Lake Geneva Waterfront Flips Extend Luxury Run

Two waterfront Lake Geneva houses sold last week, showcasing big gains in property value through flips on both while adding to the string of big deals in the Wisconsin resort town.

The two deals, which both closed on Friday, are the latest of several high-end houses to sell this fall in Lake Geneva, a popular second home location for Chicagoland residents.

One house, at W3240 Park Drive, sold for nearly $6 million. The 3,300-square-foot house has private lake frontage and a private pier with a boat slip.

It’s the third time in as many years that listing agent Wendy Murphy, with Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty, has sold the house. It sold in November 2024 for $5.25 million, and in August 2023 for $4.2 million, growing its value by about 43 percent in two years. The sales give an insight into property value appreciation on Lake Geneva, Murphy said.

“There seems to be no lack of interest in that higher end market here in Lake Geneva,” she said.

At less than 3,300-square-feet, the Park Drive house is the smallest of the lakefront homes to sell this fall. Still, its condition and architectural style made it an attractive property, Murphy said. The home was designed by Engerman Contracting, a custom home builder in Lake Geneva.

“It is the perfect size for a family to be able to gather,” she said. “It just has that architecture that just screams the Cape Cod feel.”

The sellers of the Park Drive house are Philip and Melody Lekousis, according to property records. The house had an interested buyer before the listing went public, Murphy said, and the house ultimately sold to that party. Murphy declined to share additional details about the buyers or sellers, and the buyers are not yet identified in public records. The buyer’s agent was listed as “non member” on listing websites.

The sellers paid $35,000 in property taxes in 2024, according to county records.

On the northeast end of the lake, the house at 8 Hillside Drive sold for $7.4 million on Friday. That house, too, sold in October of last year for $5.9 million, increasing in value by 25 percent in a year.

The 4,300-square-foot house has five bedrooms and five bathrooms. It has lakefront access and a boat pier, and sits on a 0.58-acre lot.

David Curry of Geneva Lakefront Realty represented both the buyers and the sellers on the deal. He didn’t return a request for comment.

The house was purchased under an LLC that obscures the new owner’s identity. The previous owners were Vincent and Patricia Kolber, public records show. The tax bill for the property in 2024 was about $53,000, property records show.

This fall has seen a run of luxury home buying on Lake Geneva. Seven homes have sold on the lakefront for more than $5 million in the last three months, according to listing services. In the eight months preceding that, just five homes sold on the lakefront at that price.

That’s in part because sales activity has shifted to later months over the last few years, Murphy said. Until recently, listing and buying activity would pick up in the early spring and summer. Now, Murphy said houses aren’t going on the market until late summer.

“A lot of that is sellers are seeing that they’re commanding high prices, and they want to get one more year out of it, and be able to use the house for the summer months,” Murphy said.

That buzz may taper off in the winter, Murphy said. Only two waterfront Lake Geneva houses are currently publicly listed. One is a 7,800-square-foot new construction on South Lake Shore Drive that listed for $10 million in late September. The other, a log cabin-style home, has had less luck than most properties on the lake. It was listed Aug. 22 for $6.75 million but has had its price chopped twice since then, and it’s now asking $5.6 million.