Sundae Reviews

This real estate company is run by a bunch of people with zero knowledge about real estate and the lower-tiered managers who are knowledgeable in real estate, know nothing about how to manage. These facts were quite evident when the company was able to take a good idea and totally mess it up with both buyers and sellers which caused them to lay off around 60% of their employees. They claim to be all about getting sellers the most money for their homes off market, but that is deceptive. The seller doesn't pay any fees, but the buyer is charged a 10% commission fee that comes off the total that the seller would have received so yes, the seller is actually paying a fee because they are receiving 10% less for their home, they just don't know about it. When the company first started they paid great salaries and therefore attracted great agents. Recently they decided to cut salaries by 70% with a small bump in commission and expect those same talented agents to stick around. This company has been going in the wrong direction for a while now and it just keeps getting worse. Buyers, sellers, and agents should all stay far away.

In my opinion, Sundae was started with a great mission with great potential. They were able to attract top talent and build an awesome culture. Sundae’s founder was very successful raising funding. The company was set up for success - but I believe they made some critical mistakes along the way. I think leadership focused too heavily on building a “leading tech company” instead of the real estate company it truly is. Not enough effort was spent on understanding the space and building a sustainable business model. Inefficiencies were widespread, pointed out by lower ranking staff, but changes were not made. Questionable leadership hires were made who had little or no experience in the real estate industry, which meant poor understanding of the space and bad decisions. Very intelligent people run the company today, but few in decision making roles have any experience in, or a good understanding of the space Sundae operates in. As the real estate market shifted, it felt like Sundae leadership responded by pushing blame to the sales staff, and using them as the primary cost cutting measure. Many were laid off. Those who remained had their salaries cut to embarrassing levels. I found that micromanagement grew rampant and the job became very stressful for very little pay. Many of the top talent have left. Time will tell if Sundae is able to turn things around, but it will require serious change - investing in sales staff and rebuilding culture. I think they really need decision makers who understand distressed real estate.