You’ll need to choose an accredited school to take the 3 required courses: Principles, Practices, and one elective course.
The elective courses are completely up to you. You can choose from Finance, Appraisal, Property Management, Legal Aspects, Office Administration, Escrows, Mortgage Loan Brokering and Lending, Business Law, General Accounting, Common Interest Developments or Computer Applications in Real Estate.
I personally recommend the Finance course because there’s an entire section on Finance on the state exam, so it’ll help you the most later. Legal Aspects is a strong second choice.
Special Exemptions
If you’re a member of the California State Bar, you are exempt from the courses but you still need to take the State Exam.
If you’ve taken a college course in Accounting, Micro/Macro Economics or Business Law, this can count as your elective course.
How long do the courses take?
California has a restriction on how fast you can complete the courses. You have to wait for at least 18 days before taking the final exam, and you take one at a time. That means for 3 courses at 18 days each, the fastest you can finish would be 54 days.
How much does it cost?
I’ve seen online schools offer the program anywhere from $99 to $500. I’m a strong believer in “you get what you pay for.” I don’t recommend going for the cheapest ones. They won’t give you the right amount of preparation for the state exam, and you’ll end up paying for it later anyways if you don’t pass it on your first attempt. I also wouldn’t go for the most expensive ones (unless they’re on promotion). Usually, the best value is somewhere in the middle.
Choosing a School
There’s a dizzying list of real estate schools out there. So, it can be hard to decide which one to go with. Each school has their own pros and cons; so ultimately, it depends on what you want. You can take a look at our Review of the Top Real Estate Schools in California to give you some ideas.