Education programs compared

CRE AI Institute vs CRE AI Studio

The CRE AI Institute is built around hands-on Claude workflows, practiced on a deal with answer keys, with two certificates and weekly live office hours on Premium. CRE AI Studio has a lower entry price, teaches several AI tools and has listed scheduled live cohorts.

Start the 7-day free trial Read a free lesson

Short answer

For hands-on Claude workflows, choose the CRE AI Institute

The CRE AI Institute teaches Claude and AI agent workflows on the Desert Grove practice deal, with answer keys and two certificates. CRE AI Studio is the better fit for a lower entry price, at $50 a month, or several AI tools in one curriculum.

A 7-day free trial, then Standard at $69/mo
Weekly live office hours and workshops on Premium
One full lesson free, with no account

Start the 7-day free trial Read a free lesson

AI tools taught
CRE AI Institute
Claude and AI agents
CRE AI Studio
ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, plus no-code automation Source: CRE AI Studio, home page
Certificates
CRE AI Institute
Two, in the membership
CRE AI Studio
A certificate through NAIOP/CREDA's course, sold by CREDA Source: AI in Commercial Real Estate (on-demand course)
Live office hours
CRE AI Institute
Weekly, on Premium
CRE AI Studio
Monthly on Level 1, plus live lessons Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans

Verified September 24, 2026

The two programs, side by side

We run the Institute, so it is the highlighted side. Every Studio cell links the page it was read from.

CRE AI Institute and CRE AI Studio compared on AI tools taught, practice material, certificates, live sessions, instructors, team training, free trial, guarantee, price and community, as verified September 24, 2026.
Compared on	Our pickCRE AI Institute	CRE AI Studio
AI tools taught	Built on ClaudeClaude and AI agent workflows, end to end, on every tier	ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, plus no-code automation (Zapier, Make.com, n8n) and content tools Source: CRE AI Studio, home pageA Claude Cohort, listed at 6 weekly live lessons from August 13, 2026 Source: CRE AI Studio, Claude Cohort for CRE Professionals
Practice deal and answer keys	The Desert Grove practice dealWith answer keys, on every tier	Not covered by the sources we checked; ask the Studio.
Certificates	Two certificatesAI Fluency on every tier; AI Operator on Premium	A certificate and 8.00 PDH/AIA Learning Units through NAIOP/CREDA's course, taught by the co-founders and sold by CREDA Source: AI in Commercial Real Estate (on-demand course)
Live sessions	Weekly, on PremiumLive office hours and workshops, plus live deal clinics	Level 1 includes live lessons and AI updates, and monthly office hours Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plansLevel 2 adds live monthly VIP training; Level 3 adds founder Q&A, answered within 24 hours Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
Who teaches it	Zed Truong, founder of the CRE AI InstituteWith the team at Pacific Software Ventures, which builds AI systems for CRE firms	Its three co-founders: Jonathan Buckelew (real estate private equity), Nadine Ezzie (CRE attorney) and Topher Stephenson (CRE tech and brokerage) Source: CRE AI Studio, Meet Your Teachers
Team training	PSV-led, inside your firmOn your own deals, through PSV's AI training	Consulting, including team training, onsite workshops and CRE-specific AI buildouts; no prices published Source: CRE AI Studio, Consulting
Free trial	A 7-day free trialAnd one full lesson free, with no account	A 7-day free trial on Levels 1 and 3, through the free-trial checkout Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
Money-back guarantee	A first-month refundIf you finish the AI Fluency Certificate in your first month and it hasn't paid off, we refund that month.	The AI for CRE Attorneys workshop page shows a “30-Day Money-Back Guarantee” badge Source: CRE AI Studio, AI for CRE Attorneys workshop registrationMembership terms are in the Studio's Terms of Use; read them there Source: CRE AI Studio, Terms of Use
Price	$69/mo on StandardPremium is $99/mo	Level 1 $50/mo, Level 2 $75/mo, Level 3 $100/mo (listed September 24, 2026) Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans20% off annual billing, with a 12-month commitment Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
Community	A private member communityWe do not publish a member count	“Hundreds” of CRE professionals in its Circle community, by the Studio's own count Source: CRE AI Studio, home page5,000+ subscribers to its weekly newsletter, the Studio's figure Source: CRE AI Studio Newsletter

The honest fit

Which one should you pick

Our pick

Choose the CRE AI Institute if

You want Claude workflows, practiced on a deal. The Desert Grove deal, with answer keys, before you touch live data.
You want two certificates inside the membership. AI Fluency, and the advanced AI Operator on Premium.
You want weekly live sessions. On Premium: office hours and workshops with the PSV team, plus deal clinics on your own deal.
You want to read a lesson before you sign up. One full lesson is free, with no account. Then a 7-day free trial.

Start the 7-day free trial Read a free lesson

Choose CRE AI Studio if

You want the lower entry price: Level 1 is $50 a month, against $69 for the Institute's Standard tier.
You want live sessions at the entry price: Level 1 includes live lessons and monthly office hours.
You want several AI tools in one curriculum (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and no-code automation), taught by three named CRE practitioners.

Sources: Source 1, Source 2, Source 3.

The detail

Every fact, with its source

Figures the Studio reports about itself are its claims, not our measurements. Programs it announced are described as advertised or scheduled.

CRE AI InstituteThe membership, in full

A self-paced curriculum of 3 courses and 38 lessons, inside a private community of CRE professionals. Launched July 2026.
Standard $69/mo; Premium $99/mo (against a $199/mo list price); Advisory $499/mo, which adds a monthly one-to-one hour with a PSV founder.
The certificate is self-paced, so the timeline is yours. If you finish the AI Fluency Certificate within your first month and you haven't gotten your first win, we refund that month in full. If it isn't valuable, we don't want your money.
A 7-day free trial, and one full lesson free with no account.
Everything in the membership is on the Institute page.

CRE AI StudioWho runs it

CRE AI Studio is operated by BES.AI, LLC, doing business as CRE AI Studio, the company its Terms of Use name. Source: CRE AI Studio, Terms of Use
The Studio's newsletter says its three founders created it in August 2025. Source: The CRE AI Studio Newsletter (launch issue)
The Studio was announced to ChatCRE newsletter subscribers on August 27, 2025, with an offer of half off for its first 50 members. Source: Mastering AI for CRE: the CRE AI learning platform (launch announcement)
LinkedIn lists the company as founded in 2025 and headquartered in New York, New York, with 2-10 employees and about 1,400 followers (September 24, 2026). Source: CRE AI Studio, company page
Its three co-founders teach: Jonathan Buckelew (10+ years in real estate private equity), Nadine Ezzie (a 20-year CRE attorney, former tech executive and national AI speaker) and Topher Stephenson (11+ years in CRE tech and brokerage). Source: CRE AI Studio, Meet Your Teachers
At launch in August 2025, Buckelew was VP of Asset Management at PEAK; Ezzie owned Ezzie & Co, a legal and technology consultancy for CRE firms; and Stephenson was Head of Operations at Aspire Commercial and wrote the ChatCRE newsletter. Source: Mastering AI for CRE: the CRE AI learning platform (launch announcement)
The Studio's site also describes Ezzie as the founder of an AI-first law firm and Chair of Legal Policy & Innovation at the U.S. Proptech Council. Source: CRE AI Studio, Meet Your Teachers

CRE AI StudioPrice and plans

Monthly membership: Level 1 (The Basics Plan) $50/mo, Level 2 (The Achiever Plan) $75/mo and Level 3 (The Super Growth Plan) $100/mo, as listed September 24, 2026. Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
Annual billing is 20% off: $480, $720 or $960 a year ($40, $60 or $80 a month), with a 12-month commitment. Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
The free-trial checkout offers “7 days free”, then the monthly price, on Levels 1 and 3. Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
The free-trial checkout marks Level 2 (Achiever) FULL, on monthly and annual billing, so it cannot be selected there. Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
Level 1 includes weekly step-by-step video lessons or pre-packaged AI skills built for CRE, live lessons and AI updates, monthly office hours for basic questions, the CRE Prompt Library, prompting tips and the community. Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
Level 1 includes live lessons and AI updates, and monthly office hours for basic questions. Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
Level 2 adds live monthly VIP training sessions with Q&A. Level 3 adds direct founder access for unlimited Q&A in a dedicated channel, with questions answered within 24 hours. Source: CRE AI Studio, free-trial checkout and membership plans
In July 2026 the Studio said it had 30+ tutorials on practical use-cases, along with prompts, pre-packaged Claude skills, written guides and live sessions. These are its own figures. Source: Voice.md: make AI actually sound like you
The Studio's August 12, 2026 cohort email lists 30+ pre-recorded trainings, pre-packaged Claude skills, the Prompt Library and monthly live Q&A with the founders as part of Studio access. Source: Last call: Claude CRE Cohort enrollment closes tonight
CRE AI Studio's Terms of Use set out its membership, cancellation and refund terms; read them there. Source: CRE AI Studio, Terms of Use

CRE AI StudioLive programs and cohorts

On LinkedIn in spring 2026, the Studio announced monthly “Anthropic Claude Update Calls” inside the membership, and a live group demo for members with REsimplifi. Source: CRE AI Studio, company page
The Claude Cohort for CRE Professionals was listed at 6 weekly live 1-hour lessons starting August 13, 2026, priced at $480 early bird and $599 regular, with live and recorded sessions and 3 months of free Studio access. Source: CRE AI Studio, Claude Cohort for CRE Professionals
Jonathan Buckelew and Topher Stephenson announced themselves as the Claude Cohort's hosts. On August 12, 2026 they said more than 60 CRE professionals had signed up (their figure), with sessions scheduled every Thursday at 1PM ET through September 17, 2026. Source: Last call: Claude CRE Cohort enrollment closes tonight
The cohort's own site, creclaudecohort.com, shows the first cohort (August 2026) as no longer accepting enrollments. Source: CRE Claude Cohort
The AI for CRE Attorneys workshop was advertised as a 6-week live cohort starting March 25, 2026: six 60-minute sessions, capped at 35 attorneys and taught by Nadine Ezzie. The registration page shows no price. Source: CRE AI Studio, AI for CRE Attorneys workshop registration
The workshop was advertised with recordings, Studio access, Q&A in Circle, ethics and usage-policy templates, document-sanitization workflows and AI toolkit setup. Source: CRE AI Studio, AI for CRE Attorneys workshop registration
The AI for CRE Attorneys workshop registration page shows a “30-Day Money-Back Guarantee” badge. Source: CRE AI Studio, AI for CRE Attorneys workshop registration
The Studio says more workshops are coming in 2026, for brokers, asset managers and other CRE roles, and that workshop registration includes a Studio membership, with credit toward the workshop price for existing members. Source: CRE AI Studio, Claude Cohort for CRE Professionals

CRE AI StudioCurriculum and credentials

The homepage curriculum covers ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini for daily CRE tasks, no-code automation (Zapier, Make.com and n8n among others), content tools such as Genspark and Gamma, and enterprise-level AI. Source: CRE AI Studio, home page
NAIOP/CREDA's course, taught by the co-founders and sold by CREDA, offers a certificate and 8.00 PDH/AIA Learning Units. Passing its exam with 80% or more earns a code for 3 months of Studio access. Source: AI in Commercial Real Estate (on-demand course)
The co-founders teach NAIOP/CREDA's on-demand course “AI in Commercial Real Estate” (8 hours, 8 modules). CREDA sells it, rather than the Studio, at $499 for members and $724 for non-members. Source: AI in Commercial Real Estate (on-demand course)

CRE AI StudioTeam training and speaking

The Studio's consulting covers Claude skills and AI agents, document intelligence, workflow automation (CoStar, Yardi, Salesforce, Excel), AI strategy and roadmapping, team training and workshops including onsite training, and CRE-specific AI buildouts. No prices are published. Source: CRE AI Studio, Consulting
Firms apply for the Studio's consulting, and if they are a fit the Studio schedules a free 30-minute strategy call. Source: CRE AI Studio, Consulting
Its consulting page claims 200+ CRE professionals trained and 6+ custom AI tools deployed, and lists CBRE, Newmark and MetLife as organizations represented. Source: CRE AI Studio, Consulting
A homepage testimonial from a CBRE Canada vice president says the Studio team trained over 50 of their brokers on Microsoft Copilot in a single session. Source: CRE AI Studio, home page
Topher Stephenson offers 60-minute conference keynotes, 2-4 hour hands-on workshops and webinars, and says he takes at most 5 engagements a quarter. No fees are published. Source: CRE AI Studio, Speaking
Stephenson lists SVN, CBRE, CCIM, the National Association of REALTORS, the Texas Association of REALTORS and SIOR among recent engagements. Source: CRE AI Studio, Speaking

CRE AI StudioCommunity and reach

The Studio says its community, on Circle, has “hundreds” of CRE professionals. Source: CRE AI Studio, home page
Its free newsletter says it reaches 5,000+ CRE professionals with one email a week. Issues have gone out weekly, most recently on September 23, 2026, by Stephenson and Buckelew. Source: CRE AI Studio Newsletter
The CRE AI Studio Newsletter launched on beehiiv on April 8, 2026, replacing Stephenson's ChatCRE, which it says had over 4,000 subscribers, and Buckelew's newsletter, The IndustrAI. Source: The CRE AI Studio Newsletter (launch issue)
Buckelew wrote three CRE AI articles for CRE Daily (September 3, October 20 and November 19, 2025), and the Studio has co-branded videos with CRE Daily and Crexi. Source: CRE AI Studio, Articles
The three co-founders wrote a Summer 2026 article on AI adoption in CRE for NAIOP/CREDA's Development magazine. Source: Structure Before Speed: A Framework for Meaningful AI Adoption in CRE
Multifamily Media Network announced a content and distribution partnership with CRE AI Studio on July 13, 2026. Source: Multifamily Media Network announces strategic partnership with CRE AI Studio

CRE AI StudioWhat we could not verify

Paid membership numbers. The Studio's own figures are “hundreds” in its community, 200+ professionals trained and more than 60 Claude Cohort sign-ups; none is independently verified.
The price of the AI for CRE Attorneys workshop, which its registration page does not show.
Whether Level 2 (Achiever) is open: the free-trial checkout marks it FULL, while the /Payment page lists it.
Whether the 7-day trial also applies on the direct /Payment checkout.
A date for a second Claude Cohort. The first is closed; the Studio says more workshops are coming in 2026.
Team-seat or enterprise membership pricing, and consulting, speaking and team-training fees; none is shown on the pages we checked.
Whether a Studio membership includes a certificate of its own; ask the Studio.
How the live sessions on each level fit together, and which still run: live lessons, monthly office hours, monthly VIP training, the Claude update calls it announced and founder Q&A.
Outcome or retention data. The site shows testimonials.

Before you buy

Questions to ask any program, including ours

Terms change, and we link another program's rather than summarise them.

Is there a refund or money-back guarantee, and exactly what triggers it?
Can I cancel at any time, and what happens to my access and any certificate when I do?
Which tier includes the live sessions, and who runs them?
What do I practice on, and are there answer keys to check my work against?
Which AI tools does the curriculum teach in depth, and which does it only mention?
For a team: who delivers the training, on whose documents, and what does it cost per person?
If I pay annually, what am I committing to, and can I get out of it?

Go to the source

Frequently asked

Institute vs Studio, answered

What is the difference between the CRE AI Institute and CRE AI Studio?

The CRE AI Institute is a self-paced Claude curriculum of 3 courses and 38 lessons, practiced on the Desert Grove deal with answer keys. CRE AI Studio is a monthly membership taught by its three co-founders, covering ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini alongside no-code automation.

Sources: Source 1, Source 2.

How much does CRE AI Studio cost compared with the CRE AI Institute?

The CRE AI Institute costs $69 a month on Standard and $99 on Premium, after a 7-day free trial. CRE AI Studio lists Level 1 at $50, Level 2 at $75 and Level 3 at $100 a month, as of September 24, 2026.

Sources: Source 1.

Is there a free trial?

Yes, at both. The CRE AI Institute starts with a 7-day free trial on every tier, and one full lesson is free to read with no account. CRE AI Studio's free-trial checkout offers 7 days free on Levels 1 and 3.

Sources: Source 1.

Do both programs teach Claude?

Yes. The CRE AI Institute is built on Claude and teaches Claude and AI agent workflows on every tier. CRE AI Studio's curriculum covers ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and it listed a Claude Cohort of 6 weekly live lessons.

Sources: Source 1, Source 2.

Do CRE AI Studio or the CRE AI Institute offer a certificate?

The CRE AI Institute awards two: the AI Fluency Certificate on every tier and the AI Operator Certificate on Premium. The Studio's co-founders teach NAIOP/CREDA's “AI in Commercial Real Estate” course, sold by CREDA, which offers a certificate and 8.00 PDH/AIA Learning Units.

Sources: Source 1.

Keep comparing