Which Real Estate Continuing Education Option Is the Best One for You?

So, you got your real estate license and you’ve been helping clients buy and sell properties all over town. Congratulations – but don’t forget about your real estate continuing education! Every agent must complete additional education courses every 1-3 years to maintain an active sales license. It’s also a great way to stay up-to-date on new practices and expand your field of knowledge in the industry. Let’s go over the general requirements for continuing education, then review some of the top real estate schools and how to choose the best one for you.

Real Estate Continuing Education Requirements

After their initial schooling, agents take a reduced number of continuing education hours every 2-4 years to maintain an active license. These include state-specific courses and electives that cover a wide range of niches in the industry. Accredited education providers adjust their programs to meet the different standards in each state where they are approved. There are over 500 real estate schools in the United States, but we’ll focus on a few popular companies with high-quality course offerings below.

License Classroom

License Classroom courses are 100% online and designed to be highly informative and easy to use at your own pace. They combine traditional text learning with interactive elements, such as videos, vocab matching, scenario-based learning, and more. Students may choose from their convenient CE packages with all the required course topics or take individual courses that most interest them. License Classroom automatically reports course completions on behalf of their students.

Kaplan Real Estate Education

Kaplan has been providing education to hundreds of thousands of students across the globe for over 30 years. Their real estate instructors are specialists from over 200 locations and many are active, practicing agents. Kaplan offers live classrooms, online videos, and self-paced textbook work to meet different learning styles and busy schedules. Real estate students have six months to complete their coursework before they lose access and need to start over.

Kaplan’s pricing starts at $99* for PDF instruction only and $119* for PDF and live online instruction. (Hybrid instruction is not available in all states).

The CE Shop

The CE Shop courses consist of online, self-paced modules that can be downloaded and printed. They’re interactive with visual aids, exercises, answer feedback, and unlimited practice tests. There is no live instruction available, but there is a Student Forum group on Facebook. Users can also start and stop the modules at any time without losing their current progress. The CE Shop offers custom course packages for agents licensed in multiple states.

The CE Shop’s individual courses start at $19* and packages start at $59*.

McKissock Learning

McKissock has been helping professionals become licensed since 1990 and has a more comprehensive catalog than other real estate education providers. Their courses are self-paced and come with a “pass or don’t pay” guarantee. They also offer the CE PLUS Membership, which includes digital and print versions of the courses, on-demand webinar videos, access to real estate coaches and an instructor Q&A group, and more tools to grow a real estate business.

McKissock’s individual courses start at $29*, packages start at $69*, and CE PLUS Membership at $99* per year.

There are hundreds of real estate continuing education providers in the United States, so you’re sure to find one that fits your state’s requirements and your study habits. It’s best to choose an accredited provider to avoid missing courses and to streamline the renewal process. Accredited providers will either automatically send your results to the state’s real estate commission or provide you with a certificate of completion. There’s no need to worry if all your hard work will be accepted! And more importantly, there won’t be any interruptions to your active real estate business.

*All pricing is based on the minimum price listed on each provider’s website, as of 08/03/2023. Actual pricing may be different based on your state’s requirements.