Privacy

HomeGift Privacy Policy


Policy Statement

At HomeGift, 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.

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, 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 Realty, Inc. is a Massachusetts corporation located at:

HomeGift is licensed as a real estate broker by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and may refer consumers to real estate brokers in all 50 of the United States. Founded by the director of a non-profit school for disabled children and an entrepreneur from a family with 50 years in the real estate business, HomeGift is committed to providing consumers with competitive options for using full service agents and non-profits with new ways to raise 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 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 and email address. In submitting this information, you consent to HomeGift’s use of that information as set forth in, and subject to, this policy.

• 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. 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.

• 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 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 clickstream data.

• Collection of Information from Children. None of HomeGift’s products or services are 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.

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 send you your rebate, to act as your agent in sending a contribution to a non-profit you have designated, to acknowledge your participation, and to monitor, improve and develop our services.

• 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 a non-profit’s call banks), as well as the information we receive about your transaction, 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, or to act as your agent in making a contribution on your behalf to a non-profit you have designated.

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, and to refer a buyer or seller to you. If at any time you wish to be removed from our list of participating agents, you may remove yourself by emailing customersupport@homegift.com.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 or any other purpose. Furthermore, you may choose not to receive marketing information from us in the future by emailing customersupport@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 customersupport@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.