Gold Coast Schools Review 2023

Gold Coast Schools is an educational institution that offers courses in real estate, construction, real estate appraisal, insurance, construction, mortgage, and community association management (CAM). You can choose between English and Spanish classes and online or on-campus options. The online courses can be started as soon as you sign up and are offered in a self-paced format. Technical support is available by phone, email, support ticket, or online chat.

Pros Explained

• Choice of online or on-campus classes: Choose the type of class based on your learning style. You can take a class near where you work or live or anywhere you have an internet connection around your schedule. 
• Student resources on the site: These resources include real estate news, career tips, and downloads and presentations on different topics including mortgages and appraisals.  
• Live chat: In addition to phone and email support, the school offers live chat so if you have a quick question, you don’t need to wait on hold and can have it answered within minutes. 

Cons Explained

• No mobile app: The site is mobile-friendly but there isn’t an app, so it isn’t as easy to take a class on the go from your smartphone or tablet. 
• Only offered in Florida: If you want to work in another state besides Florida or if you want to get licensed in multiple classes, this school isn’t the right choice for you. 

Available Courses

Gold Coast Schools offers pre-licensing real estate agent courses, pre-licensing courses for brokers, exam prep, post-licensing classes, and continuing education classes. Post-licensing classes are required for new agents and brokers prior to renewing their license for the first time. Continuing education classes are required to keep your license in good standing and help refresh your industry knowledge, and keep you up to date on new topics. 

Additionally, there are a variety of real estate-related courses including mortgage broker classes, appraiser classes, construction classes, and community association management classes. This is convenient if you want to pursue two fields of study from the same school. 

Salesperson Pre-Licensing

Salesperson (agent) pre-licensing courses are offered on one of the seven Florida campuses or online through a self-paced option. Customer support, including technical support, is available with each course. You can select an in-person class with varying schedule dates and times depending on the location you choose or take an online course as part of a package. 

All courses satisfy the required 63 hours of Florida real estate material and include customer support as well as instructor class support. They also include real estate glossaries, a textbook, employment assistance, and two years of access. In-person courses start at $559 and include all course material including a textbook. 

Online courses come in three packages: Gold Coast Essentials, Gold Coast Plus, and Gold Coast Pro. The Gold Coast Essentials package is $299 and includes 63 hours of course material but doesn’t include a hard copy of the textbook or any exam prep simulators. It is valid for one year. The Gold Coast Pro package is also valid for one year, and also includes all course material, as well as exam prep simulators. It also includes exam cram which is available via livestream to help prepare you to pass the exam. This package costs $499. 

Exam Prep

Gold Coast Schools offers a variety of exam prep options including a state simulator and practice questions for $69.99, digital flashcards for $39.99, and an exam prep package that includes both of the above for $89.99. Keep in mind that exam prep does come with the Gold Coast Plus and Gold Coast Pro packages.

Continuing Education

Gold Coast Schools offers continuing education classes for real estate agents and brokers. All continuing education classes are found under the "Renew My License" section on the website. There is a selection of individual courses to choose from including escrow management, core law, and business ethics. These can be purchased separately and the individual class prices range from three to four hours in length and $22.95 to $99 in price. 

A continuing education package is also available; it includes 14 hours of course material and is offered in English and Spanish. The online package is $22.95 and the classroom option is $99. Both formats include the core law and business ethics requirements. However, they don’t include escrow management for brokers or any post-licensing classes, which can both be purchased separately. 

Other Courses

In addition to the standard pre-licensing, exam prep, and continuing education courses, Gold Coast Schools also offers the following additional courses:

• Appraisal
• Construction
• Mortgage Broker
• Community Association Manager
• Insurance 

Course formats and costs vary but many students find it helpful to be able to take classes in other disciplines to learn more about different parts of the industry. 

Course Format

You can choose the learning style that you’re best suited to and then check the schedule of on-campus classes to find a class nearby. If one of those doesn’t work, self-paced online courses are available and can be taken from your computer, tablet, or smartphone. All courses include colorful and engaging content, self-checks to review your progress, diagrams, and summary tables. Courses are designed to provide all of the relevant information to pass your Florida real estate license exam and to teach you about the industry including up-to-date contracts and real estate-related laws.  

Instructors

All of the instructors at Gold Coast Schools can be reached via phone and email. The instructors are all specially selected based on their industry and presentation skills. Each instructor, director, and owner has a bio on the school website so you can find out a bit more about them. They all have years of experience in their industry. For example, one instructor has taught at the school since 1995 and is an active real estate broker.

Reputation

Gold Coast Schools is well known in Florida and has multiple locations throughout South Florida. It has a positive reputation in the industry as well as good testimonials from past students on its website. Some testimonials praise the knowledgeable teachers who take their time explaining challenging material. Others appreciate learning about new real estate marketing tips and getting practice filling out contracts. However, Gold Coast Schools is not accredited by IDECC or ARELLO which means the school didn’t meet either of the institutions’ strict accreditation criteria. 

Price 

Gold Coast Schools offers courses for current and aspiring real estate agents and real estate brokers who are working in or want to work in Florida. The courses are comprehensive but are on the expensive side compared to other schools. Continuing education classes cost between $22.95 and $99. Exam prep courses range from $39.99 to $89.99. Pre-licensure online agent packages range from $299 to $799 and classroom pre-licensing courses start at $559. 

Customer Service 

You can reach customer service at Gold Coast Schools on their website www.goldcoastschools.com or via phone at 1-800-732-9140. You can also find the answer to one of your questions on their site, through student resources, and by using the live chat feature. Additionally, you can connect with your instructor via email and phone; each instructor sets their own office hours.  

Competition: Gold Coast Schools vs. Real Estate Express

Real Estate Express is an IDECC and ARELLO accredited online real estate school, meaning that the school has met the high standards for online education that both institutions have. It teaches real estate classes online in two formats: livestream and self-paced. There aren't any campus locations. It has positive former student reviews and, like Gold Coast Schools, is part of a large real estate education group of companies, Colibri Real Estate family. Real Estate Express offers pre-licensing courses in 40 states and Washington D.C. 

We compared Real Estate Express with Gold Coast Schools because both schools offer pre-license, exam prep, and continuing education classes online in Florida. However, there are some differences as well. In addition to being accredited, Real Estate Express offers classes in numerous states in two online formats and has a career hub on its site to help new real estate agents navigate the real estate industry. Plus its prices are also significantly lower than Gold Coast Schools. For those reasons, we recommend choosing Real Estate Express.

Our Methodology: How We Review Real Estate Schools

We researched and analyzed numerous facets of each real estate school with a quantitative approach in mind. Some of the elements considered include costs of the classes, course formats, accreditation, and former student reviews. We also look at the overall reputation of the provider, geographic areas where the courses are available, and instructor qualifications. Additionally, we assess how easy it is to navigate the website and whether it includes additional student resources such as blogs, webinars, and career tips.