Policies | Mission | History | Meet The Staff | Meet The Instructors

Policies

On-line Distance Learning Policy:

All Cooke courses are good for 6 months. Many of Cooke Real Estate School courses are offered by streaming video in a format called "OPENCOURSEWARE". which allows students to actually view the entire course presentations for free. 

Live Interactive Video Conference Course Policy:

In Florida, Cooke provides the pre-license course by live video conference to real estate offices around the state. Students are allowed to change their registration from a streaming video asynchronous course to a live video interaction conference course, or vice versa, once they register. All students are encourage to take advantage of both distance learning platforms in their preparations for course completion and the state exam. All Cooke students are allowed to attend a live video conference synchronous distance learning real estate courses as often as it takes to pass the required quizzes and exams and the state exam up to one year with not NO additional tuition fee. An exception to this policy is if the student has to retake the cours, as per a regulatory body requirement, then then student must pay to retake the course.

In-Class Course Program Policy:

Cooke offers only the Florida appraisal courses in an in-class format at our headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Mission

Mission Statement

Cooke Inc. and Cooke Real Estate School has been active in real estate industry since 1972.  Cooke Real Estate School is proud to have educated and trained thousands of students who have found success in the real estate industry.  Cooke Real Estate School constantly works to provide to the student an interactive student/instructor course environment.  With the wonderful education technology available today such as video conferencing, video streaming and web-based educational platforms, Cooke students have a wonderful opportunity to learn all facets the real estate industry provides.  Cooke utilizes the state-approved course materials by the leaders in real estate and appraisal education industry such as: Dearborn Real Estate Education Company, Kaplan Real Estate School, Hondros Learning, McKissock and Cengage.

In addition, many of Cooke classes are available to Cooke School students through recorded asynchronous video streaming that Cooke students can access through our school's web site called "OPENCOURSEWARE". .

Cooke's goals are to provide added value for all the courses Cooke offers.  By adding value to the tuition fees students pay will give students a better chance in obtaining their goals.

Cooke Real Estate School is unique in providing its students with a superior level of care and support through modern-day technology.

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 Dr. Martin Luther King Street 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 and the first school in the United States to offer the course by streaming video.  Cooke School currently has the only approved Video Streaming certification and the only Video Conferencing certification give by ARELLO (The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials).

Today, the Cooke School has 20+ Video Conference Centers locations in Florida and provides on-line education in real estate, appraisal, mortgage brokerage 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.

Meet The Staff
Frank L. Cooke, Jr. - President
E-mail Frank Cooke
Frank Cooke is the owner and permit holder of the school. Frank has been involved in real estate since 1978. Thousands of students have been through programs that Frank has been involved with.  Frank graduated from Florida State University in 1966 and started in the real estate business in 1970.  He began his own real estate company 1972.
Beth Cooke - Vice President and Director
E-mail Beth Cooke
Beth is Frank's wife.  In 1996 Beth joined the firm to run the Property Management Division.  Beth now assists the staff when needed, and helps direct the firm's long term goals.  She enjoys spending a lot of time with her grandsons, Cameron and Tyler.
Steele Burgess - Video Conferencing, Technical Administrator
E-mail Steele Burgess
Steele has been with the school since June 2001. Steele is responsible for the technical side of the school. Because of Cooke's high-tech approach to real estate education, such as providing the course via video conferencing to 75 locations statewide and providing all students with a live video stream of the Sales Associate license course, Steele is a very important member of our staff.
Mark Jennings - Video Conferencing, Technical Administrative Assistant
Email Mark Jennings
Mark joined Cooke Real Estate School on March 1, 2004.  Mark is Assistant to the President, Frank Cooke, and does a variety of jobs for the firms.
Acquandist Hamilton - Registrar
E-Mail Acquandist Hamilton

I graduated from St. Petersburg High School in 2003. I am currently in the process of finishing my B.A. degree in Anthropology. I have an amazing 6 year old daughter.

Meet The Instructors

Dallie Moriarty - Lead Instructor
E-Mail Dallie Moriarty
Dallie Moriarty is a licensed Florida broker and has been an instructor for Cooke Real Estate School Headquarters, Inc., since 1996. She holds a Master's Degree from the University of Florida and has had extensive teaching experience. Dallie is a long-time resident of St. Petersburg. She has four children and four grandchildren.  .
Paul Shoemaker - Instructor
Email Paul Shoemaker
Paul is licensed by the State of Florida as a General Appraiser Instructor, Real Estate Instructor, Residential Real Estate Appraiser and Mortgage Broker. Paul is a AQB certified appraiser instructor by the Appraisal Qualifications Board (Appraisal Foundation). Paul has over 30 years experience as an instructor and when he moved to Dunedin, Florida in 1997, it was with the intention of continuing to work as an Appraisal Instructor. He joined Cooke Real Estate School Headquarters shortly thereafter.
Steve Nelson - Instructor
E-Mail Steve Nelson
Steven Nelson has been involved in the real estate profession for most of his adult life.  Upon his graduation from Concordia University he became involved in property management which inevitably led him to become a licensed REALTOR.  While going about his duties of running a real estate office in Florida it was during the training of new recruits that he had a revelation that teaching was his true vocation.  His love of teaching comes across in every session through his exuberance and teaching skills.  He invites you to join him in his next scheduled class at COOKE  Real Estate School.  See him on our on-line streaming video courses now. 
The Cooke Companies  have been at the forefront of real estate education Since 1972
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