FAQS:  Frequently Asked Questions

About Us and Our Site

Procedural Questions

License Renewal/Continuing Education

General

About Us and Our Site

I don’t like computers and I haven’t used them very much – should I take your courses?

Probably not.  We assume you're familiar with the basics of Internet usage – registering and paying for services, reading PDF files, linking to outside sites and returning, navigating pages, and printing.  If you lack these fundamental skills you should use a correspondence school.

Do you provide technical support?

Yes.  We are always available via e-mail and frequently available by phone (818) 716-1028.

Are your courses approved by the State?

Yes, all of our courses have been extensively reviewed and approved by the California Department of Real Estate.

To view our DRE listing, click here, and then enter 45Hours in the first text box like so .

How do you take your tests?

First login and then click Take Test (see below figure) for the exam you wish to take.  Once clicked, the Testing Script (the program that generates and grades the tests) generates one web page containing all questions and begins a count down from the exam's time limit.  The time you have remaining appears on the status line at the bottom of the page.  Three minutes before deadline, the Testing Script issues you a warning alert that your time is about to expire.

After you have answered all the questions, push [Grade My Test] to instruct the Testing Script to grade your test.  If the Testing Script finds any unanswered questions it will so inform you and highlight the missing questions so that you may easily find them.  Once you have answered all the questions, the Testing Script will give you your score.

If your score is 70% or better, the Testing Script informs you that you have passed; otherwise the Testing Script tells you how many more correct answers you need to pass.  You may then immediately retake the test or take it at any other time.  When you retake a test, the answers you last gave reappear on the new exam.

The below screen shot shows the status of Chuck Milbourne's courses.  He has passed the Practice and Fair Housing final exams but he has failed to pass Ethics and Trust Funds.  Note the [Display Certificate] at the bottom of the screen.  It appears because this student has passed the Fair Housing exam.  If this button is pushed, then Mr. Milbourne will get only the certificate number for this one course.

Screen Shot of the Course Selection Page

What is the “Certificate”

The Certificate lists all the courses you passed.  For each course, it shows the course’s “DRE Approval Number”, the date you passed, its name, and DRE classification (e.g., “consumer services”, “consumer protection”).  The DRE Approval Number (aka, the "Certificate Number") is an eight digit number.  The first four digits are '4295', our DRE Sponsor Number; the remaining four digits comprise the course's approval number.

To report the courses you passed to the DRE, you may do so via mail or  DRE's online renewal service, eLicensing.  If you do so by mail, you will need to list your DRE Certificate Numbers and completion dates on DRE's form RE#251:  Continuing Education Course Verification and follow DRE's renewal instructions described here.

Are your exams easy?

(We get this question a lot.)

If you know the material in the textbook, the courses are easy to pass the first time.  If you don't know anything about the subject being tested, the exams are difficult to pass the first time.

Because most of the questions have four possible answers only one of which is correct, by chance alone you should score 25%.  Since you need only 70% to pass, the more you know about the course's subject matter, the better are your chances of passing.  If you don't pass, we tell you how many more questions you must answer correctly to pass and we let you retake the test without any delay.  When you retake an exam, we display your answers from your previous attempt so that you don't lose time re-entering answers you believe are correct.

Procedural Questions

What must I do to renew my license after I have passed my courses?

First print your certificate using the  button from the Course Selection Page (the page following our Login page).  The Certificate contains the details needed for you to complete DRE’s form RE#251:  Continuing Education Course Verification.

Second, decide if you wish to renew via eLicensing (DRE’s online renewal service – available here) or by mail.

If you choose to renew using eLicensing (DRE’s online system), you need to go here to login (assuming you have already registered to use eLicensing), and then to chose [Salesperson|Broker License Renewal].  When renewing, you will be prompted to complete two online forms.  The first of these forms is the Continuing Education Course Verification and the second the Renewal Application.  Finally, you will be prompted to make an online payment via a secure connection (for the DRE's current license renewal rates click here).

If you are renewing by mail you will need to print and complete form RE#251:  Continuing Education Course Verification and, if you are a salesperson RE#209:  Salesperson Renewal Application or, if you are a broker, form RE#208:  Broker Renewal Application.  You then need to make out a check for your renewal application (for renewal rates click here) and then send in your check and forms to the DRE.

If you renew by mail, it may take the DRE up to six weeks to process your mailed renewal request.  If your license expires before the DRE processes your application and if the envelope in which it was contained is postmarked on or before your expiration date, the DRE will not charge you a late fee nor will it sanction you for conducting activities requiring a real estate license while your license is technically listed as "expired."   To avoid any problems which might result from your license being listed as "expired," it is best to renew using eLicensing.  ELicensing is automatic and instantaneously updates your DRE record.

I waited until the last minute to do this, can I take my final the same day I enroll in the course?

Sorry, but no.  The minimum waiting period is dictated by the DRE.  The waiting period begins the moment you pay.  For the 15HOURS package it is two days (48 hours), for the SALES and LOANS courses it is three days (72 hours), and for the 45HOURS package it is nine days (216 hours).  If the number of days you must wait before taking your exam takes you past your expiration date,  you will have to renew late.  The penalty for renewing late is a 50% increase from the DRE's on-time renewal rate (and the prohibition of conducting activities for which a real estate license is required). 

Is it safe to use my credit card?

Absolutely.  You send your credit card to our payment gateway, Authorize.NET, via a secure connection (indicated by the 'https' prefixed to our URL and affirmed by the padlock icon appearing on your browser – see below screenshot).  The connection is said to be secured because communication between you and Authorize.NET is encrypted using keys known only to your browser and Authorize.NET.

The key used to encrypt the data is provided in an "SSL Certificate" which we purchased from GeoTrust.   This certificate sits on our secure server.  The certificate not only provides the encryption key, it also serves to verify that it sits only on our secure server; that is, on our server: 45HoursOnline.com.

Once your payment is authorized by Authorize.NET, we record details of the transaction in our database but not the credit card number.  One of the details we record is Authorize.NET's approval code.  It is this approval code that we use to void transactions or issue refunds.

Since we don't record your credit card number in our database, you don't have to worry that somebody will steal our database and use your card. 

Screen Shot of our Credit Card Authorization Page

Can I get a refund if I change my mind?

We are liberal with our refunds but we won't give a refund unless you request it within three months of payment.

We will give you a full refund if for any reason you don't wish to proceed providing you haven't passed any tests (excluding the practice test).

If you have passed one or more courses in our 15HOURS or 45HOURS package but not all the courses in the package, we will give you a partial refund using this formula:  PERCENT-OF-UNPASSED-HOURS*.5*Cost.  For example, if you passed only the 3-hour Ethics course in our 45HOURS package for which you paid $52, then your refund would be 42/45*.5*$52=$24.27.

To obtain a refund, please e-mail (45HoursOnline@pobox.com) or call us (818) 716-1028.  Be sure to give us your DRE#.  We will need the DRE# to find your Authorize.NET approval code in our records (Authorize.NET is the payment gateway we use for processing your credit card payment).  Please understand that we don't store your credit card number and we don't need it to give you a refund.

On Amazon, how do I upgrade to online access  (not applicable to 15HOURS)?

When you purchase a course textbook from Amazon, you are given the option to upgrade to online access at the end of the purchase process:

Using the Amazon Online Reader, you have permanent access to view and search your books. You can easily highlight and bookmark your books, as well as add notes and tags.

The Amazon Online Reader will even let you print pages and copy text. Finally, you can access the Amazon Online Reader from any computer with an Internet connection. 

License Renewal/Continuing Education

What are my CE requirements?

Your CE requirements depend on several factors including how long you have had your license, what kind of license you have, and when your license expires.  To simplify matters, use our WIZARD.  It will tell tell you exactly what your CE requirements or, if you prefer, read these DRE documents:

Continuing Education Requirements

How and When to Renew Your License

Additional Requirements for Salespersons Issued a Conditional License

How does the daily 15-hour restriction work?

As of March 1, 2008, the DRE requires all providers of continuing education to limit the number of hours a student may complete to a maximum of 15-hours in any 24-hour period.  In this context, "complete" means pass the course's final examination.

This restriction only pertains to continuing education products with 15 or more hours (e.g., our 45-Hours package).  This means, for example, that if you purchase our 45Hours Package and complete its three-hour Risk Management course, you must wait 24-hours before you can take the exam for its 15-hour Mortgage Encyclopedia course; however, you can take the examination(s) for any course or combination of courses of 12 or less hours in the 24-hour period following your completion of the three-hour course.

With the advent of the 15-hour restriction, the minimum number of days needed to pass 45Hours of education is nine:  On the seventh day following the DRE-mandated waiting period of six days, a student may complete 15-hours; on the eighth day, another 15-hours; and on the ninth day the remaining 15-hours.

General

What is a script?

A script is a computer program which writes web pages.  The scripts written for this site control the basic student management functions:  registering students, logging students into the site, displaying the status of the student’s courses, and administering the final exams.

How long do you keep your records?

We keep our records indefinitely.  You may login in at any future time to see your records; however, once you pass a test, you may not take it again.

How can I send my evaluation of your courses to the DRE?

You can send your evaluation of our courses to the DRE by clicking here.