The following terms and conditions apply to all real estate agents attempting to bid or sell properties on RealtyBid.com.  Please take a moment to read this document thoroughly before registering on the site.

ALL USERS MUST AGREE TO THE AGENT TERMS BEFORE BIDDING ON OR SELLING A PROPERTY.

Site Usage

The first step to using this site effectively is Registration. Registration is currently free and is necessary to unlock many of the site's most useful features; please review How to Bid and Helpful Site Features. BidAssist, as explained in Helpful Site Features, is highly recommended when bidding in RealtyBid online auctions, as it can be beneficial to you at the conclusion of during bidding. This feature allows the computer system to bid for you up to your maximum bid. It is protection against a last-minute bid preventing you from winning a property. Also, because different computers have different connection speeds, waiting until the last five or ten seconds of an auction to place your bid manually is not recommended. The countdown clock on RealtyBid.com should be considered accurate but not exact. Many processes, such as computer processor speeds, Internet connection speeds, etc., can affect what actual bid placement time a user sees on their screen, so please do not wait until the last few minutes of an auction to place a bid. It is highly recommended that if you intend to place a bid, you should do so early to get a feel for the bidding process.

RealtyBid bears no responsibility for re-offering the property or ensuring your bid is placed. If it is determined that there was a system issue that may have prevented a bid from being placed, RealtyBid reserves the right to review all bids and possibly re-open the bidding on a property. This determination will be made on a case-by-case basis and is at the sole discretion of the company. The intent of RealtyBid.com is to always provide a fair, level and transparent bidding environment for our consumer audience.

Online Property Bidding

If you elect to bid on a property online, you must be registered to do so; however, you do not have to be registered in order to view bids for a property. All bids are open and displayed for public viewing unless otherwise noted. You can bid on properties from a property's Bid Page, which can then be accessed through the Bidding Report link on your account page. The Bidding Report only has abbreviated information about each property but is a great tool if you are monitoring multiple properties.

Terms of Use

Each site user shall act with honesty and integrity while on the site; otherwise, user privileges shall be revoked. RealtyBid.com may suspend your account and seek legal remedies if the site's staff at any time suspects you have committed or engaged in fraud or fraudulent activities relating to transactions on the site. Any Agent making fraudulent bids on this site or defaulting on properties won may be banned from the site indefinitely without any recourse from the Agent.

User Eligibility

RealtyBid's services are available only to individuals who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. RealtyBid's services are not available to minors or to previously suspended RealtyBid users. If you register as a business entity, when you place a bid, you represent that you or the party for whom you are placing a bid have the authority to bind the entity to the agreement in question and other real estate-related agreements.

RealtyBid Fairness Doctrine

RealtyBid prides itself on offering properties on a fair and level playing field and allowing bidders an equal and fair opportunity to compete. If it is determined by RealtyBid that a property is won unfairly, for any reason, RealtyBid reserves the right to 1) re-offer the property in a new round of bidding, 2) request a highest and best offer among the bidders or 3) return the property to the Seller and not sell it to any bidder.

Bidding Requirements

Bidder Registration: If you intend to bid on a property, it is highly recommended that you register at least 72 hours prior to the close of the bidding, just as a precaution against any potential registration problems.

To bid on a property on RealtyBid.com, a bidder must submit a $250 bid deposit. This bid deposit is a hold placed on a credit or debit card. This hold allows RealtyBid.com to confirm that your account is valid and that you are placing a bid with sincere intent to purchase if you are the winner of the property. The hold will not appear as a charge on your credit card or bank statement unless you are the winning bidder and fail to complete the contract execution process. In some cases, you will need to follow the additional specific Bid Instructions to bid on that property. Bidder information and password information is confidential and may not be shared or transferred to another party.

Fees & Services

Currently, registration for the RealtyBid website is free, but a $250 bid deposit is required to bid on an online auction. Additionally, when you win a property, you are required to pay a 5% deposit or $2,000 whichever is greater, unless stated otherwise on the property’s bid page. We reserve the right to change our Site Terms at any time relating to fees and other items mentioned or not mentioned in this published document. We may in our sole discretion change any or all of our services at any time. If a change occurs in a particular service, the fees for that service are effective at the introduction of the service. If a property is subject to an Internet Transaction Fee (a.k.a. Buyer's Premium), the Internet Transaction Fee will be disclosed on the property Bid Page and will be paid by the BUYER at closing. The bidding will not reflect the buyer's premium, but the Purchase Agreement shall include the Buyer's Premium through a RealtyBid Addendum, which shall be attached to the Purchase Agreement and signed by both Buyer and Seller.

Discrepancies in Advertisements

If there are any discrepancies between the terms and conditions outlined on this site and the terms outlined in the Purchase Agreement, the terms in the Purchase Agreement shall prevail, so read the Purchase Agreement carefully. All dates and times listed on this site supersede any advertisements or printed statements.

Bid Presentation to the Seller

If bidding for a property meets or exceeds reserve (the minimum acceptable sales price established by the Seller) during the online Bidding process, the property will be coded as Pending until the buyer executed Purchase Agreement and a deposit check are received from the Bidder. At that point, the bid will be presented to the Seller and if it is accepted in their system and the Purchase Agreement is fully executed, it will be coded as Sold and the closing process will begin. While the property is coded as Pending and up until the property is accepted in the Seller’s internal system, additional higher bids may be presented. Notwithstanding the above, the Seller reserves the right to a final review of all bids received. The Seller may accept or reject any bid regardless of whether or not the reserve price has been met.

Post Bids: Each RealtyBid online auction will run until the auction countdown clock expires, regardless of whether reserve is met. If reserve is met when the auction countdown clock expires, then the RealtyBid system will code the property as Pending and RealtyBid will initiate the Purchase Agreement process with the winning bidder. However, if the reserve is not met at the end of the initial auction, the property moves into Post Bidding. During Post Bidding, additional bids can be submitted. Unlike the initial auction phase, bidding in the Post Bidding phase ends once the reserve is met or the Seller accepts a bid, regardless of any time left on the auction countdown clock.

Highest and Best Offer Process: If more than one bid is submitted in what is considered an acceptable price range by RealtyBid, a highest and best offer round may be held to make sure each bidder received a fair opportunity to place their highest possible bid. This process may be utilized even after a property is coded as Pending. The highest and best offer process will be utilized at Seller and RealtyBid’s sole discretion.

Negotiations & Post Event Activities

Once an online bidding event concludes, neither the Seller nor RealtyBid is under any obligation to negotiate with any bidder. All properties will be sold on a "first come, first served" basis by the Seller.

Final Approval by Seller

Each Seller on this site reserves the right to have final approval of any and all purchase contracts submitted by any broker or bidder, regardless of information provided by this site, any broker, or any RealtyBid.com employee or affiliate to the contrary.

Online Transaction Venue

RealtyBid provides an online real estate transaction venue that allows for the bidding and transfer of properties via a public forum. RealtyBid does not hold itself out to be a real estate broker or agent, nor does it claim to act on behalf of buyers or sellers, even though it does hold real estate and auctioneer licenses in numerous states. RealtyBid does claim to provide an efficient and effective platform that allows sellers to advertise their properties to willing and able buyers. All listing brokers identified with a property on this site are agents of the Seller, not the Buyer. If a disruption of Internet bidding service (such as a power outage or other technical occurrence of any kind) occurs at the end of an event, RealtyBid reserves the right to extend that particular event for a reasonable period of time as decided by RealtyBid in order to provide bidders a fair chance to compete for the purchase of a property.

Terms Related to Selling a Property on RealtyBid:

As a Listing Agent representing a Seller on RealtyBid, each Agent agrees to the following:

1. I am licensed in the state where the property is located and fully authorized to place the property on RealtyBid.com.
   
   It is recommended that any listing agent posting a property on RealtyBid should have an Listing Agreement Addendum agreed upon and executed by the Property Owner before placing a listing on RealtyBid. The addendum acknowledges that the Property Owner wants the property to be marketed on RealtyBid and helps protect the Listing Agent and RealtyBid.com from a Property Owner attempting to increase the reserve price after the auction bidding begins.
2. During the timeframe the property is on RealtyBid.com, I agree to place all offers I receive on the website. No offer will be considered outside the RealtyBid process.
3. I agree that an Internet Transaction Fee will be charged to the winning buyer of the property and paid to RealtyBid at closing. The Purchase Agreement will include an Internet Transaction Fee Addendum specifying the amount to be paid by the Buyer and shall be signed by the Buyer and made a part of the contract. I agree that if a property sells and I do not get the RealtyBid.com Fee Addendum signed by the Buyer, I will be responsible for payment of that fee.
4. I agree that after posting a property on RealtyBid.com, if I request to have the property withdrawn from the site prior to the full duration of the online auction, a withdrawal penalty could be assessed (unless prior approval has been granted by RealtyBid management).
5. I agree that a Starting Bid below my client’s reserve price will be generated by the RealtyBid system and that the Starting Bid will not be determined by me or my client.
6. I agree to post as much useful information about the property as possible, and I will provide any required disclosures for the property.
7. I agree that the Buyer Agent commission input into the RealtyBid system will be the same as that offered in the MLS. If not, the MLS listing will be used to determine the commission paid to a Buyer Agent. We encourage the payment of commission by Sellers to Buyer Agents placing bids for their clients on RealtyBid, as this practice draws more potential bidders for properties offered on the website.
8. I agree that I will not artificially inflate or influence the bids on a particular property, and I will discourage my client from doing the same (if applicable).
9. I agree that RealtyBid is a marketing vehicle to assist me in generating offer activity for a property and that it does not represent me, my client or any bidder as an agent.
10. I agree that RealtyBid has given no guarantee as to its ability to obtain any price for a property.
11. I understand that I can monitor all of my listings and their bidding activity through my Agent Account by clicking the link to the Activity Report.