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Champions School of Real Estate is not one of our top-rated online real estate schools. You can review our list of the best online real estate schools for what we think are better options.
Champions School of Real Estate is a real estate school with seven campuses throughout the major metropolitan areas in Texas including Austin, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas. Its focus is providing a high-quality real estate education to students who want to work in the real estate industry in the state with continuing education for two others.
Pros Explained
- Interactive online courses: These courses that you can engage in aren’t the same old boring videos or instruction. This makes learning more enjoyable and easier to retain information.
- Renew your Texas real estate license entirely online: This is a convenient option not offered by all schools.
- Step-by-step licensing videos: The steps to get a real estate license can be confusing and these videos are helpful, thorough, and easy to understand.
If you’re not computer savvy or learn better in a classroom, then choose on-campus courses instead of online-only instruction. It’s important to retain the information in whatever way is best for you.
Cons Explained
- Customer service hours are limited: Some schools offer 24/7 customer support and chat options but Champions’ customer service hours run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
- Limited state coverage: Salesperson and broker pre-licensing and exam prep courses are only offered for real estate professionals who want to obtain their Texas real estate license. Continuing education classes are offered for Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida real estate professionals.
- Cost is on the higher side: Licensing packages start at $980. This is more expensive than many online schools.
Licensing costs vary greatly by state. When researching, only compare courses for the state you want to work in, so the comparison is fair.
Available Courses
Champions School of Real Estate offers salesperson and broker pre-licensing courses and exam prep for salespeople and brokers in Texas. It also offers continuing education courses for Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida real estate professionals, with the latter two only available online. You can also take home inspector, appraiser, business etiquette, and loan origination classes, in addition to getting real estate designations.
Salesperson Pre-Licensing
Salesperson pre-licensing courses are in virtual classrooms and on the school campuses. You can also choose to mix and match with some virtual instruction and some classroom instruction. Textbooks are offered as hard copies or PDFs and are included with the pre-licensing course packages. The required courses are known as qualifying real estate courses and include Principles of Real Estate 1 and 2, Law of Agency, Law of Contracts, Real Estate Finance, and Promulgated Contract Forms. Each course is 30 credit hours for a total of 180 required hours.
Broker Pre-Licensing
Broker pre-licensing courses are offered individually or as packages and similarly to salesperson courses they can be taken online or on one of the Texas campuses. The courses cover the required broker educational classes and elective courses as well as textbooks and exam proctoring if you choose a package. The Real Estate Brokerage course is 30 hours and is required, plus you can choose from electives including Real Estate Math, Property Management, and Real Estate Marketing. The total number of required elective hours varies depending on your sales history and years of experience in the industry.
Exam Prep
Exam prep can be purchased on its own or can be included in a salesperson or broker prelicensing package. It’s the final step before taking the salesperson or broker exam. You can take exam prep classes online, through virtual correspondence with a PDF or textbook, or in a physical classroom. The stand-alone exam prep course allows unlimited retakes for one year. It includes a math review and study material for the national and state portions of the real estate exam. It’s only offered in Texas and includes practice test questions.
Continuing Education
You can take one continuing education class at a time or purchase an 18-hour package for Texas real estate professionals. Courses include the required 4-hour legal updates classes. Continuing education classes are required to keep your license in good standing and renew it. These courses are offered virtually online, via correspondence, or in classrooms on campus. Keep in mind that the Oklahoma and Florida continuing education courses are only offered online.
Course Format
All of the courses for Texas real estate professionals are offered online in a virtual classroom, or in an actual classroom at one of the school’s Texas campuses. You can also choose a combination of online and in-classroom courses that would involve going to class, then reviewing the material and taking practice tests at home. PDFs or textbooks are included in all of the course packages. The only class restrictions are for continuing education courses in Florida and Oklahoma, which are not offered on campus.
Prep courses can be retaken for one year. Online course formats include virtual classrooms with live teachers, interactive courses with video modules, and exercises that are mobile-friendly. There are also self-paced, online learning courses with PDF or textbooks to review.
Instructors
All of the instructors at Champions School of Real Estate have at least five years of experience working in the field. In addition, each instructor has also adults in the classroom or at least five years. Teachers are available during business hours to answer questions via phone or email. Some courses also include a virtual study hall where students can get their questions answered by instructors.
Reputation
Champions School of Real Estate has a positive reputation in the Texas communities that it serves. It’s not accredited, meaning it doesn’t meet certain prescribed standards, however, it does have some awards, including multiple years on the list of the Best Places to Work in Small Companies by local business councils as well as the 2014 Award of Excellence: Winner of Distinction for training and professional career growth by the Houston Better Business Bureau. It also has overall positive customer reviews on the Houston Better Business Burea page.
Price
Champions School of Real Estate doesn’t offer a free trial or money-back guarantee, but it does allow unlimited retakes of the stand-alone exam prep courses. Continuing education courses vary and generally start at $40 per course, or you can purchase a package deal of the required 18-hour courses (in Texas) for $99 to $119. These are priced the same for online or classroom formats.
The stand-alone exam prep class is $120. Salesperson pre-licensing packages range from $980 to $1,624 which are the current sale prices. All of these packages include all course materials and exam prep courses required. The higher tiers include additional resources such as a business etiquette class, success tools, and renewal courses.
The broker pre-licensure course packages are $725 and $1,350 and include all broker courses and exam prep. The course for $1,350 also includes extra credit hours and broker elective courses. All prices remain the same regardless of the chosen format.
Customer Service
You can reach customer service at Champions School of Real Estate on their website www.championsschool.com or by phone at 1-800-969-2599 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m to 4 p.m. on Saturday, or you can call one of their campuses directly which also have the same business hours. All of the contact information is listed on their website. Once you enroll in a class, the instructor may provide additional contact information such as their personal email address.
Competition: Champions School of Real Estate vs. Kaplan
We compared Champions School of Real Estate with Kaplan because both schools provide real estate courses in Texas. They both offer on-demand and live online classes as well. However, Champions also offers in-classroom courses throughout Texas, while Kaplan offers exclusively online content for real estate licensing in all 50 states. Overall, we recommend Kaplan because you can choose from hundreds of course topics, tuition is affordable, and it’s a well-known and reputable online education provider.
| Champions School of Real Estate | Kaplan | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $960+ for pre-licensing in Texas | $389+ for pre-licensing in Texas |
| Courses Offered | Real estate licensing, exam prep, continuing ed, and more | Real estate licensing, exam prep, continuing ed, and more |
| Number of States Courses are Offered | 3 | 50 |
| Course format | Classroom, live online, and on-demand | Live online and on-demand |
Final Verdict
If you are interested in a career in real estate in Texas, consider enrolling in Champions School of Real Estate. With seven convenient campus locations and two types of online programs, there is a format for everyone. You can also get your licensing questions answered on its website where you can obtain a step-by-step overview of the Texas licensing process to becoming a real estate agent. However, it is more expensive than other schools and it isn’t accredited which are key considerations for many.
Our Methodology: How We Review Real Estate Schools
Our methodology for reviewing real estate schools is based on a quantitative approach. We thoroughly analyze different aspects of each provider including their overall reputation, the types of courses offered, states courses are offered in, and the cost of each course. We also compare instructor qualifications, class formats, course packaging options, and previous customer and third-party ratings and reviews.
