There's a vast amount of supposedly "free" real estate training available on the internet. This guide will help you to find what you need, and to avoid being taken in by those with bad motives.

Real estate is a vast topic. Your first objective should be to decide which aspect of real estate you're most interested in. Some examples include:

• Real estate investing - residential, multi-family, commercial, raw land, office buildings, etc
• Real estate brokering - brokering, agents, reviews of brokerage business, etc
• Specific Locations - learn more about specific neighborhoods, developments, cities, etc
• Financing - mortgages, appraisals, broker price opinions, etc

Clearly it's not enough to simply seek out Free Real Estate Training. You must get clear about what you're seeking.

Some websites, such as FreeRealEstateTraining.com, do a good job of addressing the multi-faceted nature of real estate - but there are very few that fit that mold. Use the evaluation criteria below to help make a good decision about where to focus your time and effort.

With the vast amount of "free" real estate training that is available on the internet, it's wise to consider how to choose your source for information and updates about the real estate market.

Here are some excellent criteria by which you can judge free real estate training websites:

• Is the information truly free? If a payment is required, keep looking
• Does the website provide links to other websites? If not, the website is probably just a marketing tool and not a viable source of information
• Does the website provide up-to-date commentary on recent real estate news events? If not, the website's information will become stale and worthless
• Does the website allow interaction from its readers? This is important. If it does not, look elsewhere.
• Does the website provide a free subscription/update service to notify you about important information in the future? This is a very positive benefit which you should take advantage of.

Use these criteria to assist in deciding whether a free real estate training website is worth your time and energy. If not, keep looking!

While most websites offering free real estate training are nothing more than thinly veiled marketing gimics, there are a few true diamonds in the rough.

But why would a person or company invest the time and money necessary to do the research and technical work necessary to create, offer and maintain a free real estate training website?

While there may be a few truly selfless people offering free real estate training with little or no expectation of return, most publishers of free real estate training websites hope to make something of their efforts. Some of the benefits these publisher can achieve are:

• Notoriety/expert status: many people have achieved "expert" status in the real estate business as a result of their free real estate training efforts on the internet. (For example, check out Bryan Ellis.)
• Advertising revenue: you'll find that many of the free real estate training websites contain banners, links and other advertising. Don't be afraid to visit these sponsors - they pay the bill for your free real estate training!
• Political/Policy Influence: With enough readers, a free real estate training website can become a force to be reckoned with

So while it's true that the very best free real estate training websites will not charge a fee to access their vast repositories of information, it's also true that these websites and their owners benefit in other ways. So feel free to use them to your benefit - that is the intention!