Selecting the right online real estate school for you is important, but don’t base your decision on who is running the best promotion right now. Your experience with an online school is going to depend on your learning style. If you aren’t sure what your learning style is, don’t worry, it’s easy to determine. There are three main learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (or hands-on).
Start with how you actually learn
Before you compare a single school, you need to spend some time thinking about your own learning preference. The VARK framework divides this into four broad categories: visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic. You don’t need a formal quiz to determine roughly where you fall. Just think back on how you’ve best retained information in the past, whether that was in college, a job training class, or while teaching yourself a new job skill.
If you tend to remember things better after watching a video or looking at a chart, you lean visual. If you learn best when you can listen to an instructor explain it and ask questions while you go, you’re aural. If you prefer to just sit with the textbook and read, then highlight, then write your own notes, you’re read/write. And if you really need to physically work with material – clicking through a module, practicing some sample computer runs, flipping through some flash cards – that’s kinesthetic.
Choosing the school itself before you know which of these you prefer – classroom, one-on-one, or DIY – is picking the cart before the horse.
A live, online format is designed to hold you to a schedule with a class to attend at a set time. The best live, online programs also strive to recreate a classroom in a digital form, meaning you have ample opportunities to engage with both the instructor and other students. If you have questions, you can ask them in real time. If something isn’t clear, you can seek immediate clarification. And you can measure your retention and understanding by your performance on quizzes, tests, or – best and worst of all, depending on your perspective – your level of embarrassment in getting a question wrong in front of your peers.
For the right learner, online instruction can be as engrossing and motivating as in-person training. For the wrong learner, it’s a form of expensive torture that wastes everyone’s time. A kinesthetic learner WILL NOT thrive in a text-heavy, online, self-paced course, and an autodidact won’t get as much from a live class as someone who needs to be shown and told (for those of you lucky enough to fall into that category).
Real estate licensing is state-specific, and that changes everything
Many incoming real estate agents trip over the fact that your required coursework has to be verified as acceptable and as providing the official number of pre-licensure hours required by the real estate commission in your state. Since those hours can number anywhere between roughly 40 and about 180, that’s a big range of potential commitment to get wrong. As in, potentially six times more classroom time than you intended. But you can’t walk into your exam room without those hours squared away – so you have to be sure. For Louisianians, the required pre-licensure coursework is a 90-hour program, so the provider you’re considering has to offer a specifically Louisiana-curated educational package. If you want to get a real estate license in Louisiana, that means finding a program built around Louisiana’s requirements, not just a broad “national” program that happens to cover the topics.
This issue with unapproved courseware isn’t always obvious until it’s too late. A lot of companies sell what can sound like relevant, beneficial content dealing with property and transactions, ethics and laws related to real estate – that kind of thing. But if the coursework hasn’t been rubber-stamped as good-to-count by your real estate commission, it doesn’t contribute to the necessary instruction hours you’re required to take before you sit your exam. It doesn’t matter if you go on to ace the real estate licensing test, you’ll officially be subject to the same restrictions as someone who never cracked a textbook.
Run every school through a five-point quality audit
Once you have your list whittled down to actual in-state options, you’ve got to cut the solid choices from the slapdash money grabs. Can’t do that by reading the ads, but you can by looking for a couple straightforward tells.
- Are they accredited? Look for ARELLO or IDECC accreditation. Not every state requires it, but it’s a good external signal that a school’s content is more than just marketing.
2. Who’s teaching? It’s more substantial if they’re specific, real people with licenses and teaching creds than if it’s just “our team of experts.” If they won’t list their instructors, that’s something to remember.
3. When was the last update? Ask when the course content was last overhauled. Real estate law and practice shift frequently, and if they’re still teaching disclosures and contracts based on ten-year-old rules, you need to know that.
4. What’s the pass rate? Most schools with a good one will volunteer the information if you ask. If they dance around the question, they don’t have a good one.
5. Can I have a sample? Finally, any reputable school should let you look at at least a single lesson or module before they start asking you for money. If there’s no sample available, put that item on your list back in the NO column and move along.
Watch for the costs that aren’t in the sticker price
The price you see in the ad isn’t the final price. They will also charge you for exam prep extras, printed textbooks, retakes in case you don’t pass a module, and extensions if you need to access the course for longer than promised. These added fees are usually included in the school’s information, but you may skip them if you don’t ask.
So, before signing up, request a complete list of costs, including what is mandatory, what is optional, and what might make the cost go up. A course that looks cheaper might turn out to be more expensive if you enroll in the bare tuition then decide to take the exam prep plus redo a section you didn’t get over the minimum threshold.
Remember the access window
Most online real estate pre-license courses have a deadline, starting from 60 to possibly 180 days. It is easy to forget this detail when you concentrate on registering and may turn out to be a sore point when you ask for an extension.
Carefully evaluate your daily schedule and habits and select a deadline that best suits the time you can actually spend on studying. If you work or have a family, or you know you can only study fifteen minutes at a time, go for the more expensive longer deadline.
Exam prep is not the same thing as pre-licensing education
Many people confuse pre-licensing education with exam prep, but they are two distinct things. Pre-licensing education is the required knowledge you must obtain, while exam prep is a tool to make sure you pass the test the first time you take it. In fact, you could be using exam prep as soon as you start the pre-licensing education to help you retain the information.
A good exam prep program is designed by question writers who have studied the exact testing vendor’s blueprint, taken and passed the exam themselves and are now encouraged to stay in touch with students who’ve taken the exam to see if there are any new questions they could add.
Check reviews from people who took the exam in your state
Reviews like “great course, easy to follow, would recommend” are pretty useless. You’re looking for reviews from students who were licensed in your state, because state law sections are the most important parts of the actual test, and general national material won’t help you with that. Look for reviews that mention your state by name, or check the school’s state-specific course pages for testimonials rather than the main website.
The relationship doesn’t end at licensing
It may seem that a pre-licensing course is a one-time bill to pay, but for many students, they are looking for more. Schools often package required continuing education with the promise of license renewal, and some offer help finding a broker after you’re licensed. Since the median age of a REALTOR is 60 years old, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2023 Member Profile, many licensees will be career changers who are entering the business after decades in an entirely different field. They want a school that will continue to be there for them once the test is done.
Picking a school that will provide a clear path to your future CE, or set you up with an interview for a career after you pass the test can save you the headache of vetting several schools for every renewal. Make sure you know what comes at the finish line, not just what you’ll be studying to get there.
Decide what suits your memory and schedule, make sure they have been state-accredited for enough hours, and run the following checks. Learning-to-study method first, compliance second, school quality (and any extra services) as the tie-breaker. That’s the order that separates licensees from the forgotten legions who quit halfway through and never get their money back.
