4 TOP-RATED Courses To Get A California Real Estate License in 2024
If you are looking to start a new career or just want an additional source of income, becoming a real estate agent is one of the best ways to do it. You get to meet new people every day and help them achieve their dream of buying a new home. That big commission check that you get is also a good source of motivation.
The first step to becoming a real estate agent is to get licensed. This license is officially called the Salespersons license. This is an easy process which involves taking three real estate courses and a real estate exam. It is important to find the right school that will adequately prepare and help you succeed.
At the time of this writing, there are currently 146 accredited schools providing California real estate courses. On the surface, they all appear to be offering the same thing. However, that could not be further from the truth. Every real estate school has their own approach and personality when it comes to teaching courses. Some schools develop their own courses while others are merely reselling the courses from other schools. Some schools only have an online book while others offer video and audio options. There are ones that offer interactive live stream courses while others do not have that available.
After researching through the entire list of schools, here are our top picks that will help you obtain your real estate license in California.
Aceable is one of the most innovative real estate schools on the market and their courses definitely have the most personality. Instead of reading a course textbook that is dry and boring, they try to liven up the content by making it sound conversational. The sentence structure and examples they use are very relatable and easy to understand.
The format of their online course is in PDF format. This allows you to quickly scroll through the pages instead of having to click through slides one-by-one. You can also save the PDF files to your computer, so if you are going somewhere with no internet signal, you can easily study offline as well. There are quizzes at the end of each section that still need to be completed online.
What makes Aceable courses different is they have targeted video and audio lessons that will save you a lot of time on studying. Rather than you trying to figure out what you really need to know and what’s important, they have taken the guesswork out for you and hit the key areas that you need to know. If you feel you will need more support, they do offer one-on-one tutoring and live webinars, where you can ask questions to a live instructor.
Best suited for: Busy People
Aceable has the complete program if you are starting out new to get your real estate license. They incorporate their own proprietary activities and exercises to help keep you engaged and interested the whole time. Where they really shine is the way their course is written. It sounds very personable, like one of your friends talking to you and will allow you to breeze through the course quickly.
Colibri Real Estate is the biggest real estate school in the nation. They have real estate programs in virtually every state and have the most courses available to help you in every aspect of your career. Whether you are completely new to real estate or a seasoned veteran looking to renew your license, they have all the courses you will ever need.
One of the things they offer that most other schools don’t have are livestream courses. These are video courses where you get to watch a live instructor teach the class. This is the best way to keep you engaged and motivated. Because they are live courses, you will need to have a reliable internet connection and make sure the class fits your schedule. Fortunately, they offer a variety of flexible times, including evenings, to accommodate most people’s busy schedule.
If you can’t make the livestream courses, they also offer your typical online format, where you are reading an online book and answering multiple-choice test questions. If prefer to read out of physical book, you can get one mailed out to you. The great thing about this format is that it gives you the freedom to study at your own pace, and you have up to 6 months to complete the program.
Best suited for: Live Video Courses
Colibri Real Estate is the biggest and arguably the most comprehensive real estate school in the industry. They offer every course you will ever need throughout your entire real estate career and then some. They are one of the few schools to offer a live video course, where you can watch the instructor from the comfort of your home. This program is perfect for people who want to have a more interactive experience.
The courses from The CE Shop are unique from other schools in that they require active learning. They are text-based, so you are reading an online book. However, the quizzes and final exams have a variety of question formats (i.e. matching, multiple-choice, fill in the blanks, etc…) This has been shown to help you retain the information better, but you may find yourself spending more time in the course. This is simply because you can’t cut any corners and have to read every question and answer carefully.
The content in the course is based on real-life scenarios and actual situations that real estate agents have encountered. This will not only prepare you for the state exam but also after you get licensed. The CE Shop boasts a pass rate of over 90% on their website. This is based on their own self-reported surveys, so you should take this information with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, after personally seeing how rigorous and thorough the program was, I am entirely confident in the integrity of their high pass rate.
The CE Shop also provides industry-leading support hours, covering all 7 days of the week via phone, email, and live chat. Their certified instructors comes with decades of experience to guide you in the right direction.
Best suited for: the Knowledge Seeker
This is great for people who genuinely want to take their time to learn as much as possible so they can set themselves up for a successful career in real estate. There are no shortcuts with the program. You will be required to truly master the material. The CE Shop is the perfect program for the book worm.
Allied Schools is actually owned by Colibri Real Estate. But the Allied Schools brand has been the #1 leader for online real estate courses in California for over 20 years. They have had over a million enrollments into their real estate courses over their 30 year history and if you talk to any real estate agent in California, they will have either taken Allied courses themselves or know someone else who has.
Because Colibri Real Estate and Allied Schools are the same company, they give you the same two options for taking the course: online or livestream. The online course is where you read the real estate textbook and answer multiple choice questions at the end of each chapter. You can work on this at any time of the day and are given up to 6 months to complete the program. This is great if you are busy with an unpredictable schedule and want full flexibility to learn at your own pace.
Allied Schools still offers the full suite of real estate courses that a real estate agent may ever need. They have all the brokers courses available if you are salespersons looking to upgrade your license. Or, if it is time for you to renew your license, they can help you meet the continuing education requirements.
Best suited for: Formal Training
Allied Schools has been the top choice for real estate agents in California for a long time and it’s easy to see why. They are owned by Colibri Real Estate now, but people who have been using Allied Schools for their real estate courses will be able to return to a familiar name.
