Real Estate School of Illinois Review 2021

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. Although there is a blog, it’s outdated, and the school doesn’t offer students much in the way of extras.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 can be purchased as a package of 75 hours or purchased separately as 60 hours and 15 hours of education. Keep in mind that a total of 75 hours is required to sit for the exam and become an Illinois real estate agent. Students who have already taken 60 hours may opt to purchase the 15-hour course separately. 

All courses are now on sale celebrating the school’s nine-year anniversary. However, sale prices aren’t guaranteed and may return to their pre-sale prices at any time. The 75-hour package is on sale for $199, which makes it a better deal to purchase than buying the classes separately. The 60-hour Topics Course is $299, and the 15-hour Pre-Licensing Applied Principles Course is $169. 

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, hundreds of 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 92% passage 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

Online pre-licensing courses are currently on sale. It’s cheaper to purchase the course package of 75 hours than to purchase the courses separately. Keep in mind that the sale pricing can end at any time. The 75-hour package is on sale for $199 from $399. The 60-hour Topics Course is on sale for $299 from $399, and the 15-hour Pre-Licensing Applied Principles Course is $169. 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. Their office customer service hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CST. They’re closed on Sundays and holidays. 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 is an IDECC- and ARELLO-accredited online school that offers real estate and professional classes to adults. The double accreditation means that the school has met the high standards for online education that make it one of the top real estate schools. It teaches real estate classes online in two formats: live-stream and self-paced but doesn’t have any physical campus locations. 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 is accredited, offers classes in numerous states, and has abundant student and career resources, as well as exam prep and continuing education courses, which is why we recommend choosing Kaplan.

	Real Estate School of Illinois	Kaplan
Pricing	$199 for pre-licensing in Illinois	$489+ for pre-licensing in Illinois
Courses Offered	Pre-licensing for real estate agents	Real estate licensing, exam prep, continuing ed, and more
Number of States Courses Are Offered	1	50
Course Format	Self-paced online	Live-online and on-demand

Final Verdict

The Real Estate School of Illinois is a viable option if you’re interested in becoming a real estate agent in the state of Illinois. It’s ideal for someone on a budget who only wants to take an online pre-licensing course. Some of the school’s highlights include positive overall reviews, an easy-to-use website with a chat option, a low-price guarantee, and career placement services. 

When making your decision about which real estate school to attend, keep in mind that Real Estate School of Illinois isn’t IDECC- or ARELLO-certified, doesn’t have a mobile app, and is lacking student resources and licensing information. Additionally, the only classes that are offered are pre-licensing courses for real estate agents in Illinois.

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.