Real Estate’s Coolest Misfits

Michelangelo once said, ‘I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.’ And if there’s one way to describe the rise of Tyson Properties Northern Suburbs, that would be it. This team didn’t walk into a polished, pre-furnished empire. They built it. Chipped away at the unknown. Shaved off expectations. Held the vision steady, even when things looked unremarkable on the surface. And what they uncovered, slowly and deliberately, was nothing short of a phenomenon.

It all started back on 23 September 2021 – red carpets rolled out, glossy signage glinting in the sun, big dreams and even bigger pressure. This wasn’t just any new branch. It was the youngest of four siblings in the Tyson Properties Western Cape family and all the older ones were already out there winning races. The Atlantic Seaboard office had that magnetic, big-city charm. Southern Suburbs was composed and reliable, like the golden child who aces every group project. Western Seaboard? A coastal rebel with a deeply curated social life. So who’s the Northern Suburbs in this big chaotic family?

When Waynette Rule joined the office as an agent, she had no plans of sticking around to manage the place. In fact, she very nearly joined a different brand altogether. “But then I saw a video of Tyson’s Atlantic Seaboard office,” she recalls. “They weren’t just putting on a show, they looked hungry. Hungry in the way you want your colleagues to be. That video was it for me. I switched, and I never looked back.” Two years later, in January 2024, she became office manager. At the time, it felt like a big ask. But she’d been there since the beginning, the very first day the doors opened. “This office was my baby. I couldn’t let someone else come in and mess up what we were trying to build.”

By June 2024, Beau Steyn had stepped in as rental manager and Bertho Marais joined the fold, not just as a top-producing senior agent, but as a shareholder. Together, the trio spearheaded a growth curve that shocked even the most seasoned real estate pros: 130% turnover growth in a single year. And before you ask, no – there was no magic button. No shortcut. No secret sauce beyond good old-fashioned hustle and ruthless authenticity.

Beau puts it best. “You have these ideas of how you think it’s going to go. That if you work hard, everything will just fall into place quickly. But it doesn’t. And it’s not supposed to.” He admits that if he could go back, he’d shift the expectations he set for the first two years. Not the strategy, that worked just fine. But the mindset. Because comparing your newborn office to the sprinting siblings next door is like comparing crawling to crossfit. It’s not the same game. “We had to crawl, then walk, then run,” Waynette says. “Our siblings were already sprinters. We just had to catch up in our own way.”

And while it may be tempting to copy what’s worked elsewhere, this team will be the first to tell you: Northern Suburbs is not copy-paste territory. It’s not a numbers game, not a clone of the coastline offices. “You can’t open a branch in a new area with a completely different culture, different values, and expect the same results,” says Waynette. “This community is unique. It’s deeply family-oriented. And we had to learn what kind of agent would really fit here.”

Turns out, what fit best were the ones who didn’t quite fit in anywhere else. “We’re a bunch of misfits,” Waynette laughs. It’s The Breakfast Club, but make it real estate. And somehow, that unlikely cocktail of backgrounds and personalities turned out to be magic. Most of the agents had come from other companies where they were struggling, some even questioning if they were cut out for the industry at all. Then they joined this office. And suddenly, they were thriving. One agent, with zero real estate experience, is now halfway to Double Diamond – in their first three months on the job.

But don’t get it twisted, this isn’t some woo-woo kumbaya situation. There are rules. There are procedures. There are big personalities and sometimes even bigger disagreements. “We don’t pretend it’s perfect,” says Waynette. “We talk about the good moments, but we don’t shy away from the tough ones. We have quarrels, and that’s okay. It means we care.” Because at the core of this office – loud, proud, chaotic in the best way, is an unwavering sense of family. Authenticity isn’t a buzzword here. It’s the blueprint.

That authenticity bleeds into the way they do business. “We don’t just work for the success, we act from what’s in our heart. The results will follow,” says Bertho. Unlike many other agencies, Tyson Properties Northern Suburbs doesn’t gatekeep leads or cling to clients like personal trophies. If an agent isn’t the right fit for a buyer or seller, they team up and co-work the deal. “You’re not just getting one agent when you sign with us,” Waynette explains. “You’re getting an office. A squad. A strategy.” And in a high-stakes industry where competition usually kills collaboration, that’s rare. Wildly rare. Beau agrees. “Most agents don’t want to share. They’re scared of losing out. But we’re so far from that type of culture here.”

And the proof is in the property pudding! That 130% growth didn’t materialise out of thin air. It was built through strategy, from identifying the right agents for the right areas to building a marketing engine that backed every listing, every campaign, every late-night WhatsApp. “It wasn’t luck,” says Waynette. “It was a mapped-out journey. From area specialisation to cold callers to marketing, we knew what we wanted to achieve and we made sure the plan existed to get there.”

The result? Recognition. And not just the pretty little award kind. At the most recent Tyson Properties Annual Awards, when the Northern Suburbs team won for highest growth, the room exploded. “You should’ve heard us,” Waynette laughs. “There’s a video. Screams. Cheering. Hugs. People crying. It wasn’t just pride, it was relief. Joy. The kind that only happens when you’ve fought for something with everything you have.”

That kind of energy doesn’t come from clocking in and out. It comes from being in the trenches together. And Waynette isn’t watching from a managerial ivory tower, she’s right there in the ring. “I’m still listing. Still canvasing. Still calling. It’s not ‘how many listings do you have?’ – it’s ‘let’s go get some together.’” It’s this hands-on, no-bull approach that makes her team feel safe enough to ask for help, admit when they’re struggling, and reach out beyond just business hours. “It’s not often you can message your manager about real stuff,” she says, “but here you can.”

That culture, of showing up, of being seen, of pushing each other without stepping on toes, is what drives the Northern Suburbs engine. It’s why agents from other companies tell new agents to join here, even if they didn’t themselves. It’s why misfits find their rhythm. It’s why success feels inevitable. “This isn’t about just selling houses, it’s about belonging,” says Bertho. Building a home, and then selling one too.

So if you’re looking for the perfect agent, Tyson Properties Northern Suburbs might not give you just one. They’ll build one for you. Together. Because that’s the way this office works – shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, deal by deal.

And maybe that’s why, when the awards were handed out and the cheers rang through the room, no one was surprised. Not really. Because this was never about luck. It was about carving the angel out of the marble and knowing exactly what it took to set her free.

This article was proudly sponsored by Abrahams & Gross Attorneys.