Even if you have experience with real estate investing, the reality is you probably aren’t an expert.
Real estate investors who really want control over their investments must dig into the industry, know their market and understand the risks and rewards from an investing standpoint. This personal and professional growth requires continued learning from multiple angles.
There are several ways to make money as a real estate investor, such as generating passive income from rental properties, property development, house flipping, or investing in real estate investment trusts, or REITs.
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Real estate assets provide a great way to add diversification to your investment portfolio, offer tax benefits like property depreciation and can bring great returns on your investment.
Whether you’re a new investor in this space or you have years of experience under your belt, there’s always something new to learn in real estate — but it can be challenging to navigate the multilayered market. Investors should be up-to-date with their industry knowledge and know the unique risks to help develop their strategy and make sound investment decisions.
Here are a few resources that allow you to build your real estate investing knowledge:
— Udemy
— Coursera
— Alison
— University online extension courses
Udemy
Udemy is an education marketplace that offers online courses on a host of subjects — real estate investing being one of them. Through Udemy’s courses, you can develop skills by starting with the fundamentals of real estate investments and working up to advanced real estate training.
You can target a variety of real estate niches, including commercial, residential and retail real estate by learning the fundamentals and eventually graduating to more challenging subjects in the field, like real estate development modeling. There are also courses on investing in REITs.
You can browse the full catalog from the Real Estate Investing section of Udemy’s website. Here you’ll also be able to quickly see the most popular courses and beginner favorites. Some Udemy real estate investing courses even offer a certificate of completion.
Keep in mind that some courses are free of cost when you enroll, while others come with a price tag. Depending on the course’s cost, it may be worthwhile to buy Udemy’s Personal Plan which costs $14 per month but gives you access to over 26,000 courses.
Udemy real estate courses to consider:
— Fundamentals of Analyzing Real Estate Investments
— Commercial Real Estate Investing 101
— The Complete REIT Investing Course (Updated 2025)
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Coursera
Coursera is an online learning platform that partners with universities and companies for students to gain knowledge and build skills in an industry, such as real estate. Coursera’s real estate investing content comes from affiliated universities like Duke University, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan, among others.
The first step is to create an account, sign in and peruse the real estate course offerings. Once you’ve narrowed down which course you’d like to join, you can enroll. There’s also a monthly subscription option called Coursera Plus that gives you access to over 10,000 courses. You can filter courses by level, educator, duration and language or subtitles. Some courses give you the option to pay for the service and receive a certificate upon completion.
You can also bypass paying for a course by choosing the “audit only” option. This allows students to enroll and see course materials for free, but you won’t be able to submit assignments or receive a certificate of completion.
Coursera real estate courses to consider:
— The Principles of Real Estate
— Real Estate Development: Building Value in Your Community
— Application of AI, InsurTech and Real Estate Technology
Alison
Alison is another online learning platform that offers real estate investing courses you can audit for free. There are diploma and certificate levels available, but you’ll have to pay to get a certificate.
Real estate courses are available for all levels, from beginner to advanced. You complete the course at your own pace, but can see the average time it took other learners to complete from the course homepage. There aren’t as many courses available as on other platforms and the educators may not be as reputable, but it’s nice to know all are free — unless you want a certificate.
Alison real estate courses to consider:
— Introduction to Real Estate Investing
— Real Estate Negotiations for Beginners
— Understanding the U.S. Real Estate Licensing and Regulation
University Online Extension Courses
Universities offer extension or continuing studies courses for those who would like to build new skills. These are often far pricier than the options listed above, but may come with a certification.
For example, UCLA Extension offers a real estate certification with a concentration in investments. It can be completed fully online and has four required courses with an optional internship course. You’ll need six months to one year to complete it and need to meet certain prerequisite requirements. According to UCLA Extension’s website, the estimated tuition for the program is about $3,500, plus a $200 application fee and around $390 for the textbooks and materials. There’s a Real Estate Scholarship Fund, which is awarded biannually and covers the cost of one course, worth up to $900.
Harvard Extension School offers an online Principles of Real Estate course for both individual investors and aspiring real estate investment professionals. The cost varies based on credit status, ranging from $390 per credit for non-credit students to $835 per credit for graduate students. The class has four credits.
Takeaway
Real estate investing can be a great way to earn a living, but the field requires you to grow and refresh your knowledge, build new skills and possibly collaborate with experts in different real estate investing styles. Thankfully, there are online real estate investing courses to help you do this, sometimes for free.
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Best Real Estate Investing Courses originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 08/07/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.