5 Best Online Real Estate Schools in Illinois for 2023 (Updated!)

The CE Shop’s course is my favorite online real estate course in Illinois – hands down. If you’re wavering on which course format is right for you, then this is the one I’d go with. There are several different packages to choose from, so you can hand pick which features work well with your learning style.

If you’re just looking at price, The CE Shop also checks that box as it’s the cheapest course available. The free five-day trial also makes this the best online course in Illinois. You can test drive the classes before committing to anything, no questions asked.

Plus, this is one of the courses available for our Tuition Reimbursement program, which is a big help. All you have to do is attend at least 1 interview with one of our recruiters (+ provide feedback) after passing the state exam & before joining another brokerage, and we’ll reimburse you for the entire cost of the course that you purchase from us.

While you can sign-up for the cheapest package, I’d recommend the “Premium” package just because of the added benefits it comes with. The perks of the Pass Guarantee make it worth the extra cost, because it’s an insurance policy that you won’t lose money if you fail the real estate exam.

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Convenience: 4.7 out 5. The CE Shop’s user interface is what makes the course so easy to use. The custom-designed online learning platform can be accessed on a tablet, desktop, or phone, so that you can study on the go. This makes it super easy to squeeze in lessons when you have downtime, which is a huge plus if you have a busy schedule.

I was also really impressed with the dashboard that shows up as soon as you login. It shows you exactly how far along you are in the course and what lessons you still have to complete. I also enjoy the fact that you can skip ahead or go back at any time if you need a refresher. As for the content itself, it’s a good mix of videos, infographics, and interactive quizzes. It makes it easy to keep up with because it doesn’t feel as repetitive as other Illinois real estate schools that are more text based.

Pass Rate: 4.8 out 5. The CE Shop has a pretty good pass rate amongst Illinois students. About 81% of students pass the real estate exam on the first try, which is impressive compared to the 70% average. The CE Shop is able to keep a consistently high pass rate because of their practice tests and self-paced scheduling. You can move through the course as quickly or as slowly as you’d like, and you can take as many practice tests as you want.

Course Duration: 4.7 out of 5. The Illinois real estate course is relatively short at just 75-hours. It is split into two different parts, with 60 hours of computer course work and 15 hours that require more interactive learning. While it might seem like a pain, I actually felt like it helped to break up the licensing process. However, some people want to know up front how quickly they’ll be able to power through the course. Or, they want to feel assured they’ll have plenty of time to complete it if they run into issues or get busy.

Luckily, The CE Shop has a generous extension policy. It expires 6 months after the purchase date, but there is a free month extension that you can access free of charge. After that, the price goes up considerably. For any reactivation or extension of the course after the seventh month, The CE Shop will charge the student 20% of the current retail price of the course for each 30-day extension.

Support: 4.6 out of 5. The CE Shop’s support team is overall pretty decent to work with. While they do have their pros and cons, they are available 7 days a week via phone, chat, and email. That’s more than most other online schools are able to offer, and I did find that the people answering the phone were very helpful and concise with next steps.

If they didn’t have an immediate answer for me, then they would take down my information to get a solid response back to me within a day or two. My initial concern was not having direct access to instructors, but The CE Shop did help me get in touch when I did need reassurance about the content of the course itself. It was a huge relief to know that I would always be able to hear back in a quick manner.

Refund Policy: 4.7 out of 5. The biggest perk of The CE Shop is the 5-day free trial! They just started offering this program where you can sign-up to test drive the course before even putting a credit card down. No other real estate schools are able to offer anything close to this in Illinois, so it’s a great option to consider if you are still on the fence about taking an online course.

If you’re looking at the refund policy alone, The CE Shop is pretty average – there’s nothing special about it. You can get a full refund within the first month, as long as you haven’t completed more than half of the course. This is pretty standard, and other schools like Colibri Real Estate offer similar.

Overall Value & Recommended Package: Overall, if I could only recommend one course in Illinois, it would be The CE Shop. It’s simple to navigate, and will help to prepare you for the real estate broker exam. I’d suggest taking a look at the Premium package because the extra perks like the pass guarantee make it a better overall value. It also comes with career resource books written by experts, and business building courses which are a huge help even after you pass the test and begin your new career.

Colibri Real Estate’s course has the best refund policy in Illinois, bar none. They offer a Pass or Don’t Pay Guarantee, a course swap option, and a chance to demo the student dashboard before paying. If you are wavering back and forth about whether or not real estate school is the right path for you, then this is the I’d pick. It gives you the best chance of getting your money back if you change your mind.

When it comes to price, it’s definitely on the higher end of the spectrum, but there are four packages ranging in price ($298-$529) to choose from, which means you can add as many features as you want to. There are also almost always discounts and sales going on, which is a huge help.

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Convenience: 4.6 out 5. You’ll get similar course content with Colibri no matter which package you choose. All four come with study guides, and coaching videos that come from Buffini & Company. These videos show real-world examples of situations and questions you’ll face in the industry. This has a $150 value on its own, so it’s a great addition to the other course material you’ll get.

If you want the best test prep, access to live Q&A sessions, or the simulated exams, you’ll have to upgrade to one of the more premium options. Of course the cheapest course will still get the job done, but it really depends on your learning style.

Hands down my favorite thing about Colibri is the “readiness assessment” which will break down how ready you are to take the exam. It will give you a score (1 through 10) to help you determine if you should keep studying, or if you’re ready to sign up.

Pass Rate: 4.2 out 5. Colibri’s pass rate amongst Illinois students is higher than the state average. About 74% of Colibri students go on to pass the state exam, and they’ve helped more than 520,000 aspiring agents get their broker’s license in Illinois. That being said, it’s not the highest pass rate on our list of schools, so you can certainly find a school (for a cheaper price) that will prepare you for the test in a more interactive way.

Course Duration: 4.5 out of 5. Although the Illinois pre-licensing course only takes 75 hours to complete, some people like more time in case they get busy. You can pay to extend your course access by selecting a 7, 30, or 60-day option (prices go up the longer you want to extend). You can also choose the “retake” option which will give you a $25 discount to start the course over. Colibri’s policy is fairly generous compared to other schools, although you do only have the initial access for 6 months before you’ll have to look into extending your course.

Support: 4.6 out of 5. Colibri has proven to be one of the most trusted online real estate education providers, and they have the customer support to back it up. They have several tabs with different options to get in touch with a real person. They have an enrollment phone line, and a support line for you to call depending on what assistance you need. They also have a “live education specialist” who I was able to get in contact with via live chat. They responded within seconds and had a list of resources to offer me.

Colibri’s social team also updates all of their social media channels whenever there is a scheduled maintenance. It was easy for me to connect with other students in my area who were taking the same course because the Facebook and Instagram accounts are so active.

Refund Policy: 4.6 out of 5. Colibri is one of the best courses to take if you think you may need a refund. There are lots of safe-blocks in place so you don’t lose all of your money. If you sign up for self-paced online courses (most popular), you can get a 100% refund if you don’t like the course after taking it for a week. If you haven’t started it yet, you can request a full refund for up to a month. If you choose the livestream package, you have 24 hours to change your mind or swap to an online-only format if you do want a refund.

Overall Value & Recommended Package: I would recommend Colibri’s Illinois pre-licensing course. For aspiring agents, I’d suggest taking a look at the Ultimate Learning package. The extra perks like the career success tools, the coaching videos, and the CompuCram Exam Prep make it a great value that will help you find success long after you finish your real estate course.

We’ve built the most affordable way for you to get your Real Estate License. All you have to do is attend at least 1 interview with one of our recruiters after passing the state exam & before joining another brokerage, and we’ll reimburse you for the entire cost of The CE Shop course that you purchase from us.

That’s right – we’ll reimburse you whether you choose to join our team or not (but we hope you do!).  About 50% of our tuition reimbursement graduates choose to work for our team after interviewing with us.  The other 50% of our tuition reimbursement students that choose to join another brokerage still get their course costs fully reimbursed.

Why are we the only real estate company that reimburses your course costs even if you don’t join our brokerage?  There are a few key reasons that we’ve decided to set our program this way:

1.   Our 50% join rate is way higher than the industry average for recruiting, and we really want agents to be excited when they join us, which only works if they love what we have to offer.  Most brokerages only want experienced agents, but we specialize in helping new agents build their real estate careers from the ground up.  We have hundreds of agent training courses that range from helping you build out your social media presence to learning the ins and outs of commercial real estate; we have mentors dedicated to new agents to help them through their first sales; we even have a dedicated coach to help with mindset and motivation; and more.  So we don’t need to force new agents to join our team to save a few bucks.
2.   If you choose to join another team, we also hope you change your mind someday and come back to join us.  Many agents reach out to us months or years after trying another brokerage first, and this gives us a chance to keep the door open for the 50% of new agents who don’t join us immediately.  If we can’t be the right brokerage for you right now, then we still hope to be the right brokerage for you some day in the future.
3.   Too many real estate organizations fail to live up to their promises.  We’re not perfect, but we really try to follow-through on every promise we make, including our tuition reimbursement promise.

At the end of the day, we’re betting on you becoming a great agent, and if we can make obtaining your real estate license more affordable, then hopefully you’ll return the favor and join us after graduation or come back to us any time you’re ready for a new brokerage.  It’s that simple, and we’re happy to invest in you.

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How does the reimbursement work?

Email us (support@agentadvice.com) once you receive confirmation from the state that you’ve passed the state exam, and one of our recruiters will reach out to you to get to know you and share any and every thing you’ll want to know to decide if our brokerage is the right fit for you.

We’ll schedule the interview at a time that works for you.  All you have to do is attend the interview and provide a little feedback to our support team, and our support team will reimburse your credit card for the amount that you’ve paid us within 2 business days.  All in, it’s about an hour commitment between the interview and feedback.  No other strings attached.

Tip:  If you’ve already started a different course at your own expense, or prefer to pick your own school at your own expense, we’d still love to interview you.  Just reach back out when you’re licensed, and we can connect you with our hiring team, however, we’re unable to reimburse your course costs at this time unless you purchase the course directly from us. 

AgentAdvice.com is not the provider of any courses, and all state certifications, ongoing support questions, etc. will be provided by and fulfilled directly through the school. 

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Think you have what it takes to be a successful real estate agent?

“When I interview people who have just passed their real estate course, I’m looking for agents that meet a couple of characteristics. If you have these characteristics, it will determine who is successful and who is not in real estate.

It’s not an easy industry. If it was easy, we’d all be rich. First, I’m looking for agents that have a vision for what they want to be, people who want more than what they have. Now, I’m not talking about money, motivated people necessarily. If money motivates you that’s fine, but in most cases, money’s not the motivator.

I am looking for agents that are in touch with their motivations to grow. Is it having a house for your family? Is it providing an education for your children? Is it providing security for your future retirement? It doesn’t matter, I’m looking for agents that have a vision, and are passionate about taking care of present and future concerns, whatever they are. So that’s number one: ambition.

Number two is looking for people that have a little bit of courage. This business requires courage. In my experience, having now been in conversations with well over a thousand agents over the last 18 months, and recruited more than a hundred, there’s one characteristic successful agents have. They don’t shrink from a challenge. They don’t, they still take action even if they don’t know all of the answers to all of the questions. They know that if they get faced with a question that they don’t really answer to, they know they can find the answer.

I’m looking for people that are ambitious, are courageous, and then finally are ready to grow. I want to help give people the opportunity to be the best version of themselves.

Usually, it’s not easy, and many times there are tears, and sweat, and frustration involved, but you go through that because you are so ambitious and in love with the future you’re trying to create. That passion for your future, it gives you courage to press through the hard times. So if you’re ambitious, courageous, and you’re ready to grow, and you think being in a conversation with a guy like me might be helpful to your future then let’s get you the tuition reimbursement you deserve!”

Agent Advice Success Stories: 

Terrica C.
New Keller Williams Agent & Tuition Reimbursement Recipient

“I always wanted to become a real estate agent, and finally decided to take the next step. Getting started with my course was easy. Agent Advice just sent me a link, and I did the whole thing online. I finished the class, now I just need to get scheduled for the state test. I would definitely recommend Agent Advice to anyone looking to get their license, especially if they’re wanting to do it for free.”

Rachel K.
New Real Estate Agent & Tuition Reimbursement Recipient

“I was moving from Tennessee to Florida, so I was considering a career change. I always thought real estate might be something I’d be good at, so I connected with someone at Agent Advice and decided to take the course. It was easy to follow and understand, and the course I chose kept me interested. It didn’t take long for me to finish the class and I passed my state exam on the first try! I then reached out again to Agent Advice and set up an interview with a tuition reimbursement sponsor, and got my money back that same day. All in all, it was really simple and easy.”

Marcus W.
New Real Estate Agent & Tuition Reimbursement Recipient

“The entire process was seamless, and the communication from the very beginning was great. When I first came across Agent Advice I had lots of questions, but I was able to get in touch with someone right away who helped explain the process from start to finish. Once I completed the course and set up an interview with a brokerage, they stopped the payments immediately. I also enjoyed the subscription payment option that Agent Advice has. It gave me the flexibility and motivated me to finish the course quickly. I’m still deciding on which brokerage is the right fit for me, but I enjoyed getting to interview with someone so that I could ask questions about what the day-to-day would look like at that company.”

Kaplan’s course is one of the hardest to sit through in Illinois, but it can get the job done if you really need it to. Because it’s so boring and there are few redeeming qualities, so I’d say you’re better off choosing another provider.

It’s also more expensive than other courses out there with few added benefits to make up for the high price point. It is not known for being very interactive, so there are definitely better options that will probably hold your attention more.

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Convenience: 2 out 5. The Kaplan courses are built on dated technology. It’s hard to navigate, glitchy, and slow. Even figuring out what courses to purchase gives you a headache.

Pass Rates: 3.8 out of 5: Kaplan’s pass rate amongst Illinois students is pretty lackluster. While it’s not the lowest pass rate by any means, you can certainly find a course that will give you more confidence. About 62% of Kaplan students go on to pass the state exam, which is significantly lower than the 75% average.

Kaplan does offer a PassProtection policy that allows students who enrolled in the Live or Live Online classes to retake their course if they fail the Illinois state exam. That’s great if you happen to fail, but why not choose a course that’s going to give you the knowledge to pass on the first try?

Course Duration: 3.2 out of 5: Although the Illinois real estate course only takes 75 hours to complete, some people want to know they have an extension 0ption upfront in case they need more time. Kaplan’s access policy is pretty limited. You only have 6 months to finish from the date of purchase before it expires.

Another thing to note is that students take a longer time to complete Kaplan courses than any other online real estate school providers. I chalk this up to the monotonous content, and the repetitive lesson plans.

Support: 1 out of 5. In my test purchases, I’ve experienced Kaplan support taking up to 3 business days before responding.  All other schools I’ve tested typically respond within 1-2 hours & never longer than 24 hours during Monday-Friday.

Refund Policy: 0 out of 5. On 3 separate occasions, AgentAdvice students were declined a qualifying refund for Kaplan course purchases, and in each case, we (AgentAdvice) had to step in to personally provide the refund to these students after Kaplan declined to refund the courses or offer a replacement course. We no longer buy courses from Kaplan for this reason, and recommend that any student considering a Kaplan Real Estate course purchase do so expecting not to get a refund if they change their mind.

Overall Value & Recommended Package: Overall, I can’t recommend Kaplan’s Illinois pre-licensing course. For aspiring brokers, I’d suggest taking a look at one of The CE Shop packages instead. The interactive capabilities will seem like such a breath of fresh air compared to the monotonous text-based content Kaplan offers. The 96% student satisfaction rate blows Kaplan’s sub par courses out of the water, and their updated test prep is such a great value.