Our Approach

There’s More to the Story

You’re not just buying or selling a house, not just upsizing or downsizing. Maybe you’re beginning a new season in your life, finding a place to raise a family, looking for a fresh start, or getting back on your feet. Whatever the reason, your house is only part of the story. At Atwell Ford Real Estate, we want to know the whole story.

Our Approach

There’s More to the Story

About Us

Doing Real Estate Differently

At Atwell Ford, we believe that the process of buying and selling can be more than a transaction; it can be transformative. It’s a part of starting a new career, welcoming home a baby, relocating from a difficult situation, beginning new friendships, and taking big steps. We know that you’re selling your home or looking for a new home (or both!) for a host of reasons, and we want to walk that path with you.

Discover the difference having a supportive, invested team can make on your real estate journey.

We approach real estate with our whole selves, believing that life events–not just business–matters. At the end of the day, we want you to come away with an experience that is successful and empowering, whatever your reasons for buying or selling.

To give you that experience, we bring strategic guidance, informed by extensive expertise in the industry and in the Winston-Salem real estate market, into every conversation we have with you. We pull on the knowledge, resourcefulness, and ingenuity of the whole Atwell Ford team, not just your agent, an uncommon approach in our industry. With a supportive, invested team, you get a powerhouse of expertise behind you that can make the difference between simply getting the job done and a personal real estate journey.

At Atwell Ford, we make clients for life (and everything in between).

While sometimes our values mean we’re a bit counter-cultural, we want to guide you from our hearts and minds, not from our egos. At Atwell Ford, that’s how we approach real estate and why so many become clients for life–because your story doesn’t end with a signature on a dotted line.

Let’s Talk

If you’re ready to share your story with us, let’s start a conversation. Fill out our form, and we’ll contact you to learn more about your real estate needs.

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Put a Face to a Name

The best part of Atwell Ford Real Estate is our team. Our agents and staff are some of the best in the business. Find out why.

Meet the Team

Abby Atwell

Lead Agent / Co-Founder

Bekah Cooke

Director of Operations / Co-Founder

Mark Easterling

Lead Agent

Jill Sears

Lead Agent

Sarah Chrysson

Lead Agent

Karen Neitz

Transaction Specialist

Melissa Neff

Listing Prep Specialist

Put a Face to a Name

The best part of Atwell Ford Real Estate is our team. Our agents and staff are some of the best in the business. Find out why.

Meet the Team

Abby Atwell

Lead Agent

Bekah Ford Cooke

Director of Operations

Mark Easterling

Lead Agent

Jill Sears

Lead Agent

Sarah Chrysson

Lead Agent

Karen Neitz

Transaction Specialist

Melissa Neff

Listing Prep Specialist

650+ homes

bought/sold in the area

$175 M+

in transactions

5 out of 5

rating on Google and Zillow

Our Story

A Friendship Rooted in A Place

From its very beginnings, Atwell Ford Real Estate has been about connection. Two childhood friends built their long-standing friendship into a real estate agency because of the joy they shared in helping people buy and sell homes.

Despite having a mother and a grandmother in real estate, Abby Atwell grew up saying she would never be in real estate. Imagine her surprise when, in 2013, she found herself attending a six-week intensive course to get her Realtor® license–and loving it. Abby joined a local real estate agency that year and quickly found what she thought would be a part-time job turning into a full-time career. Her rapidly expanding business needed help.

Enter Bekah Cooke (née Ford). In 2014, she was returning home from spending a few years in California and the Netherlands with her family. When childhood friend Abby asked her to come on board, Bekah immediately dove in, working miracles in the background. As the business continued to build, Bekah’s role expanded and, in 2015, she earned her Realtor® license.

Working in concert, the two quickly realized that they were perfect complements for this business. Between the two, they provided the right balance for propelling it forward. They were left brain and right brain, innovator and implementer, the gas and the brake. Their unique synergy helped the real estate company flourish.

In 2016, the duo needed a change. The business continued growing, they were spending more and more time working. With young children at home, they were looking for a balance between the business they loved and spending time with their families. They learned about Keller Williams Realty, a real estate franchise, that was exactly what they needed. That year, Abby and Bekah launched their real estate company as an affiliate of Keller Williams.

In 2023, the company became Atwell Ford Real Estate, a change from its earlier name, “The Umlauf Group.” By combining “Atwell” and “Ford” (the founders’ maiden names) to become Atwell Ford Real Estate, they’re tapping back into the origins of their friendship and their history in the community. Their name represents Atwell Ford’s commitment to the growth and vibrancy of the region and the people who reside in it.

Our Story

A Friendship Rooted in A Place

From Abby & Bekah

At Atwell Ford Real Estate, we do this job out of an abundance of passion. We want to invite you into a culture of relationship, providing valuable expertise and authentic care for you and your goals that stretch beyond a signature on a dotted line.

From Our Clients

We have worked with Atwell Ford to purchase 3 homes now. Each experience was tailored so perfectly to my needs. Jill Sear was my agent for this search. She was engaged, attentive, and helpful throughout the home-buying process. She actively found homes for us to see, set up showings quickly, worked with us to think through offers strategically, quickly prepared relevant paperwork, helped us to address issues with the home we bought, effectively communicated with other parties involved in the sale, and generally made the experience of buying a home enjoyable. We highly recommend Jill!

Katherine S.

We can’t say enough good things about Mark and Atwell Ford. They really made the process of buying and selling our home a pleasure. They are good quality decent humans that we would consider friends. Mark always made us feel like his priority was guiding us to find the right home for us. He is also incredibly knowledgeable in the business, as well as the local market. We felt confident in his knowledge and guidance. We really appreciated the team effort of the whole group, everyone works together for the good of the client, and it is obvious that they all respect and care for one another. We cannot recommend Mark highly enough.

Jason S.

As first time home buyers who were also purchasing virtually, we relied heavily on Abby and her team to help us through the process. Abby was always quick to respond and was extremely knowledgeable about the area! We also worked closely with her team members, especially Bekah. The team aspect at Atwell Ford is unmatched! Everyone was so willing to lend a helping hand and share their knowledge! We would wholeheartedly recommend Atwell Ford and will always look to them for our realtor needs!

Taylor C.

Discover Our City

We love this city. For us, it’s more than a market; we think it’s a great place to live. Discover why we think you might love it, too.

Join Our Team

Interested in working on a professional and personable real estate team? Discover what a career with Atwell Ford looks like.

Discover Our City

We love this city. For us, it’s more than a market; we think it’s a great place to live. Discover why we think you might love it, too.

Join Our Team

Interested in working on a professional and personable real estate team? Discover what a career with Atwell Ford looks like.

Atwell Ford Real Estate confidently jumps into the trenches with clients, building trust by tackling all the variables of buying and selling homes to deliver results that transform people into neighbors and neighborhoods into communities that help grow our city.

1100 S Stratford Rd, Bldg C, Ste 200 Winston-Salem, NC 27103

336.283.2105

[email protected]

1100 S Stratford Rd, Bldg C, Ste 200 Winston-Salem, NC 27103

336.283.2105

[email protected]

Each office is independently owned and operated.