A stroll down memory lane brings TREES co-founder Bill Whisnant to a real estate principles class at Dalton Junior College in 1975.
Whisnant was the proud owner of an engineering degree and an MBA, but when he’d purchased his first house, he’d felt like he was back in preschool trying to learn how to count. To remedy his lack of knowledge for future investments, he’d signed up for the Dalton class, which a moonlighting mortgage broker named Ron Oslin was teaching.
“When you’re 22 years old and you have an MBA, you think you’re God’s gift to business. But the Lord has a wonderful way of humbling you,” Whisnant recalls with the self-deprecating hindsight of an older man who knows better. “When I purchased my first house, I didn’t know what was going on, even though I had a fancy business degree, so I signed up for the class.”
Every legendary duo has its origin story. Laurel and Hardy met on a movie set in 1921. William Procter and James Gamble formed their famous firm in 1837 after marrying sisters from the same family. A chance meeting at a night class was the beginning of a decadeslong partnership for Whisnant and Oslin, who went on to found Tennessee Real Estate Educational Systems, more concisely known as TREES.
Although Oslin died in 2022, Whisnant is still a going concern, as is TREES, which is celebrating its 50th year of prepping aspiring real estate agents for the state license exam.
Today, the Tennessee Real Estate Commission requires every future buyer and seller rep to complete a 60-hour pre-license course before taking the license test. But in 1975, there were no prerequisites for seating for the exam. Individuals could take a monthslong college preparatory course if they so desired, but no one insisted.
This created an opportunity for the Oslin and Whisnant, the latter remembers.
“Prior to 1975, there was no such thing as a real estate school. You took your chances with the test. Ron and I saw a niche, so we put together a two-day crash course designed to help people pass the exam.”
Whisnant chuckles as he recalls sharing drinks with Oslin at a Ruby Tuesdays on Brainerd Road while they hashed out the name of their venture. In a little-known bit of company lore, they created the acronym first and then the full title.
“We said, ‘Let’s call it Tennessee Real Estate something.’ And then we said, ‘It’ll be too long if we add more words to it.’ So we stayed with ‘T-R-E’ and tried to come up with a single word we could say instead of the full thing. After we landed on ‘TREES,’ we came up with ‘educational’ and ‘systems’ for the ‘E’ and the ‘S.’”
Oslin and Whisnant were more adept at developing their course, which drew from each man’s professional know-how. As a mortgage broker, Oslin knew the material the real estate license test covered, while Whisnant had experience developing training programs for the carpet industry. After finalizing the materials, they took their act on the road, driving from Chattanooga to Knoxville to host their first class.
Weekend warriors
At first, TREES was a weekend endeavor. And within that timeframe, the school prepared many individuals for Tennessee’s real estate license exam, Whisnant says.
Oslin and Whisnant’s fortunes appeared to turn sharply upward when TREC began to require a 30-hour pre-license course in 1981. Recognizing the need to commit more time to TREES, Oslin and Whisnant quit their day jobs and went all in on their business.
Whisnant’s memory of what happened next remains painfully clear.
“Interest rates jumped to 18%. It was not a pretty sight.”
The stratospheric rise in mortgage rates shattered home sales and placed the real estate profession on life support. Oslin and Whisnant endured a stretch of sleeping in their classroom because they were financially strapped. But they did not shutter their brainchild.
“We hung in there,” Whisnant notes.
When the U.S. real estate market rebounded later in the 1980s, the founders of TREES accepted that their fortunes would rise and fall with home sales and they vowed to both navigate the peaks and soldier through the valleys.
“Real estate is cyclical,” Whisnant muses. “It has its ups and downs, so you have your ups and downs.”
That said, the economic crash of 2007 was more of a gaping sinkhole than a downturn. As the far-reaching tendrils of the collapse choked the life out of the real estate industry, Oslin and Whisnant’s classrooms were once again quiet. But instead of closing their doors, the pair went two years without salaries.
“The government was telling everyone to buy a house, and a lot of people did, whether they could afford it or not,” Whisnant says. “When you get in a place for no skin and then you lose your job because of the recession, what do you do? You turn in your keys.”
Fortunately, Whisnant says, TREES has traversed more peaks than valleys during its 50 years of continual operation.
“Being able to bring in someone who has no background in real estate and preparing them to take a really hard exam in 10 days has been fascinating.”
Standing tall
Today, the acronym “TREES” seems more appropriate than ever as Oslin and Whisnant’s half-century old undertaking continues to cast an ever-widening nurturing shadow over the real estate profession.
Once hosting only a two-day crash course, TREES now offers an expansive curriculum of courses for preparing affiliate brokers, brokers, home inspectors, appraisers, auctioneers and more for their exams, as well as continuing education for many real estate professionals.
TREES offers these courses in person in four Tennessee cities, including Chattanooga, Knoxville, Murfreesboro and Nashville, as well as online and through correspondence methods, depending on the course.
In what could be said to be a nod to the company’s origins, there’s even an intensive one-day crash course that Whisnant says better prepares affiliate broker and broker license candidates for their respective exams.
Despite the many changes to how houses are sold since 1975, the content of TREES’ classes has changed very little since the early days. Even as the advent of the internet shifted real estate agents from acting as gatekeepers of information to providing clients with services that facilitate sales, and even as the forms agents use continue to change with predicable regularity, the basic tenets of TREES’ curriculum remains virtually the same.
“The license test is based on the principles of real estate, which haven’t changed much,” Whisnant explains. “Participants are tested on agency, finance, appraisal, real estate math, state regulations and so forth. Fee simple is still fee simple.”
Testimonials
Whisnant says he doesn’t expect anyone to take his word for how well TREES prepares real estate agents for the entrance exam. However, there’s no shortage of agents who will speak enthusiastically about the impact the school had on their career.
Carly Cronk, a Realtor with the Bekah Cochran Team at Keller Williams Greater Downtown Realty in Chattanooga, completed TREES’ accelerated 10-day class after starting an online real estate course with a different school. She says this was the best professional decision she could have made.
“[TREES instructor] Mike Fullam was very thorough and taught us everything we needed to know to pass the class and our exam,” Cronk says. “Also, our class really bonded. We’re still in touch with each other and are supporting one another through the highs and lows.
“TREES’ purpose is to teach us what we can legally do as agents, which is the most important aspect of our jobs. If we fail to follow the rules of real estate, we won’t be agents for long. TREES and Mike did a great job of ensuring I practice with integrity and honor.”
Likewise, Michelle Johann of the Robinson Team at KW in Chattanooga credits TREES with helping her to hit the ground running like an Olympian last year.
“My first five months in real estate have been exhilarating,” Johann raves. “I capped in four months and closed 11 transactions and $5 million worth of real estate in five months, all of which I could not have done without attending TREES.”
As Whisnant thinks back on 50 years, several things make him proud, he says. He can even brag that Dave Ramsey attended TREES before he was “radio personality and author Dave Ramsey.” But the testimonials of agents like Cronk and Johann make him the proudest, he adds.
“We care about our people. I know that sounds corny but we’ll bend over backwards to do our part to help our students achieve their goals. That’s not only the right thing to do but it’s also good for business. I know a lot of people who say, ‘If you’re going to get your real estate license, take the course at TREES.’”