Top 4 Real Estate Schools in Kentucky
If you want to become a real estate agent in Kentucky, you will need to obtain the Sales Associate license first. The Kentucky Real Estate Commission (KREC) is the agency that regulates the entire real estate industry for the state, including licensing requirements.
KREC requires that you complete 96 hours of approved real estate education and pass the Sales Associate exam to get licensed. It’s a pretty simple process to obtain the license. However, that largely depends on which school you decide to go with.
Every school has pros and cons. That’s why we have come up with a list of the four best real estate programs in Kentucky to help you become a real estate agent.
Best Bang for the Buck
$439 96-Hour Package
If you Googled “real estate school”, you probably saw Colibri Real Estate show up at the top of the search results. That’s because they have been around for about 30 years and are the biggest online real estate school in the nation. With a large school like this, you can rest assured that they know what they are doing and that their system works. In fact, their students have given them a 4.33 out of 5-star rating on their Kentucky courses alone. This is based on 496 reviews.
What I really like about Colibri Real Estate is your flexibility to customize the options that you want. If you just want to fulfill the minimum state requirements, you can get the cheapest package, The Basics. If you want to add on comprehensive study materials for the Sales Associate exam and extra training to take after you are licensed, you can go with the top package called Ultimate Learning. If you want something in between, there are two packages in the middle that you can choose from.
Also, Colibri Real Estate is the only school that I’ve seen that offers a true money-back guarantee, which means if you don’t pass the Sales Associate exam, they will give you all of your money back. Other schools usually only cover the $100 exam fee or only give you your money back after the second exam attempt.
Best Exam Prep
$415 96-Hour Package
Hondros College is a large online education provider located in the Midwest, offering programs in real estate, home inspection, appraisal, and much more. Despite its name, it’s not an actual college like where you would go to get a bachelor’s degree. That is not to say they don’t have a good program. Quite the contrary. They have helped over a million students in their 50-year history.
The 96-hour course is online and follows a pretty standard format. You get 6 months of unlimited access to complete the course. There are multiple-choice quizzes at the end of the chapters and when you reach the end, there is a final exam.
Their real claim to fame is their exam prep for the Sales Associate exam. CompuCram is what Hondros College calls their proprietary test prep that they have refined over the past several decades. You get study vocabulary tools along with simulated practice exams that will identify the areas that you need to focus on. There is a Readiness Indicator that gives you dynamic feedback on your progress and displays it on a meter. They report that 86.5% of people who use CompuCram will pass the exam on their first try.
If you want to read from a physical book, they are available for an additional cost in their most expensive package.
Best for Prestige
$679 96-Hour Package
Kentucky Realtor Institute (formerly known as the Kentucky Real Estate Education Foundation) is affiliated with the Kentucky Realtors Association. They actually don’t develop their own Sales Associate courses but have partnered with REcampus to sell theirs. Just to be clear, taking their pre-licensing courses does not make you a realtor. It just fulfills the state requirement to become a real estate agent, which is not the same thing. You can always become a realtor by joining the Kentucky Realtors Association directly after you obtain your license. While being a realtor is certainly not required for real estate agents, it does open up more opportunities.
The Kentucky Realtor Institute program consists of 4 parts:
- Part A
- Part B
- Course Project
- Final Exam
The course is 100% online with hardcopy books available at an additional cost. Part A and Part B can be taken in any order, but they must both be completed before starting the Course Project (and of course, the Final Exam). The Course Project involves two case studies. You are required to complete forms for both the buyer and seller side as well as answer multiple-choice quizzes. One thing I liked about this program is they give you one year to complete everything, which is much longer than other schools.
If you want additional exam prep for the Sales Associate exam, there are online practice test questions available for an added cost.
Best Small School
$359 96-Hour Package
2 My Classes is a one-woman show run by Joyce Bea Sterling. She writes her own KREC-approved material, has over 14,000 hours of experience as a certified instructor, and is a realtor herself. She does it all! She definitely takes a more personal approach with her school. In fact, if you miss less than two questions on the Sales Associate exam, she will buy you lunch as a bonus reward.
2 My Classes is online and is broken up into three parts:
- 60 hours of From the Ground Up to cover the National portion
- 32 hours of Kentucky Laws to cover the State portion
- Course Final Exam
The courses come with physical textbooks and consist of mainly reading. However, there are also videos, audio files, and matching quizzes incorporated throughout the course to make it more engaging. The Kentucky Laws course also has a section with a live webinar, where you can interact with the instructors via a webcam from home. These webinars are held at pre-scheduled dates.
Although it’s great to be able to learn from one of the most knowledgeable instructors in Kentucky, there is also some risk. There aren’t a lot of extra study materials or packages to choose from. This program requires you to take the final exams on Tuesday evenings. Support hours are limited and responses to your questions will be slower compared to a bigger school. You are putting all your eggs in one person.
