Policies

Sit-in class Presentation Policy:

All Cooke students are allowed to attend our real estate courses as often as it takes to pass the required exams up to one year, with NO additional tuition fee. Cooke School provides the Sales Associate course presentation on-line with a "Live Real Time" telecast, FREE for all Cooke students.

All courses are to be paid in full before attending class.  Students will be allowed a refund of the tuition fee less $50, if done so in writing, as long as the student has not taken more than the first three (3) hours of the class. Beyond three (3) hours the tuition fee is non-refundable.

If a student decides to take the Distance Learning Program rather than continue with the "sit-in" video conference course, the student must pay the full tuition fee again.

On-line Distance Learning Program Policy:

Once a student registers to take an On-line or Cd-Rom program they will have one year to complete that program. To review, the student may watch the live video stream of the actual class, which is on this web site.

If a student decides to change to a "sit-in" class, the student must pay the tuition fee for that program. There is no refunds for the On-Line or Cd-Rom courses

Mission

Mission Statement:

Cooke Real Estate School's mission is to be a leader in United States in bringing real estate professional education to consumers, perspective students, current students, past students, and the real estate industry through its OPENCOURSEWARE policy.  The OPENCOURSEWARE policy allows all individuals to view all course presentations for FREE on the Cooke website by video streaming.  Cooke strives to provide students with all the value added tools to give all students of real estate the knowledge to obtain their goals.  Development of the ability to provide real estate education outside the conventional classroom by either live interactive video conferencing or by video streaming on-demand or live is the goal of Cooke.

History

How It All Started

In 1970, Frank Cooke, owner and permit holder of Cooke Real Estate School Headquarters, Inc., got his real estate license and started part-time in the real estate business in St. Petersburg, Florida. After six months as a part-time real estate agent, Frank went full time.

In 1972, Frank got his broker's license and started his own company, Cooke Properties Inc., working out of the den in his home in St. Petersburg.

In 1973, Cooke Inc. moved to a permanent location on 9th Street (M.L. King) and 54 Avenue North in St. Petersburg. In 1974 the name of the firm was changed to Cooke Inc. In 1978, Cooke Inc. started a real estate school called Cooke Real Estate School, Inc., teaching the real estate license courses around the Tampa Bay area. In 1980, the Cooke Companies started a property management firm called Cooke Property Management, Inc.

In January 1994, the school business of the Cooke Companies, Cooke Real Estate School Inc., was sold to one of the partners in the Cooke Companies. For a year and a half, the Cooke Companies were only involved in real estate sales and property management.

In September of 1995, Frank again went back into the school business. The school was called Real Estate School Headquarters, Inc. and started their first classes at the St. Petersburg Association of Realtors offices in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In 1996, Beth Cooke, Frank's wife, joined the companies and ran the property management firm.

In 1998, the school was renamed again to reflect its owner name, Frank Cooke, and was called Cooke Real Estate School Headquarters, Inc., as it is today.

In 1999, Cooke Real Estate School Headquarters received approval by the Florida Real Estate Commission to provide the classes by video conferencing. As a result, in September of 1999 the first video conferencing of a real estate class in Florida took place between St. Petersburg and Brandon.

In 2001, Cooke sold the property management firm to Tourtelot Brothers, an old established St. Petersburg brokerage firm. Beth helps with the management of the Cooke sales department.

Also, in 2001, Cooke became the first real estate school in the nation to have their classes live on the Internet.  Students can view the class online anytime during class hours.

On February 7, 2004, Cooke was one of the first real estate schools in Florida to provide the Sales Associate Pre-License Course On-Line. 

Today, the Cooke School has 160+ Video Conference Centers locations across the United States and provides on-line education in real estate, appraisal, mortgages and home inspection in many states. 

Beth and Frank Cooke have a daughter, Kristin. Kristin is married to Mark Jennings and they live in St. Petersburg.   Mark is the Network Administrator for Cooke Real Estate School, and Kristin is a first grade teacher at Blanton Elementary School in St. Petersburg.   Mark and Kristin are the parents of two sons, Cameron Cooke Jennings and Tyler Jason Jennings.