He chose a building I co-own. He knew before he toured it, and I still offered to walk away.
In 2025, Victory CRE worked with Scott Greene of SOPA Inc., a family-owned furniture and seating company entering Oklahoma, on a 50% stake in an Edmond building co-owned by Tom H. Vaught. Tom disclosed his stake before the tour and offered a referral to independent representation.
By Tom H. Vaught, SIOR ·
This is the story I tell when someone asks how I handle a conflict, because it's the truest answer I have. SOPA, a family-owned furniture and seating company expanding into the Oklahoma market, was referred to me through the SIOR network by a broker in Little Rock I'd worked with before. What happened next is exactly why that referral was the right call.
Earn the work.
I started the way I start every engagement: I sent Scott thirty locations that fit SOPA's use. When he drove into town, we narrowed it down and toured six of them in person. No shortcuts. A real survey of what the market had to offer for his business.
The client picks… mine.
When we narrowed the list to six, one was a building a partner and I own. I told Scott before he ever saw it, along with the exact deal I'd do: a straight, no-haggle price for a 50% stake. He kept coming back to it on the merits.
Call the conflict out loud.
Once Scott was set on it, I stopped and told him plainly: this is an obvious conflict. Then I offered to refer him to someone with no stake, so he'd have a broker purely on his side of the table. He comfortably declined.
Aligned, not conflicted.
We're now 50/50 partners in that building, and Scott is thrilled with it. That's the whole point. The conflict didn't disappear because I ignored it. It disappeared because I named it, handed him the choice, and let him decide with everything on the table. That's the difference between a conflict and a problem.
A conflict you hide is a problem. A conflict you disclose, and offer to walk away from, is just honesty. I'd rather lose the deal than have a client lie awake wondering whose side I was really on. That's the job.Tom H. Vaught, SIOR · Victory CRE
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