Neighbors Featured in Oak Cliff Advocate
https://oakcliff.advocatemag.com/2026/01/ryan-and-jared/
Swiping on Bumble in 2016 has led to nearly a decade together.
Ryan Stepp and Jared Ragsdale had their first date in Dallas with only one of them living in the city. They knew from the start their relationship would be long distance, but that didn’t seem to bother the two because of their strong connection.
Stepp originally moved to Dallas in 2013 from Central Texas. An Aggie graduate, he began his career at Neiman Marcus and later attended grad school at SMU from 2019-2021. He now works in business development for healthcare.
Similarly, Ragsdale went back to school for a career change to study interior design. He had one year left at Stephen F. Austin State University when he met Stepp, already with the intention to move to Dallas after graduation.
During the first year of getting to know each other, Ragsdale made the drive up often. With those visits northwest, Ragsdale would bring the dog treats from his bank job with to save for Charlotte, winning over her heart before Stepp’s.
Stepp added that the pair never felt the pains of long distance since Ragsdale came to Dallas so often.
“There was more to do here than there was in East Texas on the weekend,” Ragsdale says with a laugh.
From the beginning of their relationship, it was expected that they would eventually end up together in Pegasus City, just not yet.
“We realized this is what we both wanted, and it worked out,” Stepp says. “Honestly, it made our relationship stronger by being long distance for a year, just because you didn’t have to have that constant like seeing each other and everything. Like, you kind of were able to build a relationship, but still be independent in your own city for a while.”
Now together in the same city, from 2017 in East Dallas to 2019 in Oak Lawn, they’ve kept that independence. Living in separate spaces during their early days, Stepp shared that Ragsdale was understanding of his long campus hours in grad school and vice versa when Ragsdale traveled often with interior design.
As dedicated as the pair are to their independent careers, they were also dedicated to buying their first home in 2022. Stepp added that rising rates led to that search, with their desire to own an old home together.
“Where our 1930s quadplex was in Oak Lawn, we were just right adjacent to Highland Park, so when we would go walk and run, we would always go in that direction,” Ragsdale says. “We would just see how all over Highland Park, they’re tearing down these beautiful old houses just left and right. And so that’s what led us to Oak Cliff. Because, first-time home buyers, Highland Park is not happening.”
Their good friend and real estate agent Michael Mahon helped guide them through the neighborhoods of Oak Cliff, such as Elmwood and Winnetka Heights, for their dream style: a Tudor cottage older than the 1920s or 1930s. Along that journey, they got engaged.
After a rejected offer, they found a home in June they love surrounded by the wild peacocks of Beckley Club Estates.