Policy Statement
At HomeGift® Realty, Inc., we are strongly committed to
protecting your privacy. We know that you provide us with personal information
so that we can provide our services to you and we want you to understand how
we handle that information. We do not ask you for or collect your social security
number or any personal financial information such as bank account or credit card numbers.
The only financial information we obtain is the price of the property you buy or sell and the amounts
of your rebate and/or contribution to a non-profit that you make from your rebate.
HomeGift does not share, lease or sell, and will not willfully disclose,
your non-public personally identifiable information with or to any unaffiliated
third parties except those involved in your transaction unless authorized by you or required
by law or court order. “Affiliated” parties are companies under common control with HomeGift,
such as parent corporations or subsidiaries. Those involved in your transaction may include:
the real estate agents and brokers to whom we refer you and the non-profit organization that
you are supporting.
The following explains what information we collect, how it is used,
with whom it may be shared and the choices you have about receiving any marketing messages.
HomeGift collects and maintains this information on secure systems, another important aspect of
protecting your privacy. Please see our Security Policy for more information on system security.
HomeGift’s privacy policy applies only to HomeGift and the Web sites owned and operated by
HomeGift, so if you follow a link on HomeGift.com to other Web sites, please consult the
policies posted on those sites.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. If you have any questions or concerns about
the policy, please call a customer care representative toll-free at (800) 966-0612 or email
customercare@homegift.com.
Who we are
HomeGift RealtySM, Inc. is a Massachusetts corporation located at:
18 North Main Street
Sherborn, MA 01770
508.655.0318(voice)
508.655.0319 (fax)
HomeGift is licensed as a real estate broker by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and
the states sof California and Florida, and may refer consumers to real estate brokers in all 50
of the United States. Begun by members of a family with 50 years in the real estate business
and others with experience in providing real estate related and technology services as well as
in the needs of non-profit organizations, HomeGift is committed to providing consumers with options
and non-profits with funds. Please see our
About Us for further information about HomeGift.
Information We May Obtain
We limit the consumer information we collect to the minimum necessary to
provide you with the best possible service and meet the legal requirements of our business.
| • | Information you provide to us through forms and other communications.
When you complete and submit forms,use the “Rebate Estimator” or use “Contact Us” on the HomeGift Web site, you voluntarily provide
us with both personal and non-personal information. You may also provide us with such information
over the telephone, in email or in writing. Information you give us may include your name, address,
telephone number, email address, a forwarding address and the address of the property you are buying
or selling. In submitting this information, you consent to HomeGift’s use of that information as
set forth in, and subject to, this policy and HomeGift’s
Terms of Use. |
| • |
Information you provide to us in surveys If we ask you to complete a
survey or other questionnaire, provision of the information requested is entirely
voluntary. You have a choice as to whether or not to participate. Each survey
or questionnaire will describe how the information collected will be used and with
whom it will be shared. If you submit personal information to us in this form,
you consent to our use of the information as outlined on the survey or questionnaire.
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| • |
Information relating to your transaction with us. If you are a home
buyer or seller, this transactional information may include property information
and items such as the length of time the property is on the market and the sale price
of the property you buy or sell. If you are a real estate agent or broker, this may
include such things as the terms of your agreement with the buyer or seller and amount
of the commission you collect. While much of this kind of information is public, HomeGift
will not share or willfully disclose any of this information that is your non-public
personal information in any way that identifies you to any unaffiliated third party
unless authorized by you or required by law or court order.
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| • | Information from third parties. HomeGift may also collect information from
third party, public and other sources, including, if you are a buyer or seller, the
settlement statement from your real estate transaction. If you are a real estate agent
or broker, such sources may include your licensing authority, references and consumer
feedback.
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| • |
Technical information: cookies and Web logs. When you visit a HomeGift site,
our Web server sends “cookies”, small data files, to your computer. Cookies help us to
identify you while you are on our Web site so that you do not need to enter information
repeatedly.Your browser software may be set to refuse cookies, but if it does so, you will be unable
to enroll in a HomeGift Program. A cookie accepted by your computer does not store or reveal any
personally identifiable information such as your name, address, telephone number or email address.
The cookie stores limited information about your site visit, including such things as which pages
and how many times you visit. We may also use cookies or small pieces of software code known as “Web beacons”
to count, on a purely anonymous basis, the number of users that have visited our pages. Web beacons also do
not store or transmit personally identifiable information. Log files on our Web servers, known as “Web logs”,
store non-personally identifiable information that is automatically gathered from computers that visit our site
such as internet protocol address (your computer’s internet address), operating system, internet service
provider, browser type, date/time stamp, and click stream data.
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| • |
Collection of Information from Children.
None of HomeGift's products or services is intended to be used by children. Therefore,
HomeGift does not knowingly collect or use any information in any manner from children under the age of 13.
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How Your Information is Used
HomeGift uses your information to find you a qualified real estate agent best suited to your needs,
to refer your transaction to an agent, to acknowledge your participation, to send you your rebate,
to send your contribution to the non-profit you choose, to provide the non-profit with your information
so that the non-profit can monitor the program and send you a confirmation or otherwise acknowledge your
participation, to monitor, improve and develop our services, and for marketing purposes.
Providing Services
If you are a consumer, HomeGift uses the information you submit to us on HomeGift forms, in emails,
in writing, or over the telephone (directly or through call banks), as well as the information we receive
about your transaction and from third parties, to: find a licensed agent in your area that has appropriate
experience for your transaction, refer your transaction to that agent or an agent you have named, to answer
your inquiries and respond, to track and monitor your transaction and the performance of your agent, to
provide you with your rebate where applicable, and to identify you to the non-profit you are supporting
when we send the organization the funds resulting from your transaction.
If you are a real estate agent, the information we obtain will be used to
respond to your inquiry, to qualify you as a HomeGift agent, to identify you as a
participating agent to non-profits, to refer a buyer or seller to you and to monitor your
performance and customer satisfaction. This information may be shared with the non-profit(s)
for whom we operate a program in which you participate. If at any time you wish to be removed
from our list of participating agents, you may remove yourself by emailing
customercare@homegift.com.
If you are a non-profit, the information we obtain will be used to respond to your inquiry,
create a Web site for your use and satisfy state charitable fundraising laws.
Use of Technical Information
HomeGift uses technical information gathered by cookies, Web logs and beacons to send email
confirmations monitor and improve your navigation of our site, customize information you receive
and the forms provided to you while visiting, administer, analyze and improve our Web offerings
and their effectiveness, analyze trends, and gather demographic information about our user base.
The information gathered by cookies and Web logs to analyze and improve our site does not identify
you individually, nor do Web beacons collect personally identifiable information.
Sharing Information with Third Parties for Operational Purposes
| • | Sharing information with agents and brokers. If you are a consumer, HomeGift
shares your information with real estate agents and brokers in order to select an appropriate
agent and/or to refer you to him or her. |
| • | Sharing information with consumers. If you are an agent, HomeGift shares your information
with consumers in order to make appropriate referrals and with non-profit organizations in order to
acknowledge your participation. |
| • | Sharing information with non-profits. If you are a consumer or agent,
HomeGift shares your information with our non-profit clients in order to recognize your
participation and to enable the non-profits to monitor the performance of the program(s)
in which you participate. |
Protection of HomeGift and Others
HomeGift may disclose information we gather about you in order to comply with applicable laws,
rules and regulations, to comply with court orders or other legal requests from government authorities,
or in the course of a legal proceeding. We may also share this information with such parties as are
necessary to enforce or defend our legal rights or the rights of consumers, agents or non-profits and
to protect against fraud or deception.
Product and Service Development and Quality Control
HomeGift uses your publicly available and non-personal as well as personal
information that we collect to offer, provide, deliver, improve, and develop our
products and services so that we can provide you with excellent service and react
effectively to consumers’, real estate agents’ and non-profits’ needs and wants.
We also use this information, particularly information from surveys and other feedback,
for quality control purposes. Any personal information we store for these purposes will
be used only in an aggregated, anonymous form that does not identify you personally
unless we seek and obtain your express consent.
Marketing
We or our affiliates may use your information to contact you in the future about our products
and services, but we do not sell or lease your information to any unaffiliated third parties for this purpose.
Furthermore, you may choose not to receive marketing information from us in the future by emailing
customercare@homegift.com
to remove your name from our marketing list.
Business Transfers
If HomeGift or substantially all of its assets is acquired by or merged with another company,
your information could be sold as part of that transaction. If such a change in control were to
materially affect the information gathering and use practices as set forth in this statement, you
will be notified by email and/or through a notice posted on our Web site and you will have a choice
as to whether that information is used in a new manner.
Email
If you provide us with an email address, we will use it to send you automated
confirmations and to communicate with you. We will share it with the agent to whom
your transaction is referred and with the non-profit that you support. You may opt out
of receiving further email from us at any time by emailing
customercare@homegift.com.
Links to Other Sites
This site contains links to other sites. HomeGift is not responsible for the privacy
practices or the content of other Web sites. Please see the Privacy pages posted on those
sites for information on the applicable policies.
Security
As part of protecting your privacy, HomeGift is committed to protecting the information
under our control against loss, alteration or unauthorized intrusion and access. We have
state-of-the-art, industry-recognized security measures in place to do just that. Please
see our
Security page for a description of those safeguards.
Changing Your Information
If you wish to change any information you have submitted to HomeGift, please call our
Customer Care department toll-free at (800) 966-0612 or email
customercare@homegift.com.
Changes to this Statement
In the event HomeGift makes a material change to this Statement or in the manner in
which we collect and use your personally identifiable information, we will notify you
with an email and/or a posting on our Web site at least 30 days before implementation of
those changes. Your choices with respect to opting out of the use of your information at
that time will be determined by applicable laws.
Acceptance of this Privacy Policy
By using this site, you agree to and authorize the collection and use of information as
described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this policy, please do
not continue to use this site. If we post changes to this Privacy Policy and you continue to
use this site, you agree to the terms of the amended Policy.
Inquiries
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please call our Customer Care
department at (800) 966-0612 or email
customercare@homegift.com.
