An agent at Virginia Country Real Estate, Hayes, Charlene Winter joined the company in 2013.

She said the firm, located at 3765 George Washington Memorial Highway, offers “excellent customer service to help clients buy and sell their home. This is a people business. Houses are secondary.”

Growing up in a military family, Winter landed in this area when her father’s last duty station was Langley Air Force Base. She grew up in Seaford, moved to Gloucester in 1980 and to Mathews in 1998. She taught school for 31 years, holding a master’s in education, and then, she said, “traded homework for homeowners.”

Winter said the real estate business occasionally throws up challenges: transactions that don’t close on time, difficulty with inspections, loans not approved, bad weather, “and now a pandemic.” But she and her colleagues keep plugging away, finding satisfaction in “matching the perfect house with the perfect buyer, navigating the daunting process for new buyers and new sell...