HPW Real Estate School Review

The HPW Real Estate School is a North Carolina-based school that offers pre-licensing courses for real estate agents. It also offers exam prep classes, post-licensing courses, and continuing education classes. Additionally, it offers professional development courses and detailed steps on getting your real estate license in North Carolina.

Pros Explained

• Multiple class times: You can take pre-licensing courses during the day, in the evening, or on the weekend. The school provides flexible classes to fit your schedule. 
• Classes for different points in your career: There are classes for aspiring agents, those who recently got licensed, and those who have been licensed for years. 
• Provides licensing steps: The school website does a good job of going into detail about what it takes to get your North Carolina real estate license. It outlines the steps and shows you what you need to do and in what order. 

Cons Explained

• Only in one state: Classes are only offered in North Carolina. If you want to work in another state or want to eventually be licensed in two states, this isn’t the school for you. 
• No mobile app: Not having a mobile app makes it more difficult to take classes on the go. Instead, it’s recommended to take them from a home or work computer. 
• No online chat: There isn’t an online chat option, so it makes it more tedious to get a quick question answered, especially if it’s after hours. 

Available Courses

HPW Real Estate School offers pre-licensing real estate agent courses, as well as exam prep courses and professional development classes. It also offers post-licensing and continuing education classes for real estate agents. Post-licensing courses are required in North Carolina to be completed within 18 months of initial licensure. These are different from continuing education classes which are completed after renewing your license for the second time and each subsequent time thereafter. 

Salesperson Pre-Licensing

Salesperson pre-licensing courses at HPW Real Estate School are currently only offered online. You can choose from daytime, evening, or weekend classes. All pre-licensing classes include the 75 hours of required education hours in North Carolina. Class schedules are available on the school’s website, and you can choose the schedule that works best for you and then purchase the class online.

All pre-licensing courses are $399. However, the school does offer a $20 discount if you sign up with a friend, and, from time to time, they post promo codes on their website to save you money on classes.

Salesperson pre-licensing classes include instruction in basic real estate principles and practice and include real estate license law. There is an end-of-class exam that students must pass with a 75% or higher to become eligible to take the North Carolina real estate exam.

Exam Prep

Throughout its pre-licensing classes, the HPW Real Estate School offers exam prep pamphlets and study guides for students to keep.

Continuing Education

The HPW Real Estate School offers continuing education classes for real estate agents. You can choose to take self-paced online classes or livestream classes over Zoom. Most self-paced courses complete the four hours of educational requirement and range from $67 to $97 per class. There's a variety of topics including gentrification, commercial real estate, code of ethics, strategic pricing, and working with millennials.

Live online continuing education classes are typically four hours each and cost $65. There aren’t as many topics to choose from compared to the self-paced options, but a few topics include ethics, neighborhoods, and real estate investing.

Other Courses

In addition to the standard pre-licensing, exam prep, post-licensing, and continuing education courses, the HPW Real Estate School offers professional development classes geared toward experienced agents who want to specialize in a niche and learn more about specific real estate related topics. You can contact the school directly for pricing and availability details.

Course Format

The HPW Real Estate School used to offer both online and in-person classes, but for the foreseeable future, all classes are strictly online. Pre-licensing and post-licensing courses are live online and continuing education courses are offered on-demand and live online. All courses are accepted by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission and they all meet the mandatory hours needed to be licensed. 

Pre-licensing courses cover real estate math, agency, real estate principles, and North Carolina laws. They also cover closing disclosure forms, construction terms, residential square footage guidelines, mill rates, and taxation. 

Instructors

The HPW Real Estate School was founded by a pro with decades of teaching and real estate experience, and all of its instructors are also very experienced and knowledgeable. Each instructor has a bio on the website highlighting their career achievements and education. They also provide their contact details so students can easily get in touch with them for questions or additional help. Some instructors have held high-level corporate positions and others are real estate investors, professors, and brokers-in-charge. 

Reputation

The HPW Real Estate School is well known throughout the state of North Carolina. It has a solid reputation, is well established, and has overall positive student reviews on its own website as well as third-party sites such as Google. Students find the instructors to be friendly and knowledgeable. They also appreciate the flexible class schedules and variety of continuing education topics. However, the school isn’t accredited by IDECC or ARELLO, which means it didn’t meet either of the institution's strict accreditation standards. 

Price

The HPW Real Estate School doesn’t offer tiered packages like some of its competitors. Instead, it prices all of its pre-licensing courses at $399. Exam prep cram courses are included in that price. Post-licensing courses cost $189, and continuing education classes range from $65 to $97 per class. 

Customer Service

You can reach customer service at the HPW Real Estate School on their website www.hpwreschool.com, by email reschool@hpw.com, or by fax at 1-919-878-4055. You can also call the school at 1-919-878-4040. They answer phones Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST. The company is closed on weekends and holidays. 

Competition: HPW Real Estate School vs. The CE Shop

The CE Shop is an online real estate school that specializes in offering a huge selection of continuing education classes for real estate agents in all 50 states. However, it also offers a host of pre-licensing and exam prep courses in multiple states. It is accredited by ARELLO, has positive student reviews, and has an online chat button. 

We compared The CE Shop with HPW Real Estate School because both schools offer pre-licensing, exam prep, and continuing education classes online to real estate agents who want to work in North Carolina. Both schools are viable choices, but overall, we choose The CE Shop because it offers classes in more than one state, is accredited, and has a larger class topic selection.  

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Get My Real Estate License in North Carolina?

Completing a pre-licensing course like the one offered by HPW is a necessary first step. Once a pre-licensing course is complete, you must submit a license application and pay a $100 application fee in order to be scheduled to take the licensing exam, which requires payment of a separate $56 exam fee. Licenses are issued after passing the exam.

How Can I Start a Real Estate Career?

Being successful is very much about networking and connecting with potential buyers, sellers, and builders. You can work for a brokerage, which means you would report to a supervising broker in a larger firm but still get a commission based on your sales. You also can work independently, but this is where the networking comes in. You really need to be connected to the local real estate market to be successful on your own.

What Are the Four Ps of Real Estate?

The four Ps are a sales and marketing term that can apply to more than just real estate—and there also are more than four depending on the focus. In general, it might refer to place, price, product, and promotion, and people also is used. As it applies to real estate, these are mostly self-explanatory, but a term like the four Ps is a good way to remain focused on these important factors.

What Are the Six Categories of Real Estate?

The six categories of real estate refer to the most common types of real property real estate agents might be trying to sell. They can be categorized as residential, retail, office space, agricultural, industrial, and hospitality. Some larger properties might fall into multiple categories. For example, a multistory building might have retail space on its lower levels and both office space and residential units on upper levels.

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Methodology

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.