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If you’re trying to get your Florida real estate license and you’ve narrowed it down to two schools, there’s a good chance Casa Academy and Colibri Real Estate are both on your short list. I get asked about this comparison a lot over at Ecommerce Paradise, and it usually comes from the same kind of person: someone who wants a second income stream and is weighing the time and money it takes to get licensed against other options.
A lot of my audience over at Ecommerce Paradise is already building some kind of online income. A good chunk of them are working on high-ticket dropshipping stores, and they’re looking at a real estate license as either a second income stream or a backup plan in case the online business takes longer to ramp up than expected. If that sounds like you, this comparison should help you decide where to put your money first.
Both of these schools will get you through the Florida 63-hour sales associate prelicensing course. That part is non-negotiable, the state sets that requirement and neither school can shortcut it. What’s different is how you get through those 63 hours, what it costs you, and what kind of support you get along the way. I dug into both, and this article breaks down the real pricing and format differences so you’re not guessing.
Florida Real Estate Prelicensing Requirements, the Short Version
Before comparing schools, it helps to know what Florida actually requires. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation oversees real estate licensing in the state, and the DBPR’s sales associate license checklist lays out every step: complete a 63-hour FREC-approved prelicensing course, pass the course final exam, submit your application and fingerprints, and pass the state licensing exam.
The Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) is the body that actually approves the course providers, and you can look up a school’s approval status directly through the DBPR’s license verification system. Both Casa Academy and Colibri are approved FREC providers for the 63-hour sales associate course, so you’re not choosing between a legitimate school and a sketchy one. You’re choosing between two different ways of delivering the same legally required content.
Casa Academy’s Approach to the 63-Hour Course
Casa Academy is a newer school and it’s Florida-only, which tells you a lot about their focus. They’re not trying to be a national real estate education company that also happens to offer Florida. They built the whole thing around Florida licensing specifically, and it shows in how tech-forward the platform is.
The headline feature is the AI-powered exam prep. Casa Academy uses adaptive practice questions that shift based on what you’re getting wrong, so instead of grinding through the same generic question bank everyone else gets, the system narrows in on your weak spots. They’ve also built a ChatGPT-style tutor into the platform, so if you’re stuck on a concept like escrow requirements or listing agreement types, you can ask it directly instead of digging through a PDF or waiting for office hours.
Casa Academy also leans heavily into audio lessons, which is a format I don’t see a lot of the older schools investing in. If you’d rather listen to your prelicensing material while you’re driving or doing dishes than sit and read slides, that’s a real advantage. The whole platform is built mobile-first, so studying on your phone isn’t an afterthought, it’s the default experience.
A side-by-side breakdown from The Close, a real estate industry publication that regularly reviews prelicensing schools, backs up what I found: Casa Academy’s tech stack is genuinely ahead of most Florida-only competitors, even if its career support and live instruction are thinner by comparison. That tradeoff is worth sitting with before you commit.
If you want the full breakdown of what’s inside the course, I wrote a detailed Casa Academy review covering the curriculum structure section by section. I also put together a separate page answering whether Casa Academy is legit, for people who are understandably cautious about a newer school.
Colibri Real Estate’s Approach to the Same 63 Hours
Colibri is one of the biggest names in real estate education, and it’s been around a lot longer. It’s a national brand that covers prelicensing, continuing education, exam prep, and broker courses across most states, Florida included. That scale means a more established curriculum and a lot more content built up over the years.
Where Colibri differs from Casa Academy is in how the course is structured. Colibri leans on a more traditional self-paced online format with video lessons, practice quizzes, and printed materials available as add-ons. It doesn’t have the adaptive AI tutor or audio-first study experience that Casa Academy built, but it does have a longer track record and a broader library of supplementary study tools built up over years of serving students across different states.
Colibri also tends to bundle in more extras at the higher package tiers, things like exam prep software, pass guarantee options, and professional development add-ons once you’re already licensed. If you want a school that can also carry you through continuing education and broker licensing down the road under one familiar brand, Colibri’s scale is the appeal.
Florida Pricing Head to Head
This is where most people actually make their decision, so let’s get specific with numbers.
Casa Academy’s Florida course is one flat price: $199. There are no tiers and no upsells, every student gets the same thing: the full 63-hour Florida prelicensing course, unlimited Florida-specific exam practice (650+ practice questions, topic drills, and a full timed practice exam weighted like the real thing), and the AI tutor built into every lesson. For more on exactly what’s included, I put together a dedicated Casa Academy pricing page that breaks it down.
Colibri’s Florida list price for its 63-hour sales associate package sits at $248.34, which is roughly $49 more than Casa Academy’s flat $199. In practice, Colibri runs frequent promo codes that bring that price down to around $149, which actually undercuts Casa Academy’s flat price by about $50. So on raw sticker price alone, Colibri’s promo rate is the cheapest of the two, Casa Academy’s flat price sits in the middle, and Colibri’s list price is the most expensive.
| Feature | Casa Academy | Colibri |
|---|---|---|
| Florida price | $199 flat, no tiers | $248.34 list, around $149 with promo code |
| Course format | Mobile-first, audio lessons, self-study | Traditional self-paced video and text |
| AI exam prep | Adaptive AI tutor and practice questions | Standard quiz bank, no AI tutor |
| Live instruction | Very limited | Limited, available at higher tiers |
| Career support after licensing | Limited | Broader (broker, CE, professional development) |
| State focus | Florida only | National brand, multi-state |
| Best for | Tech-comfortable students who want one simple price | Students who want a long-established national brand |
Notice that Casa Academy’s flat $199 price beats Colibri’s $248.34 list price outright, though Colibri’s promo price of around $149 undercuts it by roughly $50 when that discount code is active. If raw sticker price is your only filter and you catch Colibri on a promo, Colibri comes out cheaper on paper. But Casa Academy’s $199 is a single price that already includes unlimited Florida exam practice and the AI tutor, where Colibri’s promo price is for the base course alone, so the two aren’t quite an apples-to-apples comparison once you factor in what’s bundled. If you want to compare it against a third option entirely, I’ve also written up Casa Academy alternatives for Florida students.
The Course Price Isn’t Your Only Cost
It’s worth remembering that whichever school you pick, the course fee is only one line item in the total cost of getting licensed in Florida. You’ll also pay a state application fee, a fingerprinting and background check fee, and the state exam fee itself, all separate from whatever you pay Casa Academy or Colibri. The DBPR’s sales associate application guide breaks down the current fee schedule so you can budget for the full process, not just the course.
When you stack the course price on top of those fixed state fees, the roughly $50 gap between Casa Academy’s flat $199 and Colibri’s promo price of about $149 is still real money when you’re also covering application and exam fees out of pocket before you’ve earned a single commission. Whether that gap is worth it comes down to whether you’d rather pay the lowest possible price for the base course alone, or pay slightly more for a single flat price that already bundles unlimited exam practice and an AI tutor.
Format and Feature Differences That Actually Matter
AI Tutor and Adaptive Practice vs an Established Curriculum
Casa Academy’s adaptive AI practice questions and built-in tutor are the standout feature, and for a lot of students this is genuinely useful. Instead of a static question bank, the system adjusts to what you keep missing. Colibri doesn’t have anything like this yet. What Colibri has instead is years of refined curriculum content and a bigger library of practice material, just without the AI layer adapting it to you specifically.
Live Instruction and Instructor Access
Neither school is heavy on live, in-person classroom instruction, which is worth knowing going in if you’re the type of student who learns best from a live teacher. Casa Academy is almost entirely self-study with the AI tutor filling the support gap. Colibri offers a bit more live-adjacent support at its higher-priced tiers, but it’s still primarily a self-paced online model, just one that’s been refined longer.
Mobile-First Study vs Multi-Device Flexibility
If you want to study on your phone during a commute or a lunch break, Casa Academy was genuinely built for that from day one, down to the audio lesson format. Colibri works fine on mobile too, but it reads more like a desktop course that’s been made responsive rather than one designed mobile-first.
Career Support After You Pass
This is one area where Colibri’s size works in its favor. Because Colibri serves students across their entire real estate career (prelicensing, post-licensing, continuing education, and broker courses), they have more built-out career resources and a broader ecosystem to graduate into once you’re actually licensed.
Casa Academy, being newer and Florida-only, has a narrower career support offering right now. If getting through the exam as efficiently as possible is your priority and you’re comfortable finding your own brokerage and mentorship after licensing, that’s not a dealbreaker. If you specifically want a school that will keep serving you for years with CE credits and broker-track courses, that’s a real point in Colibri’s favor.
Who Should Pick Casa Academy
Casa Academy makes the most sense if you’d rather pay one simple, flat price and know exactly what you’re getting, you’re comfortable with a self-study, tech-forward platform, and you like the idea of an AI tutor that adapts to your weak spots instead of a one-size-fits-all question bank. It’s also a strong fit if you want to study on your phone with audio lessons rather than sitting at a desk with video modules. For a full walkthrough of who it fits best, my Casa Academy review goes deeper into the actual student experience.
Who Should Pick Colibri
Colibri makes more sense if brand recognition and longevity matter to you, if you want a provider that can carry you through your entire license lifecycle including CE and broker courses, if you’re disciplined about catching a promo code, or if you just want more live-adjacent support built into the higher tiers. At list price you’ll pay more for it, but you’re paying for an established national name.
If You’re Also Interested In Building An Online Business
This is a separate interest from choosing a real estate school, not a step that follows from it, but it comes up often enough from readers that it’s worth mentioning. A lot of the people who read Ecommerce Paradise are weighing a real estate license as one option among several, and some of them are also curious about ecommerce as a completely separate path. If that’s you, the same principles I teach about picking the right niche for a dropshipping store apply: go with the option that lets you move fastest without draining your time or your budget.
If you do decide to start an ecommerce business as its own project, the business formation side matters as much as anything else. I’ve got a full guide on business formation for online entrepreneurs that covers LLC setup for an ecommerce store specifically. And if sourcing and supplier relationships are part of what you’re exploring, my guide on finding the best suppliers is worth a look too.
Casa Academy vs Colibri: My Verdict
If I’m being straight with you, for most Florida students the deciding factor is going to be price and comfort with a tech-forward, self-study format. Casa Academy’s flat $199 price beats Colibri’s $248.34 list price outright, though Colibri’s promo price of around $149 can undercut it by roughly $50 when that discount is live. What tips it back toward Casa Academy for most people is what’s actually included at that single price: unlimited Florida-specific exam practice and an AI tutor built into every lesson, neither of which Colibri offers at any price.
Where Colibri wins is longevity and breadth. If you want a provider that’s been doing this for a long time and can keep serving you years down the road through CE and broker courses, that history is worth something. But if you just need to get through your 63 hours, pass your exam, and start your real estate career with a simple, all-in price, Casa Academy is the more straightforward, modern option right now. For a side-by-side with the state’s best-known schools overall, check out my roundup of the best online real estate schools in Florida.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Casa Academy cheaper than Colibri for the Florida 63-hour course?
It depends on whether Colibri’s promo code is active. Casa Academy charges a single flat $199 with no tiers, which beats Colibri’s $248.34 list price. But Colibri’s promo price of around $149 actually undercuts Casa Academy’s flat price by about $50. Casa Academy’s $199 includes unlimited Florida exam practice and an AI tutor, which Colibri doesn’t offer at any price.
Does Casa Academy offer live classes in Florida?
No, Casa Academy is primarily a self-study platform with very limited live instruction. It leans on its AI tutor and adaptive practice questions instead of live classroom time, which is different from how some other FREC-approved schools operate.
Is Colibri a good choice if I plan to become a broker later?
Colibri’s size and established curriculum make it a reasonable choice if you want one provider to carry you from prelicensing through continuing education and eventually broker courses, since it has a broader post-licensing ecosystem than a newer, Florida-only school.
Can I use Casa Academy outside of Florida?
No, Casa Academy is Florida-only right now. If you need prelicensing education in another state, you’d need to look at a national provider like Colibri or AceableAgent instead.
Which school has better exam prep technology?
Casa Academy’s AI-powered adaptive practice questions and built-in tutor are more advanced than Colibri’s standard quiz bank approach. If exam prep technology is your top priority, that’s a point in Casa Academy’s favor.
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Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
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