In 2005, Wayne Ramirez gave his daughter some fatherly advice.
Angela Bartels was just starting out in a tech career and needed a place to live and to invest her savings so she bought her first home.
“I still have that house and it’s because of my dad,” Bartels said.
Then, in 2024, she listened again, earning her real estate license and taking the leap to join him, assisting others in buying and selling property across the city.
Now the duo works together every day, navigating a San Antonio housing market they say is overall stable compared to other cities.
In May, 3,637 homes were sold in San Antonio, a 5% increase over the same month last year, according to a report from the San Antonio Board of Realtors (SABOR). It was the strongest monthly sales period so far this year, it states.
The inventory of homes for sale in San Antonio also expanded during that time and homes sold for an average of almost 93% of original list price.
That means buyers not only had more properties to choose from and more leverage at the table, market conditions have stabilized somewhat.
Buyers have not seen lower pricing in San Antonio at the beginning of the spring homebuying season since April 2021, when mortgage interest rates were near historic lows, according to a report by associate director of market analytics Danny Khalil at the firm CoStar Group and Homes.com.
The median price of single-family homes fell $10,000 in the last year to $305,000. That’s sent buyers rushing into the market.
It’s something of a rebound, however, as the market is “still reeling” from the slowdown in the Sun Belt over the past three years, CoStar’s report stated.
San Antonio home sales dipped 18% in late 2025 due to sellers holding onto low, pandemic-era mortgage rates on top of lingering high interest rates dampening buyer affordability and an oversupply of new builds.
“I will tell you there’s an echelon of homes in San Antonio that, if it goes on the market, it’s not going to stay on the market long, because it’s one of those unique homes, custom-built, a little bit older, and well-kept,” said Ramirez, who worked in the insurance and mortgage businesses before stepping into full-time real estate 20 years ago.
“But in general, [homes] have stayed on the market a while,” as many sellers compete with newly constructed homes on the market, he said.
“There’s all sorts of things you can get creative on” to get a home sold, he said. However, location still plays a key role and, in San Antonio, it is a buyer’s market despite the current interest rates, Ramirez added.
“Some people seemed to be purchasing on [monthly mortgage] payment rather than price,” he said.
‘Be serious’
Bartels started her career at Rackspace, spent a few years at Scaleworks and Big Sun Solar, and, during the COVID pandemic, worked as a marketing consultant with tech startups.
Two years ago, Ramirez invited his daughter in. “You already know real estate, you manage properties, just get your license,” she said, recalling the conversation.
She had a deep network in San Antonio that would help her get started and a sense for “fanatical” customer service that began at Rackspace.
More importantly perhaps, Bartels brought experience in tech and marketing that has made the team more effective on behalf of their clients.
“The industry has gotten so you need some platforms, you need some really good marketing techniques, and things like that to get someone’s house out in the market, because the competition is so hard right now,” Ramirez said.
Bartels agreed to give it a year and “be serious” about it. The team, which includes Ramirez’s wife Andrea, who does home staging, and a transaction specialist, joined the KW Heritage brokerage group.
Last year was tough, given market conditions, she admits. But now she’s sold.
“I always feel like I join an industry whenever it’s being disrupted or something’s changing, and so I [said], ‘Well, Dad, all I can do is go up from here.’”
Father and co-worker
The new working relationship took some adjusting for Bartels after a long and successful career on her own. Introducing him to clients and associates as her dad felt awkward at first.
The fact is, professionally, she relies on her father’s deep well of real estate knowledge and his innate understanding of San Antonio neighborhoods and culture.
“I’ll have a situation where I’m like, I don’t know what to do, and I’ll call him,” she said.
“I think the biggest challenge is that my dad has been running his own business for years,” Bartels said. “I come from corporate, I come from process [but] my dad keeps everything in his head.”
Ramirez keeps up with the changing laws around real estate and has an extensive background in dealing with contracts and mortgages. He also works closely with many of their senior clients and retirees who already know and trust him.
He laughs off the good-natured ribbing he gets. “All my colleagues and friends are saying, “Hey, how’s your boss doing?’”, he said. One of his sons will ask, is she going to let you take off to play golf with us?
Dad’s Day
This Saturday, for Father’s Day, he’ll do just that — play a round at Olmos Basin Golf Course with his two sons and a grandson.
On Sunday, he plans to grill shishkabobs with all his children and six grandchildren at their home.
“We’re very close. We’re all really good friends, so we’re always together,” Bartels said. “My friends think it’s crazy [but] that’s just how we were brought up … we’re a very tight-knit family.”
They both work outside of the normal 8-5, accommodating clients’ schedules. But the flexibility is a welcome change for the mother of three and she’s found helping people buy or sell a home is rewarding.
Ramirez can now say he’s worked alongside all four of his adult children at some point.
He also lives three blocks from his oldest and the two of them are together often at meetings and conferences, like the recent Urban Land Institute program, and also outside of the office and their home offices.
Working with her dad is a perk she didn’t expect.
“Everybody said what a blessing it is for you to be working with your dad, and I never really thought of it that way,” Bartels said. “But now as a mother (with) kids, and you realize how time is precious, and just having that opportunity to work with my dad, I’m finding it more just a blessing.”
