Best Online Real Estate School Texas

What is REALLY the best real estate school in Texas? Check out user reviews, TREC exam pass rates, and the perks and benefits of each before you make your decision.

Let’s face it, the process of getting your Texas real estate license isn’t exactly a party. A lot of traditional real estate schools out there can make completing the required courses tough, tedious, and at times, a little boring. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be any of those things. With new trends and technologies ushering in the age of the online real estate course, gone are the days of sitting in classrooms for hours trying not to fall asleep to the sounds of your monotone teacher.

In Texas, there are several different schools that offer online real estate licensing courses and a plethora of online Texas real estate school reviews giving their opinions, but which one of us is really the best? Don’t worry, we did the due diligence for you. We’ve done the research and compared ourselves against a few of Texas’ most popular online real estate schools to help you figure out the best choice for you and your future as a kickass agent.

Here are the best online real estate school in Texas (based on TREC exam pass rate):

  1. AceableAgent
  2. Brightwood/Kaplan Real Estate Education
  3. Real Estate Express
  4. Career Webschool/OnCourse Learning
  5. Champions School of Real Estate
  6. Austin Institute of Real Estate/Real Estate Business School

1. AceableAgent

AceableAgent is the newest online real estate training program to be approved in the state of Texas. Yep, we’re the new kid on the block. But don’t let that fool you, we know our stuff. Created by seasoned real estate professionals, Harvard-educated instructional designers, and professional writers, our courses are specially designed to not only help you learn and succeed but to have fun in the process.

But we don't want to just talk about how much fun our course is. Let us show you too. Check out this quick video for a glimpse of what it's like to be an Aceable Agent.

Our courses are the most modern real estate courses available in the state of Texas. In the entire country, really. Our 100% mobile courses deliver content through text, video, and even interactive features to help you retain information. What do we mean by 100% mobile? That means our courses sync across ALL of your devices –– phone, laptop, tablet, etc –– to give you the flexibility to study on the go whether you’re using our app or our desktop site. How many other real estate schools can say they have an app? Just us!

We at AceableAgent are also dedicated to helping you succeed even after you get your license. For example, our Career Kickstart package comes with the guarantee that you’ll sell a house in 90 days. No other online real estate school in Texas that offers that kind of a guarantee.

Don’t believe us? Check out these reviews:

AceableAgent’s biggest perk: We’re fully online and have a mobile app + unique, innovative features to help you learn.

*AceableAgent’s current student TREC exam pass rate:** 85.18%* (477 students have passed out of 560 total registrants)

AceableAgent could use some work on: Our CE library. We do currently offer several CE courses, but since we’re new to the scene, we’re working on building that library for our agents and rolling out new CE courses on a regular basis.

2. Real Estate Express

Real Estate Express has been around for a while. This Texas-certified course offers practice exams, live weekly training, and access to a dedicated instructor who you can reach via email or phone.

Considering it’s one of the more traditional online real estate schools, Real Estate Express does a pretty good job of educating and preparing their students for the real estate world. However, as with most other traditional online real estate courses, they do not receive very high reviews in general. There are no videos, images, graphics, or anything else to really break up the monotony and make things fun. This seems to be pretty standard for most older schools, though, and isn’t unique to Real Estate Express. All in all, REE does a bang-up job.

Real Estate Express’ biggest perk: They have an above average TREC exam pass rate.

*Real Estate Express’ current student TREC exam pass rate:** 69.98* (1,203 of 1,719 total registrants) have passed the course.

Real Estate Express could use some work on: Modernizing their courses. They won’t be one of the most successful schools for much longer if they don’t adapt to today’s best practices in digital and online learning.

This issue is definitely a pain point for the company, as can be seen in many of their online reviews:

3. Champions School of Real Estate

Champions School of Real Estate is one of the most respected real estate schools in Texas, however, it does boast one of the lowest student pass rates* of the three schools on this list (60.60%; 11,772 passed out of 19,425 total registrants). With that said, Champions does offer a lot of opportunity for people looking to be in all areas of real estate with licensing courses in real estate, loan origination, home inspection, and appraisal. They also have an extensive offering of designations for agents and realtors to obtain.

Champions is first and foremost a classroom-based learning institution, which unfortunately means their online courses aren’t on par with other schools who rely more heavily on the online platform. Where they work best in the online space is their ChampionsLive! Beyond the Classroom learning seminars where professionals talk about hot topics in real estate.

Champions School of Real Estate’s biggest perk: They’ve been around long enough that they have a very good reputation in Texas real estate education. They also provide licensing courses for real estate professionals outside of just agents, realtors, and brokers.

*Champions School of Real Estate’s current student TREC exam pass rate:** 60.60% (11,772 have passed out of 19,425 total registrants).

Champions School of Real Estate could use some work on: Paying as much attention to the quality of their online courses as they do their classroom courses. They also need to work on their pass rate, as they have more competition now who are providing higher quality content and they won’t always be able to rely solely on their reputation.

If they don't adapt more to online learning, they'll start seeing more and more students have issues like the uncomfortable learning environment mentioned in this review:

4. Career Webschool/OnCourse Learning Real Estate

Career Webschool (more recently known as OnCourse Learning Real Estate) offers online real estate education at the state and national level. While their course offers the bare necessities, they lack the hands-on, interactive elements that make for an engaging experience. There’s also no mobile option available. Womp, womp :(

In addition to real estate licensing, they also offer courses in appraisal and home inspection which could be a good option if you want to pursue a non-agent position after receiving your license.

Career Webschool's biggest perk: Affordability. Career Webschool's basic package has been known to drop to a sale price as low as $285. That's great if you need to get your real estate license on a budget. But just remember: You get what you pay for!

*Career Webschool's current student TREC exam pass rate:** 70.85% (192 have passed out of 271 total registrants)

Career Webschool could use some work on: Like we mentioned earlier, Career Webschool has miles to go in innovation before they're caught up with some of their competitors. These days, not having engaging content, interactive features, or a mobile option is a recipe for creating unhappy students and under-prepared real estate agents.

5. Kaplan Real Estate Education

Brightwood Real Estate Education (which you may know as Kaplan Real Estate Education, since they just rebranded in 2016) is perhaps the most well-known online real estate school out there. Brightwood’s course quality can vary, depending on which state you live in. One of the disadvantages of having courses in every state is that the quality can be inconsistent from one state to the next.

Typically, their online courses serviceably cover the material. They just don’t offer anything to make the material more engaging or hands-on, which is a problem we consistently see with older real estate education providers.

Brightwood is available in all 50 states, and in addition to real estate licensing, they also offer licensure courses in appraisal, home inspection, and contracting.

Impressive, right? But does that make them the best online real estate school?

Brightwood / Kaplan's biggest perk: Brightwood does offer live classes. If you struggle to pace yourself independently, live classes can help keep you accountable.

*Brightwood / Kaplan's current student TREC exam pass rate:** 78.42%* (485 have passed out of 618 total registrants).

Brightwood / Kaplan could use some work on: Rebranding yourself can (usually) be a really good thing, but Kaplan needs to make sure the innovation of their course offerings and features matches the innovation of their new Brightwood brand.

6. Austin Institute of Real Estate

Another school, another re-brand. Austin Institute of Real Estate, now known as The Real Estate Business School, is a tried and true institution that has earned its spot among the most credible online real estate schools. But with its dual learning techniques, is this really the most beneficial way to get your real estate license?

With The Real Estate Business School, students have the option to take their courses fully online or split it between online and in-classroom. However, the emphasis on this school seems to be on classroom-based learning, which means that students lose a lot of flexibility in how and when they can earn their real estate license.

Austin Institute / Real Estate Business School's biggest perk: They offer classroom learning for those who may be interested.

*Austin Institute / Real Estate Business School's current student TREC exam pass rate:** 50.21%* (977 have passed out of 1,946 total registrants).

Austin Institute / Real Estate Business School could use some work on: With the lowest pass rate on this list, Real Estate Business School has a lot of work to do if they want to maintain their reputation as a credible online real estate school. In today's real estate education landscape, you can't really slide by on just your reputation anymore; they need to step up the education they offer to students.

In the end, the decision is yours to make, but we hope that we've offered you valuable information on Texas' best online real estate schools and empowered you to make the choice that's right for you.

Want to know the best real estate school in your Texas city? Check out our city-specific reviews:

*TREC state exam pass rate data as of April 30, 2019.