Sundae, an online marketplace that connects “as-is” home sellers with property investors, today announced launching its new membership program, Edge, according to a blog post by the company.
The company says the new offering, which includes two paid tiers including Edge and Edge+, offers best-in-class tools to help secure properties and enables purchase management from a computer or mobile app.
It says this new launch represents investor demand for a fully integrated platform that makes it easier to source and buy properties, “similar to what Amazon does for retail.”
“With Edge, we’re radically simplifying the process for property investors. Our technology allows them to manage the entire purchasing process from the palm of their hand, leaving them more time to do what they do best: renovating and restoring homes,” stated Josh Stech, CEO and co-founder of Sundae, in the release.
In addition to Sundae’s tradition features, such as dedicated investor advisors and nationwide inventory visibility, the marketplace provider says Edge members will also have access to a number of new features including:
- An iOS mobile app
- Visibility into their offer’s rank among other offers
- AutoOffer: a tool for investors to set their lowest and highest offer limits, with Sundae automatically increasing bids towards maximum when outbid
- Sundae Funding+: a new premium lending service that offers a five day close and waives off late fees due to financing delays
- The ability to make offers in multiple markets
In addition the company says the membership will provide an “Inner Circle” educational component, which will provide content, interviews, and webinars with experts to help inform investors so that they can make educated decisions about their investment practices.
“It’s really hard to go get quality education in terms of going from zero to one, one to 10, or 10 to 100 as a property investor. There are no four-year universities that teach you what you need to know, and there’s no accredited trade school. It’s all this very informal, pretty low quality education that we believe creates really costly mistakes when investors are just getting into it and trying to scale quickly,” Stech told FinLedger about the educational component.
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Sundae will continue to provide a free, base level service tier, “Essential,” with paid tier Edge costing $199 per month ($159/month when billed annually) and Edge+ costing $499 per month ($399/month when billed annually).
The first Edge tier provides all the new tools and services stated above and gives members the ability to invest in three markets, while the Edge+ tier gives access to all of Sundae’s current 23 markets.
Founded in 2018 by Stech and Andrew Swain, Sundae has raised over $135 million in funding to date, including a $80 million Series C led by Fifth Wall and General Global Capital in July 2021.
Stech noted that the company has been doing “really, really well” since that most recent funding round, and says that while Sundae is keeping an eye on markets and its runway, the number one priority is building “a durable, sustainable company that’s around for decades.”
This announcement follows the recent launch of Sundae’s lending service, “Sundae Funding”, which helps investors access financing options. It says the options include competitive rates, fast pre-approvals and underwriting as Sundae has most of the information about that home that is required to approve the loan. Sundae currently operates in 11 states across the U.S. and stated plans to expand to 28 total markets nationwide by the end of the year.
Looking ahead, Stech says that the platform will invest heavily in its online learning curriculum, and also has plans for property insurance, material sourcing, and construction labor marketplace services.
FinLedger recently spoke with Michael Gifford, previous VP of Sundae and current CEO of alternative home equity startup Splitero, who discussed what he learned about the real estate market at Sundae and how his new venture is educating homeowners about their home equity. You can find that interview here.
In other recent proptech news, Ownly CEO Jason Hardy discussed digitizing home builder sales and growing an e-commerce ecosystem for real estate purchases. Belong also secured $80 million of debt and equity in a round led by Fifth Wall to expand its rental management platform.