Gold Coast Schools

Professional Licensing Educationgoldcoastschools.com

Gold Coast Schools is a Florida-based professional licensing education provider, founded in 1970 and owned by Colibri Group, delivering pre-license, continuing education, and exam prep across real estate, construction, insurance, mortgage, CAM, and appraisal via six Florida campuses and online/livestream channels.

Company typePrivate
Founded1970
HeadquartersTamarac, United States
Headcount101–250
GTM typeB2C
OfferingServices

What Gold Coast Schools does

Gold Coast Schools is a Florida-based professional licensing education provider founded in 1970 and now operating as a subsidiary of Colibri Group. The company delivers pre-license, post-license, and continuing education across six regulated verticals — real estate, construction, community association management (CAM), mortgage, insurance, and appraisal — to individuals pursuing and maintaining Florida state credentials. Coursework is delivered through four channels: in-person instruction at six Florida campuses (Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, South Miami, North Miami, Lantana, Orlando), livestream virtual classrooms, self-paced online modules, and an affiliated bookstore selling state-required reference materials priced from roughly $50 to over $2,200 per set. The company also offers professional development certifications such as the Real Estate AI Specialist (REAIS), Certified Property Management Expert (CPME), and AI-Powered Estimating for contractors, plus Spanish-language editions across multiple professions.

The business model combines one-time pre-license course fees, recurring CE membership subscriptions, individual course purchases, and bookstore sales, with Affirm financing to lower upfront cost barriers. Go-to-market is direct-to-consumer via a 1-800 contact center, website registration, SEO/content marketing, social media, student referrals, and free career fairs hosted since 2014. Gold Coast has expanded through both organic growth and acquisition, absorbing Success Academy (1985), IFREC Schools of Real Estate (June 2020), and The Climer School of Real Estate (March 2021), and now serves students nationwide and internationally through its online platform. Technology stack includes a video-and-interactive online learning platform, livestream delivery, practice exam simulators, and a conversational AI assistant on the website for student inquiries.

Gold Coast Schools firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Gold Coast Schools
Legal name: Gold Coast Schools
Website: https://goldcoastschools.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 1970
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 101–250 employees
Short description: Gold Coast Schools is a Florida-based professional licensing education provider, founded in 1970 and owned by Colibri Group, delivering pre-license, continuing education, and exam prep across real estate, construction, insurance, mortgage, CAM, and appraisal via six Florida campuses and online/livestream channels.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Gold Coast Schools industry classification

Industry

Product category: Professional Licensing Education
NAICS: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Educational Services (61)
SIC: Services-Educational Services (8200)
akta.pro industry: PRIMARYEDANAHAL
Gifted, Advanced & Acceleration Centers (Honors/AP/IB Enrichment)
Education/Tutoring & Test Preparation/Small-Group Tutoring & Learning Centers

Keywords

Professional licensing education
Pre-license courses
Continuing education courses
Real estate education
Contractor exam prep

Where Gold Coast Schools is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Tamarac
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

Gold Coast Schools business model

Business model

GTM type: B2C
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

Pre-License Course Fees: One-time fees for pre-licensing courses across real estate, construction, insurance, mortgage, CAM, and appraisal professions. Courses are sold as packages or individual courses.
Post-License and Continuing Education Fees: Ongoing education courses required for license maintenance. Includes individual CE courses and CE membership programs offering recurring revenue through annual subscriptions.
Bookstore Sales: Sale of textbooks, reference materials, and exam prep books for various contractor and real estate licensing categories. Prices range from $49 to over $2,000 for complete book sets.
Professional Development Courses: Advanced certification and designation programs including Real Estate AI Specialist, Certified Property Management Expert, Certified Negotiation Expert, and others.

Pricing tiers

Model	Billing	Price
One time/ perpetual license	Pay-as-you-go	Pre-License Course Packages
Subscription	Annual	Continuing Education Membership
Unit Pricing	Pay-as-you-go	Textbooks and Reference Materials
Other	Monthly	Financing Option

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Gold Coast Schools product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Gold Coast Schools provides pre-licensing, post-licensing, and continuing education courses for professionals in real estate, construction, community association management (CAM), mortgage, insurance, and appraisal. Courses are delivered in classroom (Florida campuses), livestream, and self-paced online formats with bilingual English/Spanish instruction, exam prep simulators, professional development certifications, and a state-approved textbook bookstore.

Product overview

Gold Coast Schools is a professional licensing education platform operating as a single integrated product with multiple course categories. It delivers pre-license, post-license, continuing education, and exam preparation across six core program areas: Real Estate, Construction, Community Association Management (CAM), Mortgage, Insurance, and Appraisal. All programs are offered through three delivery formats: in-person classroom instruction at multiple Florida campuses, live instructor-led virtual livestream courses, and self-paced online courses combining text, video, and interactive modules. The platform also includes professional development certifications (Real Estate AI Specialist, RENI, CPME, CBAE), a Construction CE Membership program (launched March 2026), AI-Powered Estimating, a bookstore with state-required textbooks and tabbed reference materials, construction industry training (Plan Reading, Hurricane Wind Mitigation, Bidding & Estimating), one-on-one tutoring, exam prep workshops, and Spanish-language course offerings across multiple professions. The company serves distance learners nationwide through online and livestream formats and operates six campuses across Florida.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

Real Estate Pre-License Courses Pre-licensing courses that prepare students to pass Florida state real estate licensing exams (Sales Associate and Broker), delivered in classroom, livestream, and online formats with English and Spanish tracks.
Continuing Education (CE) Courses License renewal courses required by Florida for maintaining active professional licenses across real estate, construction, insurance, appraisal, mortgage, and CAM, including specialty tracks for Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Broward counties and CE memberships.
CRAM Review Course Intensive exam preparation review course designed to help students pass the Florida real estate licensing exam, available in English and Spanish.
Construction License Exam Prep Pre-license exam preparation courses for Florida contractors across categories including General, Building, Residential, Electrical, AC/AB, AC Mechanical, Roofing, Plumbing, Commercial and Residential Pool, Pool Service, Home Inspector, and Building Inspector.
CAM Program Community Association Manager pre-license, CRAM exam prep, and continuing education courses required for Florida CAM licensure.
Mortgage Education Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO) pre-license, continuing education, and exam prep courses delivered via partnership with OnCourse Learning for professionals originating mortgages in Florida.
Insurance Education Licensing education for Life, Health, General Lines (2-20), Surplus Lines (1-20), Personal Lines (20-44), and All Lines Adjusters, plus continuing education for insurance agents and public adjusters.
Appraisal Education Pre-license and continuing education for Florida Trainee and Certified Appraisers, including Trainee pre-license, State Certified pre-license, and appraisal CE courses.
Professional Development Programs Specialized certification and career advancement courses beyond basic licensure, including Real Estate AI Specialist, Certified Property Management Expert (CPME), Real Estate Leadership & Career Achievement, Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE), Certified Buyer Agent Expert (CBAE), and Institute for Luxury Home Marketing.
Construction CE Membership Membership program providing Florida contractors with ongoing CE, professional development resources, industry updates, and community features to streamline license renewal.
Real Estate AI Specialist (REAIS) Professional development certification covering artificial intelligence applications for real estate agents under the professional development umbrella.
Bookstore Online bookstore selling state-required textbooks, reference materials, and pre-tabbed/highlighted exam preparation books across construction contractor licensing categories (General, Building, Residential, Electrical, Plumbing, Roofing, Home Inspector, AC Mechanical, Pool and Spa, Business & Finance).
Contractor Exam Prep Workshops In-person intensive workshops designed to prepare contractors for Florida state licensing exams.
Construction Tutoring Personalized one-on-one tutoring services that help construction students prepare for Florida state contractor licensing exams.
Construction Business Coaching Program Coaching and consulting services for construction professionals covering business strategy, development, and operational excellence.
AI-Powered Estimating (Construction) Professional development course teaching AI-powered construction estimating techniques as part of Gold Coast's construction industry training.

Quantifiable outcome

Over 150,000 licenses obtained through Spanish programs alone
+1 more outcomes

Companies that use Gold Coast Schools

Customer profile

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Gold Coast Schools technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature3 records

Gold Coast Schools partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

IFREC Schools of Real EstatecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 June 2020Gold Coast Schools acquired IFREC Schools of Real Estate in June 2020, joining two of Florida's leading family-owned educational providers. The acquisition expanded Gold Coast's reach and course offerings in real estate education.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Gold Coast Schools competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

Real Estate Express: Sister brand within Colibri Group offering online pre-licensing and continuing education for real estate across multiple states. Direct competitor with overlapping customer base and similar curriculum but broader national coverage rather than Florida-centric physical presence.
Career WebSchool: Online real estate pre-licensing and continuing education school serving multiple US states. Direct competitor in the online pre-license segment with comparable course pricing and digital-first delivery.
McKissock Learning: Sister Colibri Group brand specializing in online continuing education for real estate, appraisal, and home inspection. Direct peer offering highly overlapping courses in CE rather than pre-license, competing for the same licensee customer wallet.
The CE Shop: Sister Colibri Group brand focused on online real estate pre-licensing and continuing education across most US states. Direct peer with strong digital delivery model and aggressive pricing; competes with Gold Coast for online students nationwide.
VanEd: Online real estate, mortgage, and appraisal licensing school with national reach. Direct peer offering pre-licensing and continuing education in overlapping verticals; primarily a digital delivery competitor to Gold Coast's online segment.
360training: Online professional education provider covering real estate, construction, insurance, OSHA, and other regulated industries. Directly comparable in multi-vertical, online-first model and competes with Gold Coast across construction and insurance segments.
OnCourse Learning: Mortgage education partner of Gold Coast and broader provider of professional education for mortgage, financial services, and insurance licensing. Direct peer in mortgage and insurance CE; also a partner that complements Gold Coast's offering.
AceableAgent: Mobile-first online real estate pre-licensing school serving multiple states. Direct competitor in online delivery with a tech-forward product positioning; competes for the same price-sensitive online student demographic.

Broad incumbents

Kaplan Real Estate Education: Broad incumbent education provider with a large real estate pre-licensing and CE business as part of a wider portfolio (test prep, professional education, financial services training). Competes across multiple states and delivery formats, with greater brand recognition outside Florida.

Regional players

Hondros Learning: Ohio-based real estate and mortgage licensing school with physical campuses in the Midwest. Regional peer with a comparable physical-and-online model, but focused on Ohio and adjacent states rather than Florida.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Gold Coast Schools financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Gold Coast Schools leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Gold Coast Schools subsidiaries and ownership

Company hierarchy

Subsidiaries1 record

Gold Coast Schools funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Gold Coast Schools M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gold Coast Schools

What does Gold Coast Schools do?

Is Gold Coast Schools a public or private company?

Gold Coast Schools is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.

When was Gold Coast Schools founded?

Gold Coast Schools was founded in 1970. It employs 101 to 250 people.

Where is Gold Coast Schools based?

Gold Coast Schools is headquartered in Tamarac, United States, in the North America region.

How does Gold Coast Schools make money?

Four revenue lines are on record. Pre-License Course Fees are the primary driver. The others are post-License and Continuing Education Fees, bookstore Sales and professional Development Courses.

Who are Gold Coast Schools's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are Real Estate Express, Career WebSchool, McKissock Learning, The CE Shop, VanEd, 360training, OnCourse Learning and AceableAgent. Kaplan Real Estate Education is listed as a broad incumbent. Hondros Learning is listed as a regional player.

Does Gold Coast Schools have an API?

No public API is recorded for Gold Coast Schools.

What industry is Gold Coast Schools in?

Gold Coast Schools's product category is Professional Licensing Education. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDANAHAL, Gifted, Advanced & Acceleration Centers (Honors/AP/IB Enrichment). Its NAICS code is 6113 and its SIC code is 8200.