Choosing the right real estate school is vital to your future success in real estate. In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the five best real estate schools in Rockford, along with my top 5 choices, so that you can pick the best one.

Want to have a look at my top picks right away? Our favorite real estate schools in Rockford, Illinois, are Real Estate Express and The CE shop. According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual salary of a real estate agent in Illinois is $71,588 as of July 2022. Plus, the market stats tell us that the homes in Illinois were sold quicker in June 2022 than in June 2021. Also, the home prices in Illinois increased by 6.3% in June 2022, and around 17,885 homes were sold only in June this year.

Now how do you start choosing the best real estate schools in Illinois? The best real estate schools operate differently across different states as the laws and regulations vary according to the state rules. Though most Illinois real estate schools are excellent, you must find the best match for your requirements. Whether you’re considering prelicensing, post-licensing courses, exam preparation, or continuing education courses, there’s a real estate school for everything.

This guide will help you understand:

● Explore the course format options the real estate schools offer

● How much does it cost to go to a particular school

● What do you learn in a real estate school

What Are the Best Real Estate Schools in Rockford, Illinois?

The best real estate school should deliver excellent course value. The school should have superior overall performance and should contain reviews directly from real estate agents who had attended the school in the past. Besides, online courses must be easy to navigate and free of glitches.

Another essential feature is that the best real estate school should stand by its students and have a return policy if anyone is not 100% satisfied. In the end, the best real estate school is about helping you build a real estate career in your state in a way that works for you.

The following are our picks for the best real estate schools in Illinois:

1. Real Estate Express

Best Overall

Zack’s Take

My #1 recommendation for a great Real Estate Exam prep experience goes to Real Estate Express. It’s a premium course at a fair price with a money-back guarantee.

Best For Overall Experience
Price: $271 per package to $529.20 per package
Promotion:

Overview

Real Estate Express offers nationwide real estate education and has helped more than 500,000 aspiring agents to pursue their careers. It offers courses that are both comprehensive and reasonably priced. The school provides a variety of pre-and post-licensing, exam preparation, and continuing education courses. Additionally, the company has received accreditation from IDECC and ARELLO, and all the courses follow the legal guidelines.

Highlights

There are self-paced and self-directed packages for those students who wish to learn quickly within a few weeks.
Online live stream packages with live instructors and other learners to provide an organized learning environment.
State-approved instructor support and audio playback for exam prep are available.
Premium packages for students who want to talk to their instructors virtually and ask questions for learning purposes.
Pass or Don’t Pay Guarantee for guaranteed success in real estate exams.
Personalized instructors that quickly respond to queries within a day.
Live Q&A sessions with the instructors for an improved experience.

Pricing

The above are the real estate online packages offered by Real Estate Express. The Ultimate Learning package is the most comprehensive and includes a printed course textbook. Besides that, this package also allows you to get a year of professional development membership through McKissock. McKissock is one of the parent and sister companies of Real Estate Express that help Real Estate School students launch successful real estate careers.

What I like

Real Estate Express is a reliable, experienced school that provides high-quality real estate education across all 50 states. Though it excels in performance in all areas, the exam preparation courses and services are the best. Their exam prep is very thorough, with different custom and practice exams. Apart from that, there are a lot of tools that allow the students to pass the exam with flying colors on the first attempt.

What I dislike

The thing I dislike about Real Estate Express is that we only get six months to complete the course before accessing the course content. Plus, the real estate broker training courses aren’t available in all the states, but luckily we have these courses in Illinois.

Get a Package from Real Estate Express

2. Kaplan

Best Runner Up

Zack’s Take

My second pick for the best real estate school in Rockford, Illinois is Kaplan. The school offers comprehensive packages for all aspiring real estate agents. The school has an excellent track record in real estate education as it provides extensive career support for all stages of your career.

Best For Comprehensive Exam Preparation
Price: $27.55 to $654.55
Promotion: full tuition refund within 30 days of purchase

Overview

Kaplan is an accredited online real estate school that offers a wide range of course options. Most of its online courses are instructor-led and are a good option for those who prefer traditional teaching methods and the convenience of online learning. All the courses have an interactive group study feature in live webinar format, which you can join to interact with the instructors and students. Kaplan is a good choice if you need director instructor access, on-demand video, excellent exam preparation, and additional career resources.

Highlights

It offers schedule flexibility, including on-demand learning, self-paced, live online, and home study formats. There are hybrid packages for a mix of these too.
The instructors are experienced and professional; most are real estate appraisers, brokers, attorneys, CPAs, or mortgage experts.
Their real estate education courses are available in 27 states and in self-paced study or live webinar formats.
Courses are available for all the real estate career stages, including prelicensing, post-licensing, real estate broker licensing, and continuing education.
The exam preparation package includes Practice QBank and Illinois Real Estate Drill for the students to practice and score higher in the real estate exam.

Pricing

The courses are live online, on-demand, and in-home study formats. The broker licensing packages range between $119 and $689, while the broker license exam preparation courses can be bought for between $35 and $99. You can go through all the tabs on the website to check the prices and credit hours for each course.

What I Like

Kaplan is often appreciated for its director instructor access and exam preparation. Besides that, the students have the flexibility to finish the courses. Plus, the platform also gives the advantage of joining online group studies, which is otherwise difficult for them in real life.

What I Dislike

Kaplan offers a higher price point for its courses than other real estate schools. Also, the lower tiers don’t provide enough access to the instructors, and the interface isn’t very user-friendly.

3. The CE Shop

Best for Interactive Tools

Zack’s Take

The CE Shop is on my list because it offers a fantastic interface for all the students for a comprehensive self-paced learning environment.

Best For Interactive course tools and intuitive dashboard
Price: $271.20 to $551.20 per package
Promotion: 40% off as a military discount and Save 20% using the code ADVANCE

Overview

The CE Shop offers an advanced and easily navigable platform for residents of Illinois. The school is ARELLO-certified and offers high-quality self-paced learning at the convenience of students. Besides this, the CE shop also offers numerous interactive features, including learning exercises, diagrams, and overall a good user experience. The platform is perfect for those aspiring agents looking for an affordable and flexible real estate school because of their busy schedules.

Highlights

The CE Shop offers mandatory 75-hour courses along with a Pass Guarantee, Exam Prep Edge, and access to three business-building courses.
Excellent support via online chat, phone, and email. The online chat button lets you quickly access the chat feature and get in touch.
There are customizable packages that allow you to purchase individual courses or course packages to complete the required hours in Illinois.
Their featured courses have at least a 96% approval rating. These courses include current issues, second home ownership, residential property management, and more.
There are revolutionary practice exercises with a real-time dashboard that allows you to understand each topic while knowing your competencies.

Pricing

The Premium package offers all the features collectively in one and also includes a 45-hour post-licensing Illinois package. The premium package costs $551.20, while the courses only are $271.20. Besides that, you can also opt for individual Illinois courses. The individual courses cost $103.20 for 15-hour applied real estate principles and $335.20 for the 60-hour broker pre-license real estate topics.

What I Like

The best features of The CE Shop that I admire are that there are packages with various types of preparation tools. In addition, there is an extensive collection of study aids, instructor support, and tools to guide the students throughout the courses.

What I Dislike

The thing I dislike about The CE Shop is that all the courses are self-paced and lack organization and discipline. The students taking these courses must discipline themselves to complete the courses before the access period expires.

4. Real Estate School of Illinois

Best Value Courses

Zack’s Take:

The Real Estate School of Illinois is one of my top picks as it specializes in providing prelicensing courses in Illinois. The courses are taught by real estate professionals and experts in Illinois. Besides that, their courses and materials are updated regularly.

Best For Affordability
Price: $199 for the prelicensing course
Promotion: 25% off on prelicensing courses (Limited Offer)

Overview

Real Estate School of Illinois is an online real estate school that combines real estate education with advanced technology. The school focuses on providing comprehensive and engaging courses to students who want to make a career in the real estate industry. Their courses are easy to understand and complete, even if you have a busy schedule. The school offers great value for its Illinois Broker/ Agent Course Package, which contains everything you need to pass the state licensing exam.

Highlights

The Real Estate School of Illinois provides reading assignments, instructor presentations, webinars, exercises, quizzes, and exams.
There is 24/7 course access for topics courses where you can benefit from the progress tracking feature and instructor assistance anytime.
There are interactive course exercises and practice exam questions with printable materials so that the students pass exams on the first attempt.
The school claims they offer the cheapest rates for the 75-hour broker pre-licensing package.
It is fully accredited and has high pass rates.
The 75-hour Illinois Broker (Agent) course consists of a 60-hour topics course plus a 15-hour interactive training course.

Pricing

The Illinois Broker (Agent) Course is currently for $199 only. This is a 75-hour course package that consists of topic courses and prelicensing broker courses.

What I Like

The thing I like the most about the Real Estate School of Illinois is that they offer specialized prelicensing education in Illinois. Plus, the course materials are updated regularly to match the current rules and regulations. This way, the students only get the latest information to polish their real estate careers.

What I Dislike

The thing I dislike about The Real Estate School of Illinois is that they offer only one prelicensing course package. Besides that, there is no additional package for exam preparation.

5. Illinois Realtors

Best for Direct Access to Industry Experts

Zack’s Take

Illinois Realtors made it to our list of the best real estate schools in Illinois because of the direct access to local real estate experts. The school follows a strict code of ethics to maintain a professional level of knowledge in the real estate industry.

Best For Direct Access to Local Real Estate Professionals
Price: $10.95 to $259 for different course packages

Overview

Illinois Realtors offer pre and post-licensing and continuing education courses to the residents of Illinois. It is a state-approved real estate education provider that provides a self-paced study format for students. The classes are available in various learning formats, and you can get assistance from educational specialists by chat, phone, and email. You can purchase the real estate courses in online self-paced, in-classroom, webinar, and hybrid (online and in-person) formats.

Highlights

There are professional development courses with lots of career resources. Plus, there are designation and certification courses too.
The course access is for 180-days, but ebooks and textbooks are available too.
The school is accredited by LREC and uses D2L and LEAP learning platforms.
It provides prelicensing, post-licensing, managing broker licensing, continuing education, and exam preparation.
The real estate school offers affordable courses and flexible hours, plus it has knowledgeable instructors who always respond to your queries.

Pricing

Continuing Education course is the most affordable one starting at $10.95, while the managing broker licensing packages are $149 and $259. Besides that, the prelicensing and post-licensing courses price vary according to the hours.

What I Like

The thing that I appreciate about Illinois Realtors is that they offer comprehensive courses for all the stages of the real estate career. The courses are available in a wide variety of formats, and you can choose one according to your convenience. Additionally, you quickly get access to the local instructors.

What I Dislike

The access to the courses is short, and there is no pass guarantee either. Though the short access doesn’t affect the real estate careers, this can be inconvenient for those who are looking forward to learning this education with a busy schedule.

What are Real Estate Schools?

Real Estate Schools help you learn important concepts, practices, and terminology that you need to become an authentic real estate agent. These are accredited schools and are a part of real estate-approved pre-licensing programs in your State. Each school has its course materials and curriculum, for which the real estate department approves and provides accreditation. These courses are given to the students to help them prepare for the real estate exams. In the end, the students receive certifications that are proof of completion of the real estate pre-licensing courses.

The topics that you learn during the course include ethics, trust funds, fair housing, legal issues, listing presentations, and contracts, modern real estate practice, property management and leasing, and more. Following are some main concepts that you can learn in these schools to obtain an Illinois real estate license:

● Financing real estate

● Land use

● Real property

● Ownership

● Taxation

● Landlord and tenant

● Law of agency

● The business of real estate

● Transferring real estate

● Residential design and construction

● Escrow and title insurance

● Contracts

● Appraising

● Encumbrances

In order to gain industry insights and relevant information and get a real estate license, students must take prelicensing courses from real estate schools. The main purpose of the State approved real estate schools is to help you develop a successful career, gain knowledge, and pass the real estate exam in your State. With a real estate license, you can join a real estate company as an agent and continue your career in the field.

What are the Benefits of Online Real Estate School?

There are millions of active real estate licenses in the U.S., which indicates that it is a popular career choice for many people. One of the main benefits of joining an online real estate school is that you get a flexible schedule and learn from anywhere you want to. These real estate schools allow you to make a better selection of classes and review the material whenever you need to. Additionally, an online real estate school allows you to quickly clear the licensing process in your State and get a real estate license.

Real Estate Schools (FAQs)

1. How long is the prelicensing course in Illinois?

To get an Illinois real estate license, you must complete 90 hours of real estate education. However, the requirements have now increased to a total of 90 hours.

2. What are the basic requirements to get a real estate license in Illinois?

To get a real estate license, you must be at least 18 years old with a GED or high school diploma. You must also complete the prelicensing coursework and pass the real estate exam in Illinois. In addition, you should be sponsored by a managing broker too.

Wrap Up!

The real estate industry in Illinois is very active and tends to remain strong. However, the quality of all the real estate schools is not the same, which is why we reviewed the best real estate schools in Illinois to help you become a real estate agent. We carefully evaluated the content of all the courses so that you get a trusted source of real estate pre-licensing education in Illinois. Getting your real estate license is not easy, but these professionals and reliable real estate schools will help you pass the exams and get through the process.