Tamara Towns-Pozorski, CRS, was determined to earn her designation early in her career
When Tamara Towns-Pozorski, CRS, decided to pursue a career in real estate, she began taking her licensing coursework at Waukesha County Technical College in her home state of Wisconsin. At the time, she had hopes of getting as much in-person interaction with professionals who were already deep within the field, so a college setting felt most appropriate. She got her real estate license in 2012 and decided to go a step further by also securing an associate’s degree in real estate. Since 2013, she’s been serving Waukesha County and the surrounding areas as a broker associate at Benefit Realty.
The desire to seek out both educational and networking opportunities in tandem has remained a key goal of Towns-Pozorski’s throughout her career. Once she had her degree and license, she felt it was time to learn how to truly be a REALTOR®. To do this, she decided to attain her Graduate, REALTOR® Institute (GRI) designation. While enrolled in the GRI program, she found that of the classes she took, the ones taught by CRS instructors proved to be much more useful than others. She was learning so much from them that it became clear to her that REALTORS® with a CRS Designation had to be the best of the best in the industry, and that she had to become a part of this elite group as soon as possible.
Becoming a CRS early on
After her introduction to CRS agents, she began taking as many CRS classes as she could sign up for. Before she knew it, she’d earned more than enough education hours to qualify. It took her just two years to make enough sales to be able to attain her CRS Designation in December of 2015. This was an exciting moment in her career because she knew she’d just become a part of a rare group of the nation’s best real estate agents.
“Taking CRS classes helped me be very successful as a real estate agent very early on in my career,” she says. “I was licensed in 2012 but started working as a REALTOR® with Benefit Realty in 2013 and had over $2 million in sales and 10 transactions that year. Then, in 2014, I had $7.3 million in sales and 27 transactions.”
In 2014, she even helped a client purchase a $650,000 commercial property. She had worked part-time for her family’s commercial property development business, and with hard work and advice from her peers, she was able to get the deal done.
She says that she’s constantly amazed by the impressive work that CRS agents do across the nation, and that they’re so willing to share their invaluable knowledge and insight. Getting into the industry and seeing her peers who had CRS Designation taking on great projects and doing amazing, impressive work made her feel like this was the norm for real estate agents. It wasn’t until later did she realize that such great work is not the standard.
Being taught and encouraged by CRS agents “allowed me to truly succeed in being an agent,” she says. It also taught her how to both stay in and thrive in the business, while others find themselves struggling and floundering, or even seeking out different career options.
Working at a discount brokerage
Towns-Pozorski has been working as a real estate associate for Benefit Realty, a premier full-service discount real estate listing broker, since 2013. What exactly is a discount brokerage, you may ask? “Most brokerages charge what’s considered a full-price commission, which is 6%–7%, or in that general range,” she explains. “The company I work for specifically charges less. Just a bit of a different model for a real estate company.”
She feels like discount brokerages have a bit of a bad rap in the industry, however she’s enjoyed her time with the brokerage and being able to help her clients save money while getting great work done. She also says that even with these lower rates, she’s still been able to make a good deal of money.
“I love helping my clients save money and keep that money in their pocket so that they can use it for moving expenses or put into their next house,” she says. “Or maybe they’ll be able to use the savings when selling in the future.”
Towns-Pozorski lives in a more rural area between Madison and Milwaukee but tends to drive about 45 minutes for most of her listings. She’s observed that those who live in the area are some of “the most friendly and welcoming people,” and that there’s always “tons going on, lots of community events, festivals, sporting events and theater.”
She says that for most of her clients, it’s also their first time working with a discount brokerage, and they end up loving their experience. “My client base is very loyal and great about referring me to their friends and family because they want them to have great service and save a little bit of money over the traditional commissions that they are usually charged,” she says.
Continuing education and networking with RRC
Towns-Pozorski says that she’s reaped countless benefits being involved with RRC. She joined the Wisconsin RRC Leadership team in 2019 as a committee member on the Membership Team. Two of the most impactful benefits have been the sense of community and networking, especially while we’ve been living through the pandemic. “It’s been refreshing being able to go to conferences, as well as joining in on Zoom calls and virtual events with agents from across the nation,” she says.
“I really love this organization and I really value the way it’s changed my personal and professional life,” she says. Being a CRS and active with RRC has taught her not only how to be a great leader, but how to give back and see firsthand the benefits of sharing all the information she’s been taught over the years. She’s made some amazing friends and built fruitful relationships with different companies that will prove to be priceless in the years to come.
