Abby Atwell

Atwell fell in love with houses long before she sold them: the character of an old Ardmore bungalow, the bones of a midcentury ranch, the stories a home tells before you ever step inside. But what turned that love into a career is the people. As co-founder and lead listing agent of Atwell Ford Real Estate, she’s built her business on the belief that every client, every home, and every neighborhood has its own story, and her job is to listen well enough to get it right. Whatever brings someone to buying or selling, helps them figure out what they actually want from the journey, then works relentlessly to get them there.

Real estate is in her blood. Born and raised in Winston-Salem, grew up listening to her mother and grandmother talk shop, and the lesson that stuck wasn’t about contracts or commissions. It was that how you treat people is the whole game. She swore she’d never go into the family business, but after years of informally dispensing neighborhood advice to anyone who asked, she finally gave in and got licensed in 2013. A few years later, she founded the team that would become Atwell Ford Real Estate.

Abby has lived all over Winston-Salem, from Ardmore and West Salem to downtown and Country Club area, and her love for this city’s distinct personalities runs deep. These days you’ll find her in the stands at RJ Reynolds High School football and basketball games and front row at hip-hop dance competitions cheering on her son Moses, or out on long walks and at sporting events with her son Asher, her favorite companion for both. When she’s not with her boys, she’s off adventuring with Jason Summers, her partner of five years and favorite travel buddy. Together they’ve wandered from Yellowstone and the Badlands to Portugal, London, Belgium, Mexico, and New York City, with more stamps in the passport to come.

She also still curates an impressive collection of headbands.