Lahontan Realtor | Jackie Ginley
Luxury Real Estate Broker
Jackie Ginley is a realtor specializing in homes and land at Lahontan Golf & Country Club. As a dual-licensed broker (California & Nevada) with Chase International Real Estate, Jackie is widely recognized as one of the top luxury specialists in the Tahoe Truckee region. She has been ranked among the top 1.5 percent of realtors nationally with a sales volume of more than $100 million over the past few years.
Not surprisingly, Lahontan homes and land represent a significant share of Jackie's portfolio.
"It's easy to sell what you love," Jackie says. "I fell in love with Lahontan when it was first being developed in the late-1990s. When my son was in grade school, one of his best friends lived in Lahontan, and we lived at the time at the top of Tahoe Donner, a stone's throw from the Tahoe Donner Cross Country Center. It was about as far apart as two friends could live in the small town of Truckee, and a big investment in drive time for both moms!"
What I've Learned Selling Homes in Lahontan
"Contemporary architecture has become increasingly popular in Lahontan, but the best homes still share timeless qualities—outstanding architecture, strong indoor-outdoor connections, and craftsmanship."
Jackie watched Lahontan develop over the years, and she came to know the builders and architects who would put Truckee's first gated golf course community on the map. Artists like Greg Faulkner and Kurt Reinkens of MWA, who later designed Jackie's current home, offered a distinct architectural footprint for Lahontan that was reinforced by the architectural standards of the community.
"The architecture of the early years was amazing big timber construction incorporating granite boulders the size of armchairs," Jackie says. "It was like Greene & Green-meets-Mountain. As a fan of the early Craftsman movement, and someone in love with the big granite spaces of the Sierra Nevada, I was awed by some of the early designs."
This Lahontan home designed by Truckee architect Dennis Zirbel and built in 2007 is outstanding example of design that was pushing the limits of the Lodge-style that characterized Lahontan's early days. With extensive use of reclaimed materials and Craftsman-style finishes, it embraces both a traditional and emerging farmhouse aesthetic. One of a kind, really.
"Why Clients Hire Me for Lahontan"
- I know the community's architectural evolution.
- I understand the Design Review process.
- I have firsthand experience with local builders and architects.
- I write my own market reports.
- I personally create luxury marketing content.
- I stay involved from first showing through closing.
Lahontan over the Years
Lahontan was the first gated golf course community in Truckee. While some had reservations about the idea of neighborhood with a guard shack at the entrance, the popularity of the golf at Lahontan was never in doubt. When the Recession hit, Lahontan took a major blow. By 2011, the median sales price of a Lahontan home fell to $1.4 million (from a high of $2,850,000).
The Lahontan Golf Club, which is separate from the HOA, had begun offering "invitational" memberships to those with homes outside the gates. In the ensuing years, the popularity of the award-winning Tom Weiskopf course, drove demand so strongly that golf club initiation fees rose from $25k to $325k by 2026. With a cap on the number of members allowed, a Golf Club Membership had become a scarce commodity, with the Club having no memberships to sell by mid-2026 (click here for an in-depth article on this).
The market for homes and land in Lahontan surged dramatically during the Covid years, as buyers from urban areas like San Francisco and the broader Bay Area sought an escape from the Covid lockdowns. Demand was so strong that the Club had to briefly issue a moratorium on new Social Memberships to cope with capacity (click here for an article on that).
By 2023, the median home sale price in Lahontan had risen to a record $3.9 million. But median sales numbers are just one indicator of market health. Prices per square foot ($/sf), an upswing in the upper threshold of pricing, and sales volume are also key market factors that signal big shifts in any community.
In Lahontan, 2025 saw two unprecedented sales in the range of almost $7 - 8 million. (Click here for an article examining those sales in the context of the broader market). And by mid-year 2026, Lahontan also saw three significant sales in the $5 - 6M range. That signals a strong upward momentum for Lahontan.
What Lahontan homes will fetch the highest prices in the future?
Newer construction with contemporary design is fetching the highest price/sf in Lahontan right now. But there is a timelessness to the older Lodge-style homes, particularly if they are exceptional, like this Kurt Reinkens design that closed for $5.725 million early in 2026:
Tahoe meets French Chateau in this Kurt Reinkens designed home in Lahontan. Framed with his signature exposed trusses, it incorporates reclaimed materials with limestone and timeless Old World accents
"I could probably write a book about the range and depth of architecture in Lahontan. I mean, you still have some of the spec homes with trussed roofs and vanilla finishes from someone trying to replicate what's popular without actually taking the design time and money to make it exceptional," Jackie says. "But on the whole, the architecture you will find at Lahontan over the past three decades is as experimental, and as extraordinary, as much of what you will find at Lake Tahoe."
Q: Why work with Jackie Ginley in Lahontan?
A: Jackie has been intimate with Lahontan since its inception, but she offers a degree of unbiased advice because she is not tied to a particular sales office in Lahontan (or elsewhere). That independence also means she works harder on her marketing package, offering film-quality lifestyle videos (see examples below), advertising in HNW media outlets like the Wall Street Journal's Northern California edition and front page exposure on real estate magazines like Homes & Land.
A: Consider working with Jackie if you like dealing with agents who are smart, well-informed and honest. She takes her "fiduciary duty" seriously. That means not throwing your client under the bus to make a sale, which does happen. Prior to real estate, Jackie was an award-winning print journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area who covered, among other beats, state and federal courts for the Contra Costa Times chain.
A: Reputation matters. In a small market like Tahoe Truckee, where a few dozen realtors do the majority of the major deals, reputation is everything. Jackie's reputation among her peers in the Tahoe Truckee market is excellent. As one local broker said, "When you see Jackie's name on the other side of the aisle, you know you are dealing with someone you can trust."
A: The Insider's Advantage. Thanks to Jackie's strong relationships with her peers, Jackie often knows about homes for sale before they even hit the market. "Finding off market opportunities for buyers is most successful if the buyers have a specific idea of what they want," Jackie said. "If you tell me, 'Hey, I'm looking for a contemporary farmhouse-style 4-bedroom in a community with a great fitness center and spa,' I can always find you the perfect home." Jackie's firm, Chase International Real Estate, also offers an advanced platform for in-house listings (so-called "pocket listings") that ensures her buyers stay well informed.
A: Advertising is more than putting a home on the MLS with pretty pictures. With her writing and journalism background, Jackie is the best at telling the "Story of Your Home" with film-quality Lifestyle Videos that truly showcase what makes your home special. Below are two great examples:
Lahontan Home on Pete Alvertson that Jackie Ginley sold for $4,250,000 (click here to view details)
Lahontan Home on E.J. Brickell that Jackie Ginley sold for $3 million (Click here for details)
Jackie Ginley's Other Notable Lahontan Listings and Sales:
13212 Snowshoe Thompson, Lahontan, offered at $5,250,000 (click here for details)