Real Estate School of Illinois

The Real Estate School of Illinois offers self-paced online real estate pre-licensing courses for agents who are just starting their real estate careers. It’s easy to use the website, there are multiple ways to get in touch with the school if you have questions, and you get immediate access to course materials once you sign up. Enjoy instructor support, a low-price guarantee, and help with career placement.

However, the school doesn’t have a mobile app, student resources, or any information on Illinois real estate licensing, such as the state’s contact information, where to get fingerprinted, and how to sign up for the state exam. Additionally, exam prep, continuing education, and other professional courses aren’t offered. 

Pros Explained

• Easy to contact the school: It’s easy to get in contact with the school in a variety of formats including email, phone, web-based contact form, and online chat. They respond quickly over chat, so it’s an efficient way to get your questions answered.
• Career placement: The school has a large network of brokers in the area and, if you pass your exam and can’t find a job, they will assist you and even guarantee that all students will get a job. Contact them directly for specifics.
• Low-price guarantee: This is another unique feature that the school offers. If another school offers the same pre-licensing courses for a lower price, they will beat it by 10%.

Cons Explained

• No licensing information: Most online real estate schools offer a list of state licensing resources but this one doesn’t. This adds an extra step that you will need to complete yourself to find out where and when to take your exam, etc.  
• Limited courses offered: No additional courses are offered, so you can’t take continuing education classes at the same school you took your pre-licensing courses. You also can’t explore specialties or learn more about related topics such as property management or mortgages. 
• No student resources: Webinars, industry news, and other student resources aren’t offered. The school doesn’t offer students much in the way of extras. 

Available Courses

The Real Estate School of Illinois only offers pre-licensing real estate agent courses. In Illinois the words "agents" and "brokers" are used interchangeably, so classes are referred to as broker classes, but are in fact for aspiring agents. If you’re an agent and want to become a broker, you will be called a managing broker once you complete the necessary courses and exams. The school doesn’t offer courses for managing brokers. It also doesn't offer any exam prep, professional development, or continuing education classes.

Salesperson Pre-Licensing

Salesperson pre-licensing courses are offered entirely online and are sold as a package of 75 hours. This includes the 60-hour and 15-hour portions. Keep in mind that a total of 75 hours is required to sit for the exam and become an Illinois real estate agent.

This course package appears to be almost permanently on sale. The stated full price is $399, but every time we visit the site there is always some sort of sale going on, offering it for $199.

You can sign up for each course online, get 24/7 access, and get technical support and instructor support with each class. There is also progress tracking and printable materials for those who like to make notes and highlight details.

Course Format

There is only one course format at the Real Estate School of Illinois and that is a self-paced, online format. Courses can be taken from any device with a steady internet connection, and no extra software is needed. Courses are available 24/7 and can be paused and restarted as needed. They’re designed to be taken around student’s schedules. All digital materials and printable materials are included. There is an online bookstore if you want to buy supplemental textbooks. Book topics are wide-ranging and include tips and advice, mold issues, real estate definitions, and 1031 exchanges.

Courses are available immediately upon purchasing and include interactive activities, progress tracking, exam questions, as well as practice quizzes. A final exam is also given at the end of each course. There are also audio presentations and real estate exercises that offer practice with math and commonly used real estate terms. Some of the covered topics include agency, real property, deeds, conveyance, financing, and closings. 

Career Placement

The Real Estate School of Illinois offers guaranteed employment to its students who have passed the Illinois real estate exam and received their real estate license. If you can’t locate employment through your own efforts, the school will find you employment. Most schools offer some kind of a career hub on their website, but this is a unique feature and good for students who may be new to the area or not sure where to look for employment. Contact the school directly for specifics after you pass the exam. 

Instructors

The instructors at the Real Estate School of Illinois are all industry professionals with years of real estate-related experience. In fact, each instructor is either a licensed Illinois attorney or real estate broker, so they can provide answers to industry questions and give a different perspective to students. The school’s website doesn’t have bios for their instructors, but several instructors are mentioned in a positive manner in student reviews on third-party sites such as AgentAdvice.com and Google.  

Reputation

The Real Estate School of Illinois has a positive reputation as a local real estate school offering classes to aspiring Illinois real estate agents. Thousands of agents have taken classes here and, according to the school’s website, their passage rate is higher than average, with a nearly 94% pass rate from students who have given feedback on their own exam results.

Students review the school on third-party sites such as Google and Yelp and praise the competitively priced courses, the responsive customer service agents, and the helpful and informative instructors. However, the school isn’t accredited by ARELLO or IDECC. This means that the school didn’t meet either of the institutions’ strict accreditation criteria. 

Price

The school seems to always have a sale for its pre-licensing package. The 75-hour package is said to cost $399, but it is frequently or perhaps always available for $199. The school does offer a low-price guarantee, so if you find another school that offers the same pre-licensing courses for a lower price, they will beat the price by 10%.

Customer Service

You can reach customer service at the Real Estate School of Illinois in a few different ways. You can contact them through a form on their website www.realestateschoolillinois.com, by email, over the phone at 1-630-324-7117, or through online chat. Once you sign up for a course, you will also have access to instructor support during their own business hours, which they will provide to you.

Competition: Real Estate School of Illinois vs. Kaplan

Kaplan Real Estate is an online real estate school. It teaches real estate classes in a few formats which include online self-paced, live stream, and home study. It has positive former student reviews, student resources, state licensing information, and offers classes in all 50 states. 

We compared Kaplan with the Real Estate School of Illinois because both schools offer pre-licensing classes for real estate agents online in Illinois. Each school has its pros and cons. Kaplan is more expensive than the Real Estate School of Illinois, but it offers classes in numerous states, has abundant student and career resources, and offers exam prep and continuing education courses, which is why we recommend choosing Kaplan.

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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.