Real Estate Investing: Getting Started

General Information

Approved Credit Hours: 3 hours

State: Ohio

Course Availability: 365 days from enrollment

Course Description

Real estate investing plays an important role in today’s marketplace. Whether you are investing yourself or advising clients who are building wealth through property, understanding how investment decisions are made is essential to providing knowledgeable, professional service.

Real estate offers income potential, long-term appreciation, leverage opportunities, and tax advantages. It also carries risks, transaction costs, and market cycles that must be carefully evaluated. This course is designed to help you understand both the opportunities and the realities of investing in real estate so you can make informed decisions and better serve your clients.

Throughout this course, you will examine investment property from a practical, real-world perspective, as though you are evaluating opportunities yourself. The principles apply whether you are purchasing property personally or advising an investor client.

As you move through the material, think critically about how these concepts apply to your professional practice and long-term goals. The objective is not simply to understand theory, but to develop sound judgment, realistic expectations, and a strategic approach to real estate investing.

Course Topics

This course covers the following topics:

• Unit 1: Real Estate as an Investment: Explore income and wealth-building potential, risk and return, leverage, liquidity, diversification, and tax considerations.

• Unit 2: Who Should Invest in Real Estate: Evaluate personal readiness, time commitments, financial planning, asset allocation, and risk tolerance.

• Unit 3: Common Ways to Invest in Residential Properties: Examine residential income property, fixer-uppers, vacation homes, condo-hotels, and timeshares.

• Unit 4: Types of Residential Properties: Compare single-family homes, apartments, condominiums, townhomes, and co-operatives from an investment perspective.

• Unit 5: Commercial Real Estate and Undeveloped Land: Review considerations for investing in commercial property and explore the risks and opportunities of purchasing land.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Explain real estate’s income and wealth-producing potential.

• Identify key caveats of real estate investing.

• Evaluate the risk and return of investing in real estate.

• Assess potential liquidity, capital requirements, and diversification value.

• Describe possible tax advantages of real estate investing.

• Evaluate whether real estate investing fits your time commitment and management capacity.

• Assess your ability to handle risk, market downturns, and ownership challenges.

• Determine how real estate aligns with your overall financial health and personal goals.

• Explain how real estate fits into a long-term asset allocation strategy.

• Identify common strategies for investing in residential income property.

• Evaluate the benefits and risks of using a primary residence as an investment, including converting it to a rental.

• Explain how investing and living in fixer-uppers can build equity and create tax advantages.

• Compare the pros and cons of vacation homes, condo-hotels, and timeshares as investment options.

• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of single-family homes as investment properties.

• Explain how vacancy risk and maintenance responsibilities differ between single-family homes and multiunit properties.

• Evaluate the investment tradeoffs of attached housing, including condos, townhomes, and co-ops.

• Summarize key profitability and liability considerations when purchasing apartment buildings, including how unit count affects financing.

• Summarize key considerations when investing in commercial real estate, including tenant risk and lease complexity.

• Evaluate market conditions using concepts such as vacancy rates and absorption.

• Explain the potential benefits and challenges of buying undeveloped land.

• Identify critical due diligence factors for land investments, including zoning, access rights, and carrying costs.

Instructor & Customer Support

For questions about the course content, please contact the Instructor.

Course Instructor: Chris Culbertson
Contact Information: instructor@onlineed.com
Instructor Availability: Monday-Friday, business hours, excluding holidays
Instructor Policy Response Time: within 1 business day
 
If you have questions about your account or course navigation, please contact the course provider:

OnlineEd
Phone: 1-(503)-670-9278
Email: mail@onlineed.com
Chat and additional options: https://www.onlineed.com/system/pages/contact.php

Completion & Attendance Requirements

Completion Requirements. Continuing education credit is awarded upon successful completion of all required course components and satisfaction of regulatory active time requirements. You may exit and return to the course at any time. Your progress will be saved.

Assessments

This course includes quizzes at the end of each unit, which must be completed.

There is no final exam.

Course Completion Survey

Students are encouraged to submit a survey upon completion of the course. This short survey helps us improve the course material and student experience. It is required by most regulatory agencies. Your thoughtful feedback is appreciated.

Certificates & Credit Reporting

Upon successful completion of all course requirements, a certificate of completion will be issued.  You are responsible for maintaining a copy of your certificates of completion and renewing your license with the state regulator. 

OnlineEd will automatically report course completion credits to OH DOC REPL within 1 business day on the student's behalf. Students don't need to take any additional steps for OnlineEd to initiate the reporting, except to complete the course and receive a completion certificate.

Technology Requirements

Courses may be accessed from a computer, tablet, or mobile device with a stable internet connection.  We recommend the most recent browser versions.  This includes all modern browsers and operating systems including Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, iPhone / iOS, and Android-based mobile devices, smartphones, and tablets. The course is entirely web-based and does not require any software to be downloaded or installed.  For accurate time tracking and progress recording, access courses in one browser window at a time. 

Course Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

All tuition and fees paid for the course are refundable when: (a) the course of instruction is discontinued by OnlineEd and such discontinuation has prevented a student from completing the course; or (b) the enrollment of the student was procured as a result of any misrepresentation in promotion materials of the school, or representation made by an owner or employee of the school. All refunds will be completed within 30 days after the effective date of enrollment termination. Refunds will not be given to any student after the student has successfully registered in a course or courses, as once registered, student has access to the registered courses. In hardship cases, OnlineEd may issue a refund at its sole discretion. OnlineEd does not issue retroactive partial refunds for courses that are subsequently discounted or put on sale after a student makes a purchase.

Academic Integrity and Identity Verification

Students must complete all coursework independently. OnlineEd prohibits misrepresentation of identity or allowing another individual to complete coursework on your behalf. Failure to comply with academic integrity policies may result in denial of credit.

Student Conduct Policy

Students are expected to show respect, courtesy, and consideration when interacting with school staff and students. Students are expected to conducting themselves in a professional, legal, and cooperative manner that is not disruptive, harassing, intimidating, or dangerous. Deviation from these standards may result in disciplinary action.

Non-Discrimination Policy

OnlineEd does not discriminate for admission on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, age or disability. Any person who feels they have been unlawfully discriminated against may file a complaint with the School Director, either by email (schooldirector@onlineed.com) or by postal mail (ATTN: School Director, 14355 SW Allen Blvd. Suite 240, Portland, OR 97005). If OnlineEd determines that any employee of OnlineEd has engaged in discriminatory activity, such employee shall be disciplined.

Grievance Policy

If a student has a grievance against OnlineEd, its staff or students, the aggrieved student shall contact the School Director by email or mail, stating the nature of the grievance. The School Director shall evaluate the grievance and respond to the student based upon their findings.

Policies on Cheating and Misrepresentation

Cheating on courses that supply completion certificates, designations, or official credit is not tolerated. OnlineEd is not obligated to continue to furnish credit or continued support for students caught cheating on any part of the coursework or testing.
 
Misrepresentation of personal identity is strictly forbidden for all OnlineEd courses. Falsifying personal information, forgery, and misrepresentation may result in immediate suspension. Additional actions by state and federal agencies may include loss or suspension of a license, failure to grant a license, fees, or criminal prosecution.

Publisher

This course is developed and delivered by OnlineEd, LLC.

OnlineEd, LLC
14255 SW Allen Blvd., Suite 240
Portland, OR 97005
(503) 670-9278
https://www.OnlineEd.com/
mail@OnlineEd.com

Mission Statement

To provide superior distance education that exceeds industry standards and expectations in course content and delivery methods to those who seek to enter a new profession and those engaged in a profession.