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Are you looking for Real Estate U reviews and ratings? You’re in the right place. I have actually used the Real Estate U course. I will take you inside and provide a complete walk-through of the course itself. You will also see what former students have to say about this online real estate school.
NOTE: My work is supported by affiliate commissions.
Introduction
Real Estate U has been around since 2013. It was started by Andrew Anic and Ciprian Morariu. The two began by creating a 75 Hour New York Real Estate Pre-Licensing Salesperson course. This course was filmed on location in Manhattan and has lessons from 21 real estate professionals. This was officially launched on September 6, 2014.
Overview Of Real Estate U
Since the launch of their first New York pre-licensing course, Real Estate U has gone on to create pre-licensing real estate courses for the following states:
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Missouri
- New York
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
They also offer continuing education and investing courses as well.
Inside Real Estate U
Unlike other Real Estate U reviews, we have actually gone inside the Real Estate U pre-licensing course so we can give you a first hand look at what you will get when you sign up.
You can watch our Real Estate U walk-through video below as well to help you see what’s inside the Real Estate U program.
Sign Up
Signing up for Real Estate U pre-licensing courses is very easy. Since they only have one package choice you simply click the Get Your License buttons and go through their easy payment process.
Dashboard After Login
Once you have signed up you will now login to your Real Estate U account. Upon login, you will access what we call your course dashboard. This is where you can see the entire course layout.
You will notice that the course has very simple navigation. The course contents and structure are shown so you can start very easily.
Real Estate U Course Orientation
You will need to go through the course orientation before you can start the actual pre-licensing lessons.
Simply click the first “Welcome” section to enter the beginning of the course. This section will let you know several important items that you need to know before you start.
You will notice that once you enter a section, the navigation will now be on the left side of the screen.
The orientation is quite long but it’s good to go through it to make sure you understand how the course will work. This welcome orientation has these sections:
Welcome
The welcome part of the orientation simply informs you to be sure to whitelist the email addresses of [email protected] and [email protected].
Course Navigation
This section explains how to navigate the course contents. It talks about the course structure and has a goal to make sure that you understand how to use the course properly.
Student Verification
Before you can actually take the course and access each chapter and lessons, you will have to verify your identity.
How to Obtain Your Real Estate License
Here, you will go through the exact steps you will need to take to get your real estate license in your state. This is good to understand to ensure you know step by step the process you will need to take to get licensed.
About the Course
This basically similar information to the course navigation section of the orientation. It will explain various instructions for using the course properly. I am not sure why they have such similar information again but they do.
System Requirements
This section simply lets you know the best browsers and operating systems to use when you take the course.
Syllabus
The syllabus section has a downloadable pdf that you can print if needed. This syllabus is supposed to have a detailed outline of the course as well as the amount of time required for each lesson but from what I could see, it did not have any of this information. Basically this syllabus went over the same information as the whole orientation again but did not contain a detailed outline of the course.
Contact Real Estate U
This part of the orientation gives you the contact info should you need help as you take the pre-licensing course.
Join Real Estate U Facebook Community
If you would like to connect with other students, this section of the orientation tells you how to access the Real Estate U FaceBook group. This is not a large group and has just over 450 members at this time.
We Want to Get to Know You
This is a survey that will allow Real Estate U to learn more about you. It’s a simple form that asks questions that you will then answer.
Glossary
This is a useful and downloadable pdf with a large list of real estate terms you will need to know specific to your state.
Course Textbook to Purchase
The last part of the welcome orientation allows you to purchase a downloadable version of the course as a textbook. You can then use this to study offline. It has the transcripts of all the audio lessons, infographics, key terms, and documents you see in the online course.
The Course Layout
The Real Estate U pre-licensing course is broken down into chapters and then sub-chapters or lessons within a chapter.
In this Real Estate U review we went through and took the Florida pre-licensing course but, no matter what state you’re in, the course has the same layout and functions the same. The only difference will be that the content will be specific for your state. This course has 19 chapters, each chapter has multiple lessons, each chapter has a quiz and then the course final exam.
Real Estate U Course Content
Once you’re ready, you can start the course by clicking the chapter and then going into the lesson you are currently studying. This will bring you to the lesson.
Each chapter starts with learning objectives for that chapter. This first lesson will let you know what to expect in that chapter.
As you go through the course you will notice a timer in the lower left of the page. Every lesson will have a timer. When the timer hits the 0:00 mark you will be able to go to the next lesson in the chapter. This timer makes sure you spend the appropriate amount of time in each section to meet your state’s requirements. When the timer hits zero, you simply click the Mark Lesson Complete button to unlock the next lesson within the chapter.
The actual lessons of the Real Estate U pre-licensing course are almost all audio based. There are a few infographics and reading documents mixed into the content but the vast majority of the course is audio.
Chapter Quizzes
At the end of each chapter you will encounter chapter quizzes. These quizzes are made up of 10 multiple choice questions. Each quiz has a 20 minute time limit and you must answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly to pass. This means you must get at least 60% of the questions correct to pass the quiz.
Once you pass a quiz you will need to click on the ‘Mark Lesson Complete’ button, which will unlock the next Chapter in the course menu.
Real Estate U Final Exam
To complete the Real Estate U pre-licensing course, you will need to pass the course final exam. Before you can enter the final exam you will need to provide a sworn statement that says you affirm that you are the one who completed all assignments. It also asks you to confirm that you have not copied any portion of the course final exam.
The Final Exam – Instructions
Once you provide this sworn statement you will then access the Final Exam – Instructions. This area will let you know what to expect when you take the Real Estate U final exam.
The final exam will consist of 100 multiple-choice questions. You will have 180 minutes to take the final exam and you must get 70 out of the 100 questions correct to have a passing score.
The state allows two attempts to take the exam so you have two versions of the exam called “FINAL EXAM – Version 1” and “FINAL EXAM – Version 2”.
After you have completed the final exam and have passed, you will click on the ‘Mark Lesson Complete’ button and you will see the “My Certificate” button appear. Here you can download your course completion certificate.
Options Offered
Many online real estate schools such as Real Estate Express (see my Real Estate Express review) or The CE Shop (read The CE Shop review) have multiple package options for their pre-licensing real estate courses. Real Estate U offers one option for all of their pre-licensing courses. You get their complete course in one package with no other choices or upgrade features.
Cost Of Real Estate U
One of the great benefits of using Real Estate U is their pricing. They have the best pricing of any online real estate school.
Real Estate U’s pricing ranges from $99 to $299 for their pre-licensing real estate courses. Their least expensive course is the Florida real estate license course and their most expensive course is South Carolina.
There really are no other online real estate schools that can match the prices offered by Real Estate U.
The Good
In this section, I want to look at the pros of using the Real Estate U program. I will share with you the things I feel are good about their real estate school.
Pricing
By far, the biggest advantage of using Real Estate U for your pre-licensing education is their pricing. With a price range of $99 to $299, if you’re on a really tight budget, they’re the school to use.
Self-Paced
If you want to use a real estate school to get your education that has self-paced online courses, Real Estate U offers this. Their real estate courses are all online and can be taken at your own pace. You will never need to be on a schedule and can access the course 24/7.
The Not So Good
Here I want to share a few of the cons or I could say the downside of using Real Estate U.
Limited States Available
Real Estate U has pre-licensing courses for 14 states as of this writing. This is not too bad and is similar to the amount of states offered by AceableAgent (see review of AceableAgent). However, it’s small in comparison to real estate schools like Real Estate Express or The CE Shop which offer courses in over 35 states.
One Package Option
If you’re someone who likes choices, then Real Estate U is not for you. They only offer one package option for their real estate courses. Now this can be considered a negative or a positive. The good thing is that you get everything for one price in one package option. The bad part of this is that you can’t customize your learning experience based on your needs.
No Extra Exam Prep
A real estate pre-licensing course teaches material that is required by each state’s real estate commission. Each state has their own requirements and will require a certain number of hours of pre-licensing education.
That being said, a real estate course also needs to prepare you to take the state licensing exam. Usually, the course will have extra exam prep which is a great help to make sure you’re ready to take the licensing exam. This exam prep is usually in the form of questions and answers or practice tests that mimic the state exam. Unfortunately, Real Estate U does not offer this extra exam prep outside of the course content.
Limited Interaction
The Real Estate U pre-licensing course is mainly audio based. This means you listen to the content to learn. Each audio recording has a transcript so you can read that as well. There are also infographics and chapter quizzes. Outside of that, there are no other interactive modules or other content.
No Passing Guarantee
Some online real estate schools such as Real Estate Express offer what is called a passing guarantee. This means if you do not pass your state licensing exam they refund the purchase price of the course. This is not offered by Real Estate U although they do have a 30 day guarantee which means you can get a refund if you have not completed 50% of your course.
Lower Passing Rates
The passing rates for Real Estate U students taking their real estate license exam is a bit lower than other similar online real estate schools such as AceableAgent. Real Estate U only has passing rates for Missouri, Virgina, and North Carolina which are around 50%. This is quite a bit lower than AceableAgent which has passing rates above 65% in many cases.
Real Estate U Reviews And Ratings
The Real Estate U reviews across the web are mostly very positive. On the Better Business Bureau website they have an A+ rating with a 4.48 out of 5 star rating from customers. This is quite high for a rating with the BBB.
They also have a good rating on Indeed.com as well.
Now, let’s take a look at Real Estate U reviews as provided by former students. We will look here at a summary of the overall positives and negatives of Real Estate U based on this feedback.
Pros Of Real Estate U
Here is a summary of the things that former students seem to like about this real estate school:
- Flexible hours
- Very affordable
- Good preparation for career
- Good teachers
Cons Of Using Real Estate U
Next, let’s look at a summary of what former students felt were negative about this real estate school:
- No review of final exam answers
- Can’t retake exams
- Outdated content
- No teacher support
- Technical glitches
My Real Estate U Verdict
I would like to wrap up this review of Real Estate U with my verdict on this online real estate school.
As mentioned above, I actually accessed the course and used it myself. So this means I have firsthand knowledge about how the course works.
The biggest plus of using Real Estate U for your real estate education is the fact that their pricing is so good. If you’re someone on a budget and money is the biggest obstacle to getting your pre-licensing education, then Real Estate U may be your solution.
I do like the audio content that the course offers. I just wish there were a little more interaction throughout the course to make learning a bit more fun. I tend to think that when learning is a bit more interactive it helps to retain the information. That being said, I do think it’s nice to have the content in audio format.
In regard to their lower passing rates, I contacted Real Estate U to ask them about this and they told me that they’re investing a lot of money to rebuild the courses to ensure an 80%+ pass rate. Their goal is to have the highest pass rates of all real estate schools (both online and in-person schools).
Also, they told me that they’re rebuilding each of their courses from scratch so that the course content revolves around what’s being tested on the PSI, PearsonVUE, or AMP state exams.
Overall, I think that Real Estate U provides good information for the price. For budget minded people, they can be a good option. However, if money is not your only concern and you’re willing to pay a bit more for your education, I would use Real Estate Express or AceableAgent.
