Online RE Agent Course for Florida?

Question

Hi Bigger Pocketeers! I am looking for an online RE Agent pre-license course for the state of Florida (63 hour state approved course). There are several schools with good Google reviews but most of the reviews are for the in-person course, not online. Also, on a few of the schools almost every single review is 5 stars so that just seems suspect. A friend of mine attended an in-person school in Orlando that had great Google reviews but the class was horrible. I was hoping someone here would have firsthand experience with an online course for Florida and could provide some input. Has anyone taken a RE Agent pre-license course for the state of Florida online? If so, what school and would you recommend it? Thanks!

Jason L. · Answer

I'm not sure of your time schedule, but I highly recommend doing the in-person class if you can make time for it. I seriously would have never gotten through it without the instruction (I passed first time I took it, as did probably 90% of my class). The material in the study textbook is SO DRY! I don't think I would have made it out alive trying to read and regurgitate that thing on my own.The huge benefit of having an instructor is that they will shorten the book immensely by pointing out lines/facts that are likely to be on the state exam. This is way more effective than trying to memorize the entire book on your own (note: the state administers the test so the instructor won't know exactly what's on the test, but I'd say he was pretty accurate in pointing out what was eventually on it. If you go the in-class route for the continuing education as well, then since the school itself administers the test, the instructor literally gave us exactly what we needed to know since he was the one who made the test. I got 100% on the CE. It was cake, and I owe that to the instructor). Seriously, it was worth the extra money just for much easier it made taking the test.Unfortunately, I took the test in Tampa (Tampa School of Real Estate), so I can't help you here with an Orlando school. I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in before you went down the online route. Good luck!

Account Closed · Answer

I am in Real Estate Express, same as @Dylan Kimrik . It's straightforward and simple. I've heard in other courses, its ALL reading chapters from the book. Real Estate Express breaks it up nicely and makes it easier to learn from. It also has a pace tracker, that will help you reach your goal and stay on track. Good luck!

Russell Holmes · Answer

@Jennifer Rivas I'm actually quite focused on both the agent side and the investing side. I currently run a service business locally (UpTown Detailing, you may have even seen our trucks around at times) but I am looking to transition out of it. It makes good income on a dollar/hour basis, and I have incredible control of my schedule, spend time with my family, etc... but it isn't very scale-able, at least not with favorable profit margins. My long term goal is to have a portfolio of rental properties in my local area through the BRRR method that could allow me to retire, whether or not I choose to. However, my current business doesn't pour off enough capital to really be able to get a start there, and I'm getting burned out on it after 11 years. I'm extremely interested in the entire real estate industry. Even areas I likely won't work in anytime soon (large commercial developments, for example) still spike my interest. I got my real estate license so that I could transition into a full time RE career well before my rental portfolio could sustain it. While I overlap being an agent with my current livelihood, I will be able to build some capital to deploy when the time is right for me. In the meantime, I'm really loving working with investor buyers. I also have an extensive sphere of influence with all of my longtime customers, acquaintances, etc, so I will be exploring the more traditional home buyer/seller through those connections and organic marketing as well. I'm not completely solid on what balance I will find between commissions from investors, commissions from more traditional home sales, and cashflow from rentals, however I'm diving into it with an open mind to see where I find opportunities. I wish I could close up shop and be full time RE now, but I have to be an adult about it and will likely do both for 18-24 months before my commissions can sustain my life and investing.As for brokerage, since I started and built my own successful business, which I still currently run, I needed a brokerage that offered good educational access and support, but also the freedom to set my own schedule. Transactional brokers had low fees and not much else. As a newbie, I knew that wouldn't help me. I interviewed with KW and they basically needed 3-5 mornings of mine per week for various in-office educational requirements, calling blasts, desk time, meetings, etc. That also wasn't going to work with my schedule unless I closed my business immediately. I dove into research on eXp and it was a perfect fit for what I need and want. As a self starter, I love it, as everything I go seeking is there. However, I could see how some people who aren't as self motivated, could join and then sit around for months without a clue of what to do as nobody is there to spoon feed it to you or demand your presence at a given time. I really had to look within myself and determine what I wanted, what time I could devote to education, and the time I had for the actual 'doing' of lead gen, MLS searching, client meetings, etc. I'm still in the mental fog of organizing my RE schedule in and around a schedule that was already quite full, but I'm getting the hang of things and getting rolling. I'm slacking up a bit on my business, but after giving it 110% for over a decade, it feels good to not really care about future growth of it, but rather just servicing the good customers I have. My progress is slowed by my full time business schedule, but I knew the transition would take deliberate time scheduling and effort.

Russell Holmes · Answer

@Jennifer Rivas I'm in FL and took my Prelicense course through real estate express. I started in late November last year and finished and passed the course exam in mid January. It is pretty dry content no matter how you learn it, but real estate express split it up into units that were easy to digest. I suggest taking the time to read all the course suggested reading (chapters from textbook and sections of law) before going through the slides for that unit. I bought a package that included prelicense, post license, and exam prep. After passing the course exam, I felt pretty confident but still went through the 1200 or so practice questions split into "tests" and got 85-95% on those. The few I scored below 80% I'd review and retake, getting 100% as it reviewed the same questions on retake. I took the state test 2/8 in Lake Mary and had my RE license by email on 2/9.

Justin Denham · Answer

I can so that Tampa Bay school of Real Estate’s online course is great. I’m half way through and iso far I give it 5 Stars.

Dylan Kimrik · Answer

Hey Jennifer!I used Real Estate Express, it is an online course. Overall I really enjoyed it. I focused a lot of my attention on the course and was able to go from starting the course to passing the class and taking the state exam in about three months. You get about six months to actually finish the course. I got a deal with the course too, so I get the course for the first license renewal course. Only thing is, its a lot of reading. The course has slideshows for you to follow and cuts up the textbook reading to match with each 'class chapter'. Hope this helps!

Jennifer Rivas · Answer

@Russell Holmes, thank you for your response! I figured it would be pretty dry online, but it is doable. I will take a look at Real Estate Express. Now that you have your license, are you focused on being an RE Agent, or do you have other goals, like investing?What did you consider when selecting a brokerage to work with?