DAVID ONG OF REAPFIELD PROPERTIES

The business success that real estate businessman, David Ong Thian Choy, 49, has achieved is an inspiration to many who believe in second chances.
His introduction to the real estate business was when he first sold a house belonging to a neighbour in Jalan Limau Manis, Bangsar, back in 1983. The house was sold for RM135,000 and he earned a handsome sum of RM2,700.

“It was such a great feeling. It was the start of a new journey in my life,” he recalls. “That was the same year I married my wife, Serene Lock. As I reflected back, my life has taken on a 180 degree turn.”

Today, Reapfield Properties’ nine offices in the Klang Valley is a beehive of activities for 250 real estate negotiators working with him. Most of his time now is devoted to training and building a strong team of real estate negotiators who want to succeed in life.
Ong’s story is one that is unusual – perhaps, one in a hundred thousand.

He was a dadah addict. His career in his early days was unimpressive. Who would imagine a social outcast could today live in a home in Bandar Utama, and enjoying good family life with his lovely wife and three teenage girls?

Ong’s real estate business has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 20 years. The business had gone through two cycles of recession, and is today, one of the fastest growing real estate companies in the country.

It shows that, whatever state of condition one may find himself in, there is always second chances for success. It takes a little determination and perseverance in life, and, in the words of Ong himself, “the blessings of God from above.”

Last year’s real estate sales value turnover for his company had exceeded RM700 million, and he is going for the next undisclosed target, which he believes, together with his powerful team of negotiators, Reapfield Properties is set to achieve.

Most of the Reapfield offices in the Klang Valley are focused in the Residential Secondary Market. The Reapfield Group is also affiliated with NAI, which is a global real estate service provider with more than 270 offices covering 340 markets in the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Asia Pacific. We are associated with Reapfield Property Singapore in marketing foreign properties mainly in Australia and New Zealand.

Wife, Serene Lock assists him in managing the finances of the business as the finance controller, where they operate out of their headquarters in Damansara Perdana.

His education is traced back to Methodist Boys’ School in Kuala Lumpur, where unfortunately, Ong’s education had to stop short when he failed his Lower Certificate of Education (LCE, equivalent to PMR today).

“I went on to Methodist Afternoon School, passed my LCE examination, and went on to Form Five to do my Malaysia Certificate of Education (MCE, equivalent to SPM) at Sekolah Menengah Kampung Kerinchi. I only passed two subjects in my MCE, that is, English and Geography,” he said. “Then, I went to work as a clerk in a brick works factory for one or two months.”

The rest was history. He left the bricks factory to join United Engineers as an apprentice fitter for a short stint of six months, and another few months in different companies.

The family moved to Bangsar. Due to peer pressure back in 1973, he started smoking cigarettes, which gradually led him to take ganja and heroin.

By then, he was spending between RM20 to RM50 a day, and before long, he found himself shoplifting, stealing and borrowing money to support his habit. When his parents discovered that he was on drugs, they tried many different methods to get him out of his dependence on drugs.

“I was taken to a private clinic, then referred to the General Hospital for detoxification. I also went to see a psychiatrist, a bomoh and finally a private rehabilitation center run by an ex-gangster chief in Batu Maung in Penang. They beat people up the moment the dadah addicts replapse to instill fear to keep them from drugs. The fear method did not work.”

The psychiatrist advised me to change my environment. “I went down to Singapore a second time, and stayed with my relatives. It was there that my mother through a church leader organized a group of friends, who were ex-Changi prisoners, whose lives had been transformed. I had an encounter with God at the meeting.”

He was later introduced to Joe’s Corner in Section 11 Petaling Jaya, where he spent two years in a drug rehabilitation regime. “It was effective. Once every fortnight, we would sit down together in the `Light Group’, where we would open up ourselves to one another, speaking the truth in love, correcting one another and helping to renew our mind.”

Gradually, his rebellious heart softened towards his God, and together with fifteen others in the rehabilitation center, they graduated. “Even after we completed our rehabilitation process, I had to live under the care of a pastor, who would gather us together and provide counseling. The whole process helped us transit back to society and to our family and loved ones.”
He decided to try sales. “The earnings from my car trade was five or six times more than the salary I was earning as a clerk,” he said. “Later, I started selling forklifts for another one or two years.”

It wasn’t until 1984, when he started Reapfield in a small office in SS2 Petaling Jaya. “The recession hit, and I was forced to close the office,” he said. “Times were bad, but my spirit never dampened. I still believe in the real estate business.”

In 1987, he joined a partnership known as PTL Realty. When it was time to part, Ong decided to reactivate his own company in 1989. Since then, the property market has been great, until the financial crisis hit in 1997/98. “All housing loans for property above RM150,000 were frozen and interest rates skyrocketed. Property did not pick up again until 2000,” he said.

Having weathered through two recessions, what is Ong’s advice for other businessmen and women? “Don’t get into debts. Be as debt-free as possible. When we are hit, we will not be so badly shaken.”

And, most importantly, referring to his company mission statement, he places great emphasis on divine help. “This is why I have built Reapfield Properties with the mission `to honour God by providing real estate services of the highest standards through equipping and developing our people’,” he said.



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