Frequently Asked Questions

For your convenience, below is a list of commonly-asked questions. If you have any questions with answers that don’t appear here, please Contact Us.


This course is a blended training program. This means that most of the course content is available when the trainee wants to access it on-demand through the training portal. There are also live portions of the training. For every training group that completes the class (called a cohort), there are three, live virtual webinars. The reason we built these into the program is to allow networking and to help participants share lessons learned and perspectives with others in the class from other posts.

It’s different for three main reasons: specific content, accessibility, and networking. This is the only course that has been developed exclusively for locally-employed staff overseas at U.S. embassies who are responsible for the real-estate turnaround process and for ensuring that property is ready for new residents on-time, to their preferences, and to the expected level of quality. In other words, this course is designed to help reduce the stress of the staff who are worried about if the paint is dry when a new resident arrives. This course is accessible in a flexible virtual format where any LES can access the content around their busy schedules and still be able to complete a best-of-breed training course. And, this course also opens access to wide network of other housing specialists, property administrators, and make-ready project managers and leaders who have taken this class. Once you complete the course, you will still be able to network with, ask questions of, and share information with others who have completed the course. Not to mention that the content is really, really good and targeted at helping you achieve excellent results.

In order to enroll, students currently must be an employee of the U.S. Department of State. If you feel like this course could benefit you and you are a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, please contact MakeReadyAcademy and we can discuss course access options.

It’s easy. Simply click the ‘Enroll Now’ button in the top right-hand corner of the site. Enter the student information (and your direct supervisor, if requested), submit a credit card payment, and click ‘Purchase’. Once you are registered, you will received a welcome e-mail and access information for the course kickoff webinar on the course start date.

The course takes 12 weeks to complete. It is expected that each week you will invest about 60 to 75 minutes on the course lessons and on the action assignments (applied homework assignments).

The course costs $1,199(USD) per each course attendee.

MakeReadyAcademy only takes credit or charge cards for class enrollment. Payment is processed using Stripe (which is what may be displayed on your credit card statement).

Payment is made when you register for the course.

Once you are registered, you will be able to access class lessons and materials after the course start date. Modules (and their lessons) are released each week over the duration of the course.

Issues do sometimes arise. We strongly encourage course participants to reach out if they have any technical problems or do not understand any element of the course. Please click ‘Contact’ link in the menu, call us at +1-703-637-0615 extension 703, or click here to Contact Us. Our team will respond no later than two business days, but typically much sooner.

It is generally necessary to complete the course in order. The content starts general and gets more specific as the program moves forward. Also, the applied action assignments build on each other so it’s important to finish one before starting the next one. The course does have three webinars which are live. If you complete the course on-schedule along with the other participants, we will all be at the same point in the program and will create a more energetic conversation. But, because of how the course is set up, after the first few weeks you could jump around if you really wanted to — but it’s not recommended.

An Internet connection, browser, and a desktop computer/laptop, tablet or mobile device. The program is designed to be accessible on virtually any device. Because of some of the upload requirements, it’s easiest to complete the course using a laptop or desktop. Bandwidth-wise, if you can access Zoom calls and connect only sound, you shouldn’t have any connectivity problems.

This can be done by clicking ‘Register Now’ above. That will bring you to the registration page for the next class offering. To see other course offering start dates, click ‘Courses’ in the menu above. To make things easy and for security purposes, MakeReadyAcademy currently only accepts credit cards or government charge cards for payment.

We understand that things happen. We want to reduce your risk if something happens, but we also expect full classes and want to allow waitlisted students to be able to enroll in cancelled spots. If you cancel your enrollment up to 14-days (10 business days) from the class start, you may receive a 100% refund (less processing fees). If you cancel within this 14-day window, you may be eligible for a 50% refund. No refunds will be given once the course starts. However, seats may be transferred to another employee, should an issue arise.