The Champions School of Real Estate opened their new Spring campus Jan. 18, offering students licensing in real estate sales, appraising, inspecting and more.
The 18,000-square-foot campus, at 7302 N. Grand Parkway West, holds six classrooms, a special events room, as well as an inspection lab. It will also serve as the Champions School of Real Estate’s corporate headquarters.
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“Our new Houston North Campus is exciting for Houston and Champions School of Real Estate,” Rita Santamaria, Champions School of Real Estate’s CEO and founder said. “It feels like we’ve come full-circle, as the Houston North campus that students know so well is where the Champions School of Real Estate dream had its start nearly forty years ago.”
The school was founded by Santamaria in 1983, and has grown to nine locations since then, she said. First starting out as a licensing school for real estate, the school grew to offer programs in mortgage lending, inspecting and appraising.
Before she started the school, Santamaria was a real estate broker herself, and earned her college degree in education. She taught every course at the school during the first year it opened.
“Having an opportunity to teach real estate was really the best of both worlds,” Santamaria said.
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More than half of the school’s students learn from their multiple locations, Santamaria said, while the rest learn virtually, which she said they had been offering since 2016.
“Once adults had to watch and train their children on virtual learning, they started checking out virtual learning,” she said. “We had it way before the pandemic started.”
The location of the new building was bought in 2018, she said, as it was a more convenient location for students from College Station, Huntsville, Cleveland and Kingwood.
“All of my longtime customers would say they’d stay on a major freeway until 1960 and then it’s traffic light, traffic light, traffic light,” she said. “This time, we’re able to cut their traffic time.”
The new building is more state-of-the-art, she said, with more tools for instructors, as well as a lab for inspectors with appliances and electrical and plumbing set-ups. Part of the other reason for the new location was the need for additional parking, which was expanded at the new location.
“The completion of our Houston North Campus is a momentous occasion for Champions School of Real Estate,” Champions School of Real Estate President Kimberly Dydalewicz, who directed the building’s construction, said. “This relocation is both a testament to our growth and a continued part of our commitment to providing our students the best educational environment we can offer.”
The school offers in-person classes right now, with more than 100 people attending classes last week, Santamaria said, and with social distancing measures in place so students are sat six feet apart from each other.
To acquire a real estate license, each student can attend classes at their own pace, Santamaria said. It takes about three to four weeks to complete the program if a student goes on both weekdays and weekends, and six weeks if only taking weekend classes. Other licenses offered can take longer, with an inspector’s license taking between eight to 12 weeks to complete.
paul.wedding@hcnonline.com
