Free Course Image Real estate principles and practices

Free online courseReal estate principles and practices

Duration of the online course: 18 hours and 15 minutes

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Build real estate confidence fast with a free course on property rights, land use, taxes and leases—ideal for exam prep and career-ready skills.

In this free course, learn about

  • Feudal vs allodial land systems; land patents and modern land ownership concepts
  • Physical & economic characteristics of land (immobility, indestructibility, uniqueness, scarcity)
  • Real property rights, hereditaments, and the bundle of rights & categories of property rights
  • Water rights basics and doctrines: riparian, prior appropriation, and littoral rights
  • Government powers over property (P.E.T.E.): police power, eminent domain, taxation, escheat
  • Property tax calculations including mill levy method and general real estate tax math
  • Real vs personal property; fixtures and trade fixtures and how they are treated legally
  • Voluntary alienation terms (wills/devise) and transfer of title by owner’s choice
  • Involuntary transfer concepts: adverse possession elements, color of title, quiet title actions
  • Land measurement math: acres, square feet per acre, and legal description fraction calculations
  • Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act purpose and required disclosures for subdivided land
  • Land use controls: zoning purpose plus public vs private controls (deed restrictions, covenants)
  • Assemblage and plottage value: combining parcels to increase highest-and-best-use and value
  • Easements creation methods and estates: freehold, life estates, reversion, and nonfreehold interests

Course Description

Strengthen your foundation in real estate by understanding the rules that shape ownership, land use, and everyday transactions. This free online course helps you build practical knowledge of core principles and common exam-level concepts, so you can speak the language of property with clarity and confidence. Whether you are preparing for a licensing path, supporting a role in brokerage or property management, or simply want to make smarter decisions around real estate, you will gain a grounded view of how rights in land are created, limited, transferred, and protected.

You will explore how land ownership developed over time and why that history still influences modern property law. From there, the course connects key ideas that professionals rely on, such as the physical and economic characteristics of land, the meaning of real property versus personal property, and what it really means to hold an interest in real estate. You will also learn to interpret the bundle of rights, including the ways those rights can be separated, shared, or restricted by private agreements and public authority.

Because real estate is heavily regulated, you will practice thinking through government powers and land-use controls that affect value and permissible use. You will examine zoning, public and private restrictions, and the impact of concepts like assemblage and plottage value. The course also covers essential real-world topics such as water rights, easements, and how access or use rights can arise through different legal methods. Along the way, short exercises reinforce definitions and decision-making, helping you avoid common misunderstandings that often appear on exams and in the field.

To support practical competence, you will work with fundamental measurements and calculations, including acreage and property tax math, so you can confidently handle basic figures that show up in listings, disclosures, and analysis. You will also learn the logic behind voluntary and involuntary transfer of property, including estates, life estates and reversionary interests, nonfreehold tenancies, and pathways by which title issues can be resolved. By the end, you will have a more complete mental framework for how real estate principles fit together—useful for study, interviews, and day-to-day professional judgment.

Course content

  • Video class: Feudal System, Allodial System, Land Patent | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    04m

  • Exercise: What is the allodial system of land ownership?

  • Video class: Characteristics of Land | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    05m

  • Exercise: Which one of the following is NOT a physical characteristic of land?

  • Video class: Real Property Rights | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    05m

  • Exercise: What is the definition of hereditaments in real estate?

  • Video class: Bundle of Rights Real | Estate Exam Prep Videos

    03m

  • Exercise: What are the three categories of property rights?

  • Video class: Water Rights | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    06m

  • Exercise: _What are the three legal doctrines related to water rights?

  • Video class: (P.E.T.E.) Police Powers, Escheat, Taxation, Eminent Domain | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    11m

  • Exercise: What does the 'E' in the acronym PETE stand for?

  • Video class: Real Estate Math Video #5 - How To Calculate Real Estate Taxes | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    08m

  • Exercise: How to Calculate Property Taxes Using the Mill Levy Method?

  • Video class: Personal Property vs Real Property | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    06m

  • Exercise: What is considered a trade fixture in real estate?

  • Video class: Voluntary Alienation

    11m

  • Exercise: _What is the term used to describe the legal term for the property being willed?

  • Video class: Adverse Possession, Quiet Title Action, Color of Title | Real Estate Exam Prep

    12m

  • Exercise: Which of the following concepts involves obtaining property ownership by meeting certain legal elements over time?

  • Video class: How to Calculate Acres

    11m

  • Exercise: How many acres are in a legal description of 'south half of the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter'?

  • Video class: Land Measurements | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    02m

  • Exercise: How many square feet are in an acre?

  • Video class: Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act | Real Estate Exam Prep

    09m

  • Exercise: _What is the purpose of the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act?

  • Video class: Zoning | Real Estate Prep Exam Videos

    14m

  • Exercise: What is the primary purpose of zoning regulations?

  • Video class: Assemblage and Plottage Value | Real Estate Exam Prep Video

    03m

  • Exercise: What is Assemblage in Real Estate Development?

  • Video class: Private and Public Land Use Controls | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    09m

  • Exercise: What are deed restrictions in real estate?

  • Video class: Basics of Easements

    11m

  • Exercise: _What are the three ways in which easements can be created?

  • Video class: What Are Freehold and NonFreehold Estates? | Real Estate Exam Prep Video

    14m

  • Exercise: Which type of estate involves absolute ownership?

  • Video class: What Is A Life Estate? | Real Estate Exam Prep

    09m

  • Exercise: What is a reversionary interest in a life estate?

  • Video class: What is a Nonfreehold Estate? | Real Estate Exam Prep Videos

    07m

  • Exercise: What is the legal interest held by a tenant in a non-freehold estate?

This free course includes:

18 hours and 15 minutes of online video course

Digital certificate of course completion (Free)

Exercises to train your knowledge

100% free, from content to certificate

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Course comments: Real estate principles and practices

Students found the free course engaging and very educative, saying they learned many new concepts quickly. They appreciated the easy access as a learning tool and praised the app as amazing.

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Esther Yayra Dzandu

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I am learning new concepts everyday relating to real estate. Thank you. Very educative.

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Comzate Coms 8

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engaging

RA

Robert Altman II

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I’ve definitely appreciated this learning tool at my fingertips. finally becoming of something!

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Gift

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I've learnt so much in a short period

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Satrina Small

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i love the app thank you

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Jake Morton

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amazing

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