Frequently asked questions.

Each course is approved for four (4) LREC elective continuing education credit hours. Both courses together provide eight credit hours toward the twelve-hour annual requirement.

No. These are elective courses. The LREC mandatory topic — which changes each renewal cycle — must be completed through a separate LREC-approved provider. Contact LREC at (225) 925-1923 or visit lrec.gov for information on the current mandatory topic requirement.

Fineran CE reports all course completions to LREC via RF-4 Attendance Report by the 15th of the month following your completion date. You do not need to submit anything to LREC yourself.

Your completion will appear in your LREC licensee record within a few weeks of our report filing. If it has not appeared after 30 days, contact us and we will confirm the filing.

Your LREC license number is required at enrollment to ensure your completion is correctly reported. Please enter it exactly as it appears on your license.

Yes. Both courses count as elective CE and can be completed in the same renewal year. Together they provide eight of the twelve required hours. You would still need to complete four additional hours — including the mandatory topic — to satisfy the full annual requirement.

No. Course 1 is designed for agents at any experience level and starts with the foundational differences between commercial and residential transactions. No prior commercial experience is assumed.

Course 2 covers more advanced topics — assignment, renewal rights, defaults, and commissions — and benefits from familiarity with Course 1, but does not formally require it.

Course 1 is recommended but not required before taking Course 2. Both courses are LREC-approved as standalone elective CE and can be completed in any order. Agents who already have some commercial leasing background may find Course 2 accessible without Course 1.

Both courses were written entirely by Everett R. Fineran, Esq. — a Louisiana attorney (Bar #31153) and licensed real estate broker (#995692558) who currently serves as Assistant General Counsel of POOLCORP, a publicly traded S&P 500 company, directing commercial leasing and development across more than 400 North American locations through its brokerage subsidiary Pool Development, LLC.

Every concept in these courses reflects his current commercial leasing practice. These are not courses assembled from secondary sources — they are written from inside active commercial transactions.

Course 1 — Commercial Lease Transactions: What Agents Need to Know — covers seven sections: the commercial vs. residential transaction difference, the RFP and Letter of Intent process, understanding base rent and NNN structures, economic terms and total occupancy cost (including TI allowances and CAM reconciliation), permitted use and build-out rights, repairs and landlord obligations under Louisiana law (including Civil Code Article 2694), and eight Louisiana-specific rules that differ from residential practice.

Course 2 — Commercial Lease Transactions 2: Rights and Remedies — covers six sections: assignment, subletting, and exit strategy; renewal rights and the three rent-setting methods; expansion, extension, and exit rights (including ROFO, ROFR, termination options, and Louisiana's recording requirement for purchase options); defaults and remedies under Louisiana law; commercial commissions and co-brokerage; and a full capstone transaction from RFP through signed LOI.

Yes. Lesson 5 — Compliance and Commissions — covers how commercial commissions are calculated, how co-brokerage flows between brokers, the 2024 NAR Settlement’s effect on commercial transactions, when commissions are earned on renewals and option exercises, the role of tenant representation agreements, and the LREC vendor reporting (RF-3 and RF-4) required for commercial leases. The lesson focuses on the legal, contractual, and compliance framework — not techniques for increasing commission income.

Each course ends with a 40-question multiple-choice final examination, consistent with LREC Chapter 55 requirements. Each question has four answer options (a, b, c, d). Questions are drawn randomly from a larger question bank — no two exam attempts are identical.

You must score 70% or higher (28 out of 40 correct) to pass. After each question, feedback identifies the correct answer and the course section that covered the material — so if you miss something, you know exactly where to review before retaking.

Both. Each section of the course ends with a section knowledge check — a short multiple-choice quiz covering the material just covered. You must pass each section quiz before the next section unlocks. These are drawn randomly from section question banks and include per-question feedback.

The final 40-question exam covers the full course and is the assessment that determines certificate issuance.

You may retake the exam. Review the sections where you missed questions — the feedback after each wrong answer tells you exactly which section covered that material. Retake attempts draw a different set of questions from the bank, so you will not see the exact same exam twice.

If you have exhausted your permitted retake attempts and still have not passed, contact us at info@fineran-ce.com for assistance.

Your LREC-compliant certificate of completion is issued automatically when you pass the final examination. You can download and print it directly from your student dashboard.

The certificate includes your name as registered, the course title as approved by LREC, the number of credit hours, your completion date, and Fineran CE vendor certification number 9145 — all fields required by LREC.

The certificate uses the name you enter at registration. Enter your name exactly as it appears on your LREC license — this is the name that will appear on the certificate and in our LREC completion report. If there is a discrepancy, contact us before submitting your final exam and we can correct it.

Before the final examination unlocks, you are required to submit a short attestation confirming that you personally completed the course. This requires you to enter your full name and LREC license number, and to check a box certifying your personal completion.

This is a standard requirement for ARELLO-certified distance education courses and is consistent with how other online CE providers handle identity verification.

Both courses are fully online and self-paced. You access them through your browser — no software installation required. You can complete them from a desktop, laptop, or tablet. Progress is saved automatically, so you can stop and resume at any time.

You have 180 days from enrollment to complete the course. Your progress is saved and you can resume at any time.

Each course is approved for four LREC elective continuing education credit hours. The platform is self-paced and enforces the minimum time-on-content required by ARELLO's distance-education standards — you complete the course at your own pace within those required minimums. There is no expiration on access; your enrollment does not expire.

Each course is structured for sequential progression: every lesson must be completed in order, and each lesson’s knowledge check (80 percent pass threshold) must be passed before the next lesson unlocks. These platform controls enforce minimum time-on-task consistent with ARELLO distance-education guidelines.

Yes. The course platform is mobile-responsive and accessible from any modern browser on a phone or tablet. For the best experience with the course text, a tablet or larger screen is recommended — these courses contain detailed narrative content that reads most comfortably on a larger display.

Yes. A downloadable PDF student handout is available within each course. It contains the complete course content in a clean reference format — useful for review before the final exam and as a reference document after the course is completed.

Yes. Content questions are welcome. Contact Fineran CE at info@fineran-ce.com. Responses are provided within one business day, Monday through Friday.

Note that this is an educational CE course, not legal advice. If a client situation requires legal analysis specific to a particular transaction, your client should engage a licensed Louisiana commercial real estate attorney.

Everett R. Fineran is a Louisiana attorney (Bar #31153, admitted 2007) and licensed real estate broker (#995692558). He currently serves as Assistant General Counsel of POOLCORP (NASDAQ: POOL), directing commercial leasing and development strategy across more than 400 North American locations through its brokerage subsidiary Pool Development, LLC.

He taught Louisiana Civil Procedure at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law from 2011 to 2018, holds the CDEI (Certified Distance Education Instructor) credential from IDECC, and has spoken on commercial real estate topics before national and regional audiences including the National Business Institute and New Orleans CityBusiness.

No. This course provides real estate continuing education, not legal advice. The content equips agents to understand the economics and advanced terms of commercial lease transactions and to identify when a client should be referred to a licensed Louisiana commercial real estate attorney.

The instructor is a licensed attorney, and the course reflects attorney-level precision on Louisiana-specific rules — but completing the course does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not substitute for legal counsel on specific transactions.

A full refund is available within 7 calendar days of enrollment, provided you have completed less than 20% of the course. No refund is available after 7 days or after 20% course completion, whichever occurs first. Certificate holders are not eligible for refunds.

To request a refund, email info@fineran-ce.com with your name, order confirmation number, and enrollment date.

All major credit and debit cards are accepted through our secure payment processor. Payment is processed at the time of enrollment. Your enrollment and course access are activated immediately after payment.

Yes. If you are a broker or office manager looking to enroll multiple agents, contact us at info@fineran-ce.com to discuss group enrollment options. Each agent requires their own account and LREC license number to receive a valid certificate.