a standalone lakefront property.
Ready to Start the Conversation?
If you’re just starting to think about what a lake house might look like for your family, that’s a fine place to be.
Kim and Joel have started this conversation with hundreds of families who weren’t sure yet.
Browse the homes at YourLakeGeneva.com. Read through the community guides on this site. Or reach out directly. No pressure.
They’ve been doing this for a long time and they’re good at it.