One of the less than fun things about being a real estate agent is taking CE credits. State law requires that real estate agents take a certain number of continuing education in order for a real estate agent to renew their real estate license. Utah Real Estate law requires its agents to take 18 CE credits every two years, and nine of them must be “CORE” classes, courses that the state deems to be fundamentally important.

Now I get the point. I get the reason the state does want agents to take continuing education. As the regulatory agency behind enforcing state laws and practices it is important that real estate agents know what they are doing. Real education is absolutely valuable. It’s for the public good. In reality though CE credits don’t actually provide much actual education, but are usually performed for the sole purpose of getting that credit needed to practice real estate. I guess it’s not that much different from the way that the overall American education system is set up.

There are usually times throughout the year when Title Companies, or various organizations sponsor FREE CE Classes in effort to provide some good will and free advertising. But most of the time, real estate licensees are required to “pay for these courses.”

Because most agents are slackers, and wait until the last moment to get things done, this often means taking CE classes online. I fit right in that classification. My real estate license expires at the end of the month, and I have spent the last week taking classes to fulfill the nine credits in which I was deficient.

The company Mckissock, was on top of things and sent me regular mailers reminding me to take courses before my license expires. So I did. The format was pretty simple, pay money, read content on their website, take some quizzes, get credit. If you got the questions wrong, which I did a few times, you can just retake the quiz as many times as it takes until you get the credits right.

The first class I took, on Foreclosures and Short Sales was actually very good. It was a Core class, and was needed. It talked about the different cycles of the economy, and explained a bit why the housing market is currently where it is.

I’m currently in the process of starting up a real estate brokerage, and there was an optional class about “Business Planning for Brokerages.” I thought it would be great, and provide me with some good things to think about that I wouldn’t have otherwise considered. I was way wrong. This class was horrible.

The first two chapters explained things in the way you would explain business formation to a second grader. The concepts were so basic it was embarrassing. Then, things flipped a complete 180. It was as if the next chapter was written by someone else. This chapter focused on “technology.” I have a technical background, and this information was way beyond anything a real estate brokerage would ever need. In addition, the information was completely outdated. Why would a real estate brokerage need to know about a wired local area network, when everything these days is done so simply and wirelessly? The contrast between the chapters was so different it was almost comical.

There might be some better online classes, and some better ways to really educate real estate agents. But I guess I got what I really wanted after all, credit hours I need so that I can renew my real estate license. I also got some good content I can use for my real estate blog.