Online real estate courses can provide aspiring Texas agents with necessary prelicensing and continuing education (CE) credits via the web or mobile apps. We reviewed 10 schools that offer these courses in Texas and chose the top six, including the best overall, based on price, curriculum, money-back guarantees, and ease of use.
Top 6 Online Real Estate Courses Texas 2019
| Online Real Estate School Texas | Best For |
|---|---|
| Real Estate Express | (Best Overall) Future agents seeking prelicensing coursework with exam prep and coaching. |
| Kaplan | Agents seeking a live online, instructor-led real estate prelicensing course. |
| Aceable Agent | Future agents wanting an app to study on-the-go from any device. |
| The CE Shop | Realty professionals seeking post-graduation continuing education (CE) classes. |
| OnCourse Learning | Agents needing to focus on real estate math as part of their exam prep. |
| PrepAgent | Aspiring agents seeking comprehensive study aids like practice tests, videos, flashcards, and webinars. |
How We Evaluated Online Real Estate Courses for Texas
It can be hard, confusing, and time-consuming to find an effective online real estate school in Texas. That’s why we researched 10 and chose the best six based on price, curriculum, tools, money-back guarantees, and ease of use.
Here are the criteria we used to evaluate the best online real estate courses in Texas for 2019:
- Price: While affordability is key to online real estate coursework, we were not able to offer a clear price baseline. As online real estate courses range from study aids for $69 per month to full classes at $899 per month, we chose instead to include the best options for a variety of needs while keeping affordability in mind.
- Money-back guarantee: All of our inclusions on our list had to have some form of money-back guarantee. This ensures students don’t lose money to providers who do not successfully prepare them to take the real estate licensing exam or allow them to complete continuing education (CE) requirements as required by the state.
- Curriculum and study tools: Each of our inclusions had to offer a combination of prelicensing coursework and study aids to ensure future agents have the tools to secure and maintain their real estate license. Additionally, we favored courses and schools with live instructors and coaching for added help.
- Ease of use: The online real estate schools we reviewed needed to be easy to use for all types of agents—both those familiar with technology and those who are less technically savvy. This ensures that course instruction is successful for all students.
Given the criteria above, Real Estate Express is the best overall online real estate school in Texas. Not only do they offer a cost-conscious package of prelicensing classes with exam prep, but they boast an easy-to-use online platform with access to a live coach for questions and explanations of concepts. “The Pass or Don’t Pay” guarantee additionally assures students that their financial investment is protected.
Best Online Real Estate Courses in Texas: Real Estate Express
Real Estate Express is an online real estate school that offers courses for students in dozens of states across the U.S. Priced at $562, it stands out by offering everything you need to meet licensing requirements in Texas, including prelicensing coursework, study aids, built-in exam prep classes, and access to a coach. For these reasons, Real Estate Exam Prep is ideal for students who want an all-in-one package for prelicensing and exam prep.
Real Estate Express Pricing
Real Estate Express offers a prelicensing coursework package for $562 that includes all required prelicensing courses for Texas, as well as printed textbooks and the Prep Master exam study aid that includes 17 practice tests and 900 practice questions. Real Estate Express also includes a “Pass or Don’t Pay” guarantee.
Real Estate Express Features
Real Estate Express is the best option for online real courses in Texas because their prelicensure class includes 180 hours of required coursework, printable study aids, an exam prep class, state-specific coaching, and 90 hours of Sales Agent Education (SAE) post-licensure continuing education classes. OnCourse Learning offers similar classes and materials, but is more expensive than Real Estate Express.
Prelicensing Coursework
The body of five required prelicensure online real estate courses is the same for all schools; these include Real Estate Principles I/II, Law of Agency, Law of Contracts, and Finance. Real Estate Express, however, goes above and beyond by offering students state-certified coaches, available by phone and email, to help with coursework. Similarly, Aceable Agent gives students access to instructors through email.
Study Aids
Real Estate Express includes a prep exam class—Exam Prep Master—as well as printed textbooks, a real estate dictionary, and practice exams. Exam Prep Master is a collection of study materials like tests, flashcards, and math problems designed to help students prep for the licensing exam. Kaplan also includes exam prep in their prelicensing coursework, but the flashcards cost an extra $39. Alternatively, you can make your own real estate flashcards.
Continuing Education
Real Estate Express adds one year of CE membership through their sister company, McKissock. For continuing education, Real Estate Express offers courses required to maintain an agent’s license, including Legal Updates 1/2, Real Estate Appraisal, Investment, and Brokerage. The CE Shop is the only other online real estate school that includes continuing education classes as part of a prelicensing package.
What Real Estate Express Is Missing
Real Estate Express does have a six-month time limit on most of their courses. Students who need longer than six months to pass a course will have to contact customer service to reset their account. Most schools—like Kaplan and OnCourse—provide nine-month or year-long access to coursework and study materials.
What Users Think About Real Estate Express
There are over 5,000 reviews on the Real Estate Express website. Users frequently comment about the ease of use and comprehensive course materials offered by Real Estate Express. A few commenters noted that getting in touch with customer service was an issue and it took several tries to finally get a response. Learn more about Real Estate Express pricing and reviews.
Where to Find Real Estate Express
Real Estate Express is the best overall online real estate course because it offers online prelicensure coursework with study aids and post-license continuing education classes to help agents at all stages of their career. With coaching to help agents through their coursework, Real Estate Express aids students in achieving their educational goals quickly. Find out more about the Real Estate Express’ “Pass or Don’t Pay” guarantee by visiting their website.
Best for Instructor-led Online Real Estate Courses: Kaplan
Kaplan is an online real estate school that combines the best of instructor-led courses with the convenience of online training. The Kaplan platform is unique because students do not need to pick between independent online study and instructor-led classes; Kaplan delivers the best of both worlds for $899. With this as its standout feature, Kaplan is ideal for students who perform best with the guidance of an instructor.
Kaplan Pricing
Kaplan costs $899 for 180 hours of live online prelicensing courses and 60 hours of instructor-led online exam prep study. Kaplan provides students with online quizzes, practice tests, and home study materials, but the bulk of the coursework and prep exam work is completed with a certified instructor in an online setting.
Kaplan Features
Kaplan is the only real estate course on our list that offers instructor-led online classes. Students can participate in live classes through their computers from work or home. Although Real Estate Express offers certified coaches, and Aceable Agent and OnCourse Learning offer instructor guidance via email, some students prefer to engage with instructors in a live classroom setting.
Prelicensing Coursework
Kaplan prelicensure classes include the required prelicensing coursework, a prep course, and practice tests with minimal study aids. Kaplan focuses on studying materials with a live instructor, so students can ask questions or request additional information on certain concepts. This approach personalizes the learning experience for students. Real Estate Express personalized coaching comes the closest to Kaplan’s live classes.
Study Aids
Kaplan includes printed textbooks and workbooks—like Real Estate Express—as well as a practice questions database. However, Kaplan is not focused on study aids because most of the review is given live from instructors, so additional prep materials from PrepAgent might be necessary for a majority of students. If math is your pain point, then OnCourse Learning might be a good choice for supplemental study aids.
Continuing Education
Kaplan offers the SAE required online continuing education classes for an additional $159. Both Real Estate Express and The CE Shop include SAE credits with their prelicensure packages, so either of those would be a better choice if you want this benefit. While Kaplan gives students access for nine months, Real Estate Express offers one year access to McKissock continuing education courses to help agents make the most of their online real estate courses.
What Kaplan Is Missing
Kaplan is missing a strong user experience. The Kaplan platform freezes occasionally and times out quickly, which could lead to frustration. For an online real estate school, platform performance must be top-notch, easy to use, and intuitive for the student so as not to impede learning.
What Users Think About Kaplan
Kaplan has over 1,500 reviews on TrustPilot; 91% rate it as excellent or great. Most reviewers commented on the usefulness of practice tests and depth of lessons, but some users noted that the lessons timeout too fast. Users like the variety of delivery methods available to learn materials, including the on-demand and live online classes. Find out more about Kaplan reviews and pricing.
Where to Find Kaplan
Studying to become an agent can be difficult without an instructor or coach to help answer questions or provide explanations. Kaplan gives potential agents the ability to take live classes online with an instructor—combining the best of both online and real-time learning approaches. Learn more about Kaplan live online prelicensing classes by visiting their website.
Best for Studying on a Mobile App: Aceable Agent
Aceable Agent is an online real estate school offering prelicensing coursework in Texas and New York only. Unlike other providers on our list, Aceable Agent offers a well-designed mobile app that helps realty professionals study and pass the licensure exam from any device; pricing for prelicensing and study materials is $497. Given this unique mobility, Aceable Agent is ideal for tech-savvy future agents who want an app to study from anywhere, at any time.
Aceable Agent Pricing
Aceable Agent costs $497 for 180 hours of online coursework, accessible from the platform’s Apple and Android apps. There are no exam prep materials included, but future agents can ask questions of the instructor through email and a Facebook group. There is a money-back guarantee if you do not pass the exam in three attempts.
Aceable Agent Features
Aceable Agent is the online real estate school for students who are technology-savvy and want the flexibility of studying from a mobile device. Students can complete coursework, study, and take practice exams on the Aceable Agent mobile app.
Prelicensing Coursework
Aceable Agent allows students to complete all prelicensing coursework required by the state of Texas on their mobile device. When the student returns to their computer, Aceable Agent picks up where they left off to provide a seamless learning experience for the user. This is unique to Aceable Agent.
Study Aids
Potential real estate agents can use Aceable Agent to study for their exam with materials like practice tests that give feedback on missed questions. Students can ask for help by emailing an instructor or reaching out to staff directly through the Facebook Student Forum. Although Real Estate Express and OnCourse Learning also include access to instructors through email, and Kaplan gives students access to instructors through live courses, the Facebook group is unique.
Continuing Education
Aceable Agent does not include SAE required post-licensure coursework in their package. Like Kaplan and OnCourse Learning, SAE coursework to renew your license is sold individually; each course costs $30 to $40. If SAE is an important part of your choice, then you might want to try either Real Estate Express or The CE Shop to avoid additional costs.
What Aceable Agent Is Missing
Aceable Agent is designed around the needs of tech-savvy realty professionals. Potential agents who are not mobile device-friendly might struggle to conquer the testing materials and manage the technology. For more traditional online real estate course options, you might want to examine Kaplan’s live online classes, which give students the opportunity to engage with an instructor.
What Users Think About Aceable Agent
Reviewers on TrustPilot reported that the cross-device platform was easy to use and reliable. Users noted the information was very thorough, with simple navigation that promoted learning on the go. We could not find many negative comments about Aceable Agent.
Where to Find Aceable Agent
Aceable Agent helps realty professionals complete prelicensing coursework on any device. Their advanced platform (app and desktop) is easy to navigate from any screen with an intuitive interface that promotes learning for those accustomed to technology. Find out more about how the Aceable Agent app works and sign up on their website.
Best for Continuing Education: The CE Shop
The CE Shop is an online real estate school offering prelicensing coursework and continuing education classes in Texas. The CE Shop offers not only required CE courses for license renewal, but a variety of professional development courses as well. The CE Shop is a good choice for real estate agents seeking continuing education credits as part of prelicensing coursework packages, or for agents solely interested in CE after passing their licensing exam.
The CE Shop Pricing
The CE Shop costs $623 (after the 35% discount available on their website) for 180 hours of prelicensure coursework, including exam prep with unlimited practice tests. This includes 98 hours of SAE license classes. A la carte CE courses start at $29.
The CE Shop Features
The CE Shop focuses on expanding the continuing education opportunities for agents after getting their real estate license. With SAE CE credits included in their prelicensure package, agents are set to take the next step toward upkeep of their license and growing their career. Real Estate Express also includes SAE classes as part of their prelicensing package.
Prelicensing Coursework
The CE Shop includes the core classes required by the state of Texas, as well as exam prep and a math guide. OnCourse Learning is the only other online real estate school that provides math-specific exam prep; however, The CE Shop only offers a guide for math concepts. On Course Learning offers a full prep class built around helping students with math deficiencies.
Study Aids
The CE Shop’s study aid offerings are basic, like many inclusions on our list. There is a supplemental guide for math and unlimited practice exams to support students studying for their real estate exam, but PrepAgent offers more comprehensive study aids. With PrepAgent, a struggling student can bolster their study efforts without significant added cost.
Continuing Education
Continuing education is the unique strength of The CE Shop; they offer SAE post-licensure credits to make sure you can meet renewal requirements. In addition, The CE Shop also includes professional development courses aimed at building a real estate business, building your sphere of influence, and finding out if specialties like commercial real estate are a good choice for you. These inclusions are unique to The CE Shop and very useful for new agents.
What The CE Shop Is Missing
All courses offered by The CE Shop are guided by text-based course materials and practice questions; instruction is not recorded and played back or offered via video, so the student is required to read through the materials on their own to complete the classes. If you want video or audio courses for prelicensing—as well as robust study aids—then you should check out Kaplan, PrepAgent, or Real Estate Express.
What Users Think About The CE Shop
Reviewers on TrustPilot noted that The CE Shop platform could be glitchy and frequently requires students to contact customer service. The positive reviews state that the information is up to date and helpful when taking the exam. Of almost 1,900 reviews, 93% rate The CE Shop as excellent or great.
Where to Find The CE Shop
The CE Shop has the largest offering of post-licensure continuing education and professional development classes in their package. The CE Shop helps prospective agents study online for their exam and continue their education after licensure to ensure their license remains active. Learn more about The CE Shop and get your discount code on their website.
Best for Math-centered Prelicensure Prep: OnCourse Learning
OnCourse Learning is an online real estate school for required prelicensing coursework with exam prep and continuing education classes priced at $599. OnCourse Learning is unique due to their MathMaster prep exam materials, offering in-depth study aids for the real estate finance part of the licensing test. Agents who struggle with math or financial concepts and need extra focus to pass this part of the test will benefit from OnCourse Learning.
OnCourse Learning Pricing
OnCourse Learning costs $599 for prelicensure classes with a focus on mathematics and real estate finance concepts. MathMaster—exam prep specifically focused around real estate finance—is a standout, free addition to the 180-hour prelicensure coursework offered by OnCourse.
OnCourse Learning Features
OnCourse Learning features a math-centered prep class called MathMaster aimed at helping students overcome their issues around real estate math and contract finances. Even though The CE Shop offers a math guide and most online schools on our list have a section for real estate math, OnCourse Learning offers more in-depth guidance on this topic to give math-challenged students extra help.
Prelicensing Coursework
OnCourse Learning offers students all required prelicensing classes 100% online via recorded instruction videos. Like Real Estate Express and Aceable Agent, OnCourse Learning prelicensing classes include email support to answer questions. If you need a personalized approach, then the instructor-led online classes of Kaplan are likely a better choice.
Study Aids
The study aids are where OnCourse Learning stands apart. In addition to MathMaster, students get audio reviews of important real estate topics, flashcards, practice tests, and test-taking tips. While PrepAgent offers a more comprehensive collection of study aids, OnCourse Learning is ideal for students who are specifically concerned about the math portion of the real estate licensing exam.
Continuing Education
Unlike Real Estate Express and The CE Shop, OnCourse Learning offers students SAE classes for purchase at an additional cost of $26 to $39 per post-licensing class. If you want to avoid these costs and you do not need the extra math course, then you might try Real Estate Express or The CE Shop; both include prelicensing and continuing education courses in a single package.
What OnCourse Learning Is Missing
OnCourse Learning is missing the human touch and guidance of coaches or instructors. Some concepts on the real estate exam are dense, and students who need clarification might struggle to understand them. If you need instruction or coaching, then Real Estate Express, Kaplan, or Aceable Agent are better choices.
What Users Think About OnCourse Learning
Reviewers on the platform’s website note that OnCourse Learning is easy to use and convenient. Users noted that the online-only format makes it easy for them to study for the licensing exam on their own schedule. Find out more about the OnCourse Learning pricing and reviews.
Where to Find OnCourse Learning
OnCourse Learning, while offering standard prelicensing courses, stands out for its MathMaster materials. These are designed to help aspiring agents who struggle with math master real estate finance computations and formulas. Learn more about OnCourse Learning and get a 25% discount on their website.
Best Comprehensive Study Aids for Exam Prep: PrepAgent
PrepAgent is an online real estate exam prep solution designed as an add-on to the state-required prelicensure coursework. It is unique because it delivers licensing exam study aids in many different formats—like flashcards, videos, audios, and practice tests—for $69 per month. With a clear focus on exam prep, PrepAgent is perfect for students who need extra help studying for their licensing exam.
PrepAgent Pricing
PrepAgent cost $69 per month or $89 per year, depending on how long you need prep materials. While PrepAgent includes practice tests, online videos, flashcards, and webinars, it does not offer the prelicensing courses required by the state of Texas. The PrepAgent study aids are add-ons for future agents seeking to review terms, practice tests, and in-depth study materials.
PrepAgent Features
PrepAgent is a breakout inclusion on our list because it helps agents study for their prelicensing exam using different study tools, formats, and delivery methods. As the most affordable exam prep on our list, PrepAgent is an easy addition to any of our online real estate schools for extra drilling on concepts, terminology, and test-taking practices.
Prelicensing Coursework
As PrepAgent is designed to be a supplement to real estate education, it does not offer prelicensing coursework. If you need to meet coursework requirements as mandated by the state of Texas, consider any of the other options on our list.
Study Aids
PrepAgent surpasses other exam prep offerings on our list. While other online real estate schools focus on teaching new concepts, PrepAgent offers exceptional tools to help students master those concepts, including practice tests, videos, webinars, audio lessons, workbooks, and e-books. Potential agents can take tests online, listen to audio lessons through their smartphone while driving, or review concepts through live webinars and recorded videos.
Continuing Education
CE is not part of the offerings of PrepAgent. If you want an online real estate school with continuing education opportunities, then Real Estate Express and The CE Shop are the best choices.
What PrepAgent Is Missing
PrepAgent is missing prelicensing and continuing education classes. However, PrepAgent is the leading resource for additional study aids that can help students pass the real estate exam. If you need to take prelicensing coursework or continuing education classes, then the other online real estate schools on our list are better choices.
What Users Think About PrepAgent
Almost 700 reviews on Facebook recommend PrepAgent as an exam study aid resource. Reviewers note that the webinars and practice exams helped them master exam materials. Users stated that the depth of the information ultimately helped them pass the real estate licensing exam.
Where to Find PrepAgent
Most online real estate schools focus on the coursework and continuing education classes while only giving a nod to exam prep materials. PrepAgent is an affordable online prep exam solution for agents needing additional practice tests, webinars, and flashcards to drill terms or concepts. Learn more about PrepAgent and get free real estate flashcards on their website.
Bottom Line: Best Online Real Estate School Texas
The best online real estate school in Texas helps future agents complete required prelicensing coursework, pass the licensing exam, and complete required classes for license renewal. We reviewed 10 online real estate schools and picked the six best based on prelicensing coursework, study aids, ease of use, and user reviews.
Our best overall pick for online real estate schools in Texas is Real Estate Express. This well-reviewed education provider combines the best option for prelicensure coursework, exam prep, and coaching to increase pass rates—while ensuring soon-to-be agents have access to CE credits for license renewal. Find out more about the Real Estate Express’ “Pass or Don’t Pay” money-back guarantee on their website.
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