The standard advice agents give each other about CE is “find the cheapest Texas real estate courses online and just get it done.” I’ve heard it at association meetings, over coffee, in broker offices. I disagree, and I’ll show you exactly why it costs more than it saves.
You already owe 18 hours every two years. That’s TREC’s requirement, not mine. You’re spending those hours regardless, so the question is what you want to walk out knowing.
Most CE providers made their peace with the fact that agents resent mandatory education. Their answer was to build courses that ask nothing of you. Pre-recorded slides. Click at your own pace. Quiz at the end. Done. That model exists because it solves the compliance problem, and I get it. If I were only trying to move hours, I’d probably build the same thing.
That’s not what I’m doing.
When the Conventional Wisdom Is Right
I’ll give the “just get it done” crowd credit for this: they’re not wrong for everybody. If you hold a Texas license mostly for referrals, or you picked it up years ago and aren’t actively working deals, the cheap pre-recorded option makes sense for you. I’m not trying to sell a class to someone who doesn’t need it. Our CE classes are built for agents and investors who are actively working and who want to learn deal structures they weren’t handed in licensing school.
I’ve been doing this long enough to know that plenty of CE seats are filled by agents who just need the hours. That’s fine. But if you’re asking for my honest read on whether your CE hours can move your business forward — yes, they can. Just not with the course designed to be ignored.
The Deals That Go Unclosed
Here’s what I see all the time. A seller who can’t sell conventionally — they owe too much, the property needs work, they’re behind. A buyer who wants in but can’t get bank financing. The traditional agent shakes their head and walks. Our students close those deals.
Subject-to investing: you take over the seller’s existing mortgage. The deed transfers; the loan stays in the seller’s name. I’ve watched our students close deals in two weeks on properties that had been sitting for months. Wraparound mortgages: you structure seller financing that wraps around the underlying loan, and you collect the spread. Wholesaling: you assign your purchase contract to an end buyer for a fee and never own the property. Our students are closing deals like this for $8,000 to $15,000 in a matter of weeks.
None of this is exotic. It’s information most agents were never given. I teach these structures because I’ve closed them, our instructors have closed them, and our students are closing them right now in the Texas market.
Why Live Virtual Isn’t the Same as Pre-Recorded
Our Texas real estate courses online run live on Zoom. I know that sounds like a small distinction. I don’t think it is.
When you’ve got a real deal sitting in front of you — a seller three months behind, a buyer who can’t qualify — you need to ask a question about that specific situation. A pre-recorded slide can’t answer you. Our instructors can. I’ve been in enough CE sessions to know that the energy shifts the moment someone asks about a deal they’re actually working on. That’s the environment we’ve built: real deal structures, real questions, instructors who have closed what they’re teaching.
My issue with the pre-recorded model isn’t convenience. It’s that convenience is the only thing it’s optimized for. Our classes are built to get students closing deals they would have walked away from six months ago.
The Gap Is Information, Not Talent
Every Texas agent who closes creative finance deals went through the same licensing school you did. They’re not sharper. They got different information somewhere along the way. Our job at StepStone is to be that somewhere.
The Texas market right now isn’t easy. Insurance costs are up, lending is tighter, and the sellers who need to move most urgently are often the ones conventional buyers can’t serve. In my read, that’s exactly the environment where subject-to, wraps, and wholesaling go from “interesting ideas” to “the reason my pipeline is moving when others aren’t.”
My agents at StepStone see this. Our CE students bring me deals they found because they recognized a structure the other agents in the room passed on. That’s what I want for you.
Your 18 hours are already spoken for. The renewal planner at stepstoneuniversity.com/#upcoming-classes shows you exactly what’s on the calendar.
StepStone University: CE that teaches the deals a retail brokerage never covers.
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