My wife and I are now in charge of a real estate school.

I am struggling to figure out how to market our new agent classes.

The biggest issue I'm having is that there is no list of folks interested in taking real estate classes. Thus, it is difficult to do target marketing.

So far, we have a web site (http://www.IdahoFallsRealEstateSchool.com), do some GOOGLE pay-per-click advertising (for terms like "Idaho real estate license", "Idaho real estate school"), and place flyers in some of the local stores.

I'm struggling whether to do print advertising like newspaper classified ads ("Start a Career in Real Estate! New agent classes start . .") or something else. Newspaper classified advertising is very expensive and not even remotely cost-effective if it doesn't generate several students.

But, I think I need to raise our visibility a bit. I'm trying to figure out what other schools around the country do and what triggers a response by actual students.

Think back to when you picked your real estate school.

How did you find it? How did you learn about the schools in your area?

In my opinion, the best advertisement for a real estate school is a successful brokerage. My company has a training program, and I don't see a lot of advertising for it except in our regular advertising there will be a small section that says something to the effect of "want to work with us?" or "ever considered a career in real estate?". I didn't go through the program- or any for that matter- so I cannot speak to that, but I do know a lot of people take it through my company so they are doing something right.

It is common in my area for companies to advertise in the classifieds as if they are hiring for a job- but the companies that draw the most trainees are the ones that seem to sell the most houses.

Lacey,

This is a stand-alone school unaffiliated with my company.

But, I'm intrigued by your comments. Let make sure I understand what you are saying.

Local real estate companies have real estate schools and integrate it into their hiring process, thereby attracting potential agents.

I've not run into that concept before (most of the real estate schools are standalone).

Do you have web addresses for a few of the local companies that are doing this?

I'm sorry Steve- I just assumed it was integrated and you were using it as a recruiting tool. I didn't realize it was stand-alone. I will PM you some websites.

Steve,

I just went through this process. I first looked for a broker I was interested in working with. When I went on my interviews, every broker gave me info on the school they think is the best. All brokers pointed to one direction and that was Hondros College. All the brokers had school schedules and info books on Hondros, I am guessing Hondros marketed to the brokers. The big selling feature for Hondros was getting all your required hours done in one month (Ohio requires 120 hours in Finance, P&P, Law, and Valuation). Hondros seems to get most of the business here in Ohio. They also have job fairs, getting most of the Ohio brokers to attend.

You might also want to post a couple of ads in monster or career builder.

Thanks,

Brad

I really hope you didn't pay much for the re school.These were at there heights with the real estate boom.Now with the declining market,people leaving the industry,and the horror stories alot of people aren't rushing to get in right now.

Use to it was a loss leader.For example the place I took pre-liscense years ago at http://www.metrobrokers.com was set up this way.They would advertise pre-liscense for only 395.00 dollars.The state r.e. commission says no company solicitations allowed in the classroom.

What they did though is after the classroom testing and passing the test they would let you know that if you joined them they offered a package valued at 1,000 dollars with business cards,sign riders,etc. plus they gave you a hundred bucks for joining.The first few deals were on 50/50 splits.

With the r.e. school you might have to target continuing ed to make your money.

easiest way to state it- for me it was a personal referal and thus word of mouth advertising as a result of another's previous experiences.

CE credit i would think would be the best avenue for revenue generation. New agent classes are going to be tough to keep filled enough to just keep the lights on, let alone making enough $$ to actually turn a profit. Like all things thouh in this market, those who make through to the other side will be extremely well poised for when the market returns.

We do new agent, broker and CE classes. The broker & CE have been strong. The new agent is somewhat weak.

But, I think there is an opportunity there because the competitors have dramatically thinned out. Until recently, we faced a junior college and a private school. The private school pulled out (I assume because we were denying them students) and the junior college lost its instructor.

Our local real estate market is solid. And, the Spring is coming on strong.

I'm just trying to figure how to reach potential licensees without expensive advertising (which may be impossible). Sigh.

Why not do career days and go around speaking on the subject for free.You will pick up some leads that way and just have time in it.

I would advertise on Craigslist. they have a Real Estate section in the job postings and you could post your ad there. In fact, you could post in sales and education and some other sections as well. If you have the right hook, you may get a good response.

I assume you're already considering the word of mouth route of letting other local brokers know about the change in ownership at the school and help get the word out what you have planned for it. I am sure it would be worth sending info to all of them, as well as the local realtor board.

if all else fails wear a t-shirt everywhere that says "Ask me about my real estate school"

At least one of the brokerages, here, has it's own school, however, much of the training is computer based, including the pre & post licensing course.

Another school is partnered(?)(maybe wrong term to use) with the local realty board and has classes advertised on the board. It also has classes at UGA.

You could try an ad in a related section to employment in your nearest newspapers.

My first real estate school was chosen because of several personal recommendations (Schlicher Kratz)Horrible name, damn hard to find in search engines cause I didn't know how to spell it. LOL

I don't know if I would STILL recommend them because the awesome teacher I had (and who everyone else raved about) has retired, I believe...so for all I know his replacement could be really boring.

For my continuing ed, I used an online school that was on the PAR website - simply because it was easy and quick. The classes were, IMHO stupid. Well, the classes weren't stupid but the test questions were. For instance, all throughout the mold course I took it emphasized that in no way was this course going to make me an "expert" on mold - okay, fine. Just teach me what I need to know and how it applies to my business.

Great - I got the basics. then the exam is asking me all these intricate, detailed questions about the biological composition of mold, that it has an "external digestion" system, etc...asking me stuff that has NO BEARING on my real estate job. I'm sure I can impress buyers and sellers with that info..."Yes, you see, mold does not have a stomach like you and I do, no...it digests everything it 'eats' on the surface. Aren't you glad I learned this in my continuing ed class?"

/sarcasm off.

sorry, had to rant.

I found my school by being recommended to it by my first broker. It was basically an online school run and owned by an agent that was part of that company. This agent also taught real estate classes at the University of Colorado. I liked the class as it was all online with the Colorado Real Estate manual and a couple other books that taught you how to pass the real estate test. It cost something like $500 and I was done with it in a month. I didn't have to go to any classes and just took the tests for the class online. I passed the Colorado test on the second try. It was a good class for me as I'm good at learning by just reading books. I can't handle sitting in classrooms very well. However my wife took that same class and she could not pass the colorado test in 3 tries. She says she learns better in a classroom setting. Also her first language is not english so that might have something to do with it also. This real estate school does CE also. The Colorado test much harder since Colorado switched testing companies. This is the website for the real estate school. http://www.vaned.com. They also provide real estate classes for Texas. I don't know how good that is though.

I simply went onto Google and just put "Washington, DC Real Estate schools" in the search engine. I didn't bother researching anything else, I just called the office and enrolled and showed up to class with my money order! LOL

I went to my State government website and chose the best out of the list of approved schools in my area. The best for me was flexible schedule, cost, and quality of education.