Even if you’ve never heard of Nathan and Scarlet Cao, founders of Modern Touch by Omega, you’ve probably seen their work. They are the historic home rehabilitators behind the restoration of the Hawk Mansion and hundreds of other homes in Oklahoma City, but there’s much more to the story than that.

Nathan and Scarlet Cao are living the quintessential American Dream. They own multiple businesses, have a beautiful family and are committed to making Oklahoma City’s neighborhoods stronger, one home at a time. Their story is one of struggle, immigration, tenacity and triumph, and it began when Nathan’s family left South Vietnam.  

“Our family immigrated to Oklahoma City in 1996 through the Humanitarian Operation program, which was set up by the United States’ government to sponsor former South Vietnamese who were involved in the former regime or worked for the United States. My dad served as an officer in South Vietnam Air Force. After the fall of Saigon, he was kept in “re-education” camp or prison for 6.5 years,” he says.

Nathan came to America when he was 13 years old, and spoke no English. “My life as a teenager was a struggle from language barriers to social and culture shocks,” Nathan says. “My parents’ only wish was all about their children’s future which means that my sister and I have some stable desk job and family.”   

He and Scarlet met in 2009, shortly after Nathan, a natural entrepreneur, had begun buying residential rental properties. She was an international student at Oklahoma State University, and the two soon found out that they had much in common, particularly their interest in business and entrepreneurship.

“At that time, I was struggling with capital to acquire more rentals,” Nathan says.  “She encouraged me to buy and sell homes. On our first Valentine’s Day, in 2010, she gave me a bottle of champagne with a note “Only open it after you sell your first home.”  Four months later, they popped the cork and business has grown ever since.

Nathan and Scarlet’s enterprises now include a  long-term-hold rental portfolio, Omegahouses; a rehabilitation department for re-sale, custom design and urban infill development under Modern Touch by Omega; furnished short-term rentals via Omegabnb; and an event center, La Bella Event Center.

The pair loves rehabilitating homes and they’ve developed a system. Nathan finds and acquires the homes and property. “Then he gives them over to me, and I renovate them,” Scarlet says. “I love the process of investigating a property, finding what can be repaired and what must be replaced, and rehabilitating the home.”

Although the Caos have worked in many neighborhoods and have rehabilitated more than 400 properties, Oklahoma City’s Asian District is a particular focus for them these days. “My family’s first home was in this district. It was a one-bedroom duplex at 1125 NW 27th, and we were a family of four living there,” Nathan says. There was no air conditioning, and Nathan remembers walking to Cao Nguyen Market before it was replaced by the massive Super Cao Nguyen, walking to English class at Harding Middle School with his parents, and to computer classes at United Way.

“The Asian District is where many Vietnamese families landed and got their start in the U.S. It wasn’t very pretty in the 1990s, and now I hope to be a part of the change. That’s what our project, McKinley Row is about, and many of our other urban infill projects. We want to help the district revitalize and become a jewel of Oklahoma City,” Nathan says. “We want to contribute our part.”

photos: Emily Hart