Promising the most comprehensive real estate training, education and information resource available on the Internet, University.com, a Minneapolis, MN-based learning services provider has announced the launch of Real Estate University.com.

The site opens with over 300 hours of courses, offering a wide range of technology training and professional development classes from Top Producer to Microsoft Office suite to sales and business management content from marquee name trainers including Dave Beson and Ralph Roberts. Additional courses are being planned to cover continuing education requirements and are expected to be available in October this year.

The University has ambitions to provide pre-licensing courses and is in joint venture discussions with other companies and real estate schools that do examination preparation work. The site is working with ARELLO, a body of real estate commissioners which has set guidelines for distance education. Their common goal is to be able to create a curriculum which would be acceptable by state licensing boards from coast to coast. University.com is writing the course work to suit ARELLO standards.

"We should have our first courses approved in October, 3-6 hours approved in about 11 states," anticipates University.com’s president and CEO Bruce A. Peterson. "Some states are aggressive, others are not. It will be an ongoing process. It will be a 12 to 18 month proposition before we get the majority of states on board."

Peterson believes the launch will accelerate the pace of distance learning acceptance. "They can see online learning in action. "

Bringing more publicity to online learning will be marquee name trainers which will grow monthly. "We have talked with the top 13 trainers and educators and all have expressed interest," says Peterson.

With high-profile trainers, and all the training issues covered, the last mountain that University.com has to conquer is agent use and acceptance. That is going to be made easy by delivering reasonably priced training content totally over the Internet, via the student's own browser so there are no additional costs. "They go to the site where there is a course catalog with over 300 hours of content and they can start looking for a training class and pop in their credit card. Classes range from $14.95 to $49.95 and cover popular products such as Top Producer, CMA products, Online Agent, and Lightning CMA , and there are whole courses on the entire Microsoft Office suite.

"Take the course right there. Stop and restart as many times as they want," says Peterson. "There is a subscription for six months or a year, and it keeps a complete student transcript and keeps a nice profile for them."

Another major point of difference for the real estate university is the group of collaboration tools and these are free to agents whether they are enrolled in classes or not. The online campus library offers over 700 resources. There is an on campus radio which offers sales and business management tips from high profile trainers and educators. Visitors can also shop in the Bookstore to purchase course materials, audio tape sets, books and more. Also featured are chat rooms and online forums on subject specific threads such as marketing, prospecting or management where agents can collaborate with students and instructors. According to Peterson, these interactive tools result in much higher retention and comprehension of the information being presented.

The Real Estate University will be aggressively marketed in the coming months with several announcements slated for October including the site's partnerships with large franchise organizations. The University will create private label campuses for these real estate companies and will provide the learning content, management services as well as host the site.

"It's a turnkey solution," says Peterson. "Our goal is to have a number of these sites up within the next six months."

Published: September 9, 1999

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.