Privacy Policy
Last Updated: 08/20/2008
RealEstate.com, iNest Realty Inc., and Domania respect the privacy of our consumer
users and have developed this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to protecting
your privacy. As an individual who is a user of our websites (including, but not
limited to, RealEstate.com, iNest.com, Domania.com, and HomePriceCheck.com), or
otherwise use the services provided by Tree.com, Inc.'s real estate divisions and
subsidiaries (RealEstate.com, iNest Realty Inc., and Domania), this Privacy Policy
is intended to describe for you:
- the information we collect about you,
- how that information may be used,
- with whom it may be shared,
- how you may access the information you provide us,
- and your choices about such uses and disclosures.
We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy carefully when using our websites or
services or when transacting business with us. By using our websites, you are accepting
the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about our privacy practices, please refer to the end of
this Privacy Policy for information on how to contact us.
RealEstate.com, iNest Realty Inc., and Domania are divisions and/or subsidiaries
of Tree.com, Inc. that engage in real estate and real estate brokerage activities.
The privacy practices and policies relating to Tree.com, Inc.'s other activities
are described in a separate document. For information about Tree.com, Inc.'s privacy
policies and practices,
click here.
INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
In General. We may collect personal information that can identify
you such as your name and e-mail address, as well as other information that does
not identify you. When you provide personal information through our websites, the
information may be sent to RealEstate.com / iNest / Domania servers located in the
United States and other countries around the world.
- Information you provide. We may collect and store
any personal information you enter on our websites or provide to us in some other
manner. This includes identifying information (such as your name, home or mailing
address, e-mail address, and telephone number), information about your home or prospective
home, personal information (such as age and gender), and responses you voluntarily
provide to surveys.
- Information from other sources. We may also periodically
obtain both personal and non-personal information about you from other Tree.com,
Inc. businesses, business partners, contractors and other third parties. Examples
of information that we may receive include information about your home and additional
demographic information.
- Information about others. We may also collect
and store personal information that you provide to us about another person,
including name, address, phone number, or other personal information.
- Use of cookies and other technologies to collect information.
We use various technologies to collect information from your computer and about
your activities on our sites. We automatically collect information from your browser
when you visit our websites. This information includes your IP address, your browser
type and language, access times, the content of any undeleted cookies that your
browser previously accepted from us (see "Cookies" below), and the referring website
address.
- Cookies. When you visit our websites, we may
assign your computer one or more cookies,
to facilitate access to our websites, to personalize your online experience, and
to record information about your visit to our websites. Through the use of a cookie,
we also may automatically collect information about your online activity on our
websites, such as the web pages you visit, the links or advertisements you click,
or the other actions you conduct while on our websites. The cookies do not store
any personally identifiable information about you. Most browsers automatically accept
cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If
you choose to decline cookies,
please note that you may not be able to sign in or use some of the interactive features
offered on our websites.
- Other Technologies. We may use standard Internet
technology, such as web beacons
and other similar technologies, to track your use on our websites. We also may include
web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters to determine whether messages
have been opened and acted upon. The information we obtain in this manner enables
us to customize the services we offer our websites' visitors to deliver targeted
advertisements and to measure the overall effectiveness of our online advertising,
content, programming or other activities.
-
Information collected by third-parties. We may allow third-parties, including
our authorized service providers, Tree.com, Inc. companies, advertising companies,
and ad networks, to display advertisements on our site. RealEstate.com / iNest /
Domania and these companies may use tracking technologies, such as
cookies,
to collect information about users who view or interact with these
advertisements and connect to our websites. Our websites do not provide any personal
information to these third parties. This information allows RealEstate.com / iNest
/ Domania and these companies to deliver targeted advertisements and gauge their
effectiveness. Some of these third-party advertising companies may be advertising
networks that are members of the Network Advertising Initiative, which offers a
single location to opt out of ad targeting from member companies
(http://www.networkadvertising.org).
For a list of other third-party advertising companies we typically use,
click here.
HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
In general. We may use information that we collect about you to:
- deliver the products and services that you have requested;
- manage your customer relationship and provide you with customer support;
- perform research and analysis about your use of, or interest in, our products,
services, or content, or products, services or content offered by others;
- communicate with you by e-mail, chat, text message, postal mail, telephone
and/or mobile devices about products or services that may be of interest to you
either from us, other Tree.com,Inc. companies or other third parties;
- develop and display content and advertising tailored to your interests
on our site and other websites;
- verify your eligibility and deliver prizes in connection with
promotions, contests and sweepstakes;
- enforce our terms and conditions;
- manage our business and
- perform functions as otherwise described to you at the time of collection.
Financial information. We may use financial (or home) information
to match you with real estate agents and/or brokers, to verify your identify, to
protect against or identify possible fraudulent transactions, otherwise as needed
to manage our business, and, if you request real estate brokerage services through
a RealEstate.com -affiliated agent, to provide real estate brokerage services directly
to you. If you submit an iNest form, we may use home price information to match
you with appropriate home builders.
Job applicants. If your personal information is submitted through
our websites when applying for a position with our company, the information will
be used solely in connection with considering and acting upon your application.
We may retain your personal information for a period of time, but only for the purpose
of considering your application for current or future available positions. This
information may be shared with the other Tree.com,Inc. companies for the purpose
of evaluating your qualifications for the particular position or other available
positions, as well as with third-party service providers retained by us to collect,
maintain and analyze candidate submissions for job postings.
Please review "Your choices about collection and use of your information"
below.
WITH WHOM WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
We want you to understand when and with whom we may share personal or other information
we have collected about you or your activities on our websites or while using our
services.
Personal information. We do not share your personal information
with others except as indicated below or when we inform you and give you an opportunity
to opt out of having your personal information shared. We may share all types of
personal information with:
- Authorized service providers. We may share your
personal information with our authorized service providers that perform certain
services on our behalf in connection with your request for real estate brokerage
services. These service providers may include marketing and customer services firms,
credit card payment processors, as well as companies that support contests, sweepstakes,
surveys, or other features offered through our websites, or that provide business
analysis or website support. These service providers may have access to personal
information needed to perform their functions but are not permitted to share or
use such information for any other purposes.
- Real estate agents / brokers and home builders.
If you submit a Find-a-REALTOR or iNest form, we may share your personal information
with real estate agents / brokers or home builders on our network with which you
have expressed interest. We will not share information with other real estate agents
/ brokers or home builders not disclosed to you. Because these parties may retain
or use your personal information whether or not you obtain services from them, you
should contact these parties directly concerning their privacy and information sharing
practices.
- Business partners. When you express interest
in promotions or services offered through our websites, we may share your expression
of interest with the businesses with which we partner to offer you those products,
services, promotions, contests and/or sweepstakes, and, as applicable, their affiliates.
When you elect to engage in a particular offer or program, you authorize us to provide
your e-mail address and other information to the business providing that offer or
program.
- Other Tree.com,Inc. businesses. We may share
information we collect, including personal information, with the other Tree.com,
Inc. companies (some of which are nonfinancial companies). Sharing information with
the other Tree.com, Inc. companies enables us to provide you with information about
a variety of products and services that might interest you. All Tree.com, Inc. companies
comply with the Tree.com, Inc. Privacy Policy. The other Tree.com, Inc. companies
also will comply with applicable privacy and security laws and, at a minimum, in
any commercial e-mail they send to you, will give you the opportunity to choose
not to receive such e-mail messages from that company in the future. However, in
no circumstance will RealEstate.com / iNest / Domania share with other Tree.com,
Inc. companies any personally identifiable information that you provide to us if
that information bears on your creditworthiness.
- Special notice to California residents: RealEstate.com
/ iNest / Domania will not share any personal information about you with other Tree.com,Inc.
companies to the extent prohibited by applicable California law or to the extent
your prior consent to share is required by applicable California law.
- Special notice to Vermont residents: RealEstate.com
/ iNest / Domania will not share any personal information about you with other Tree.com,Inc.
companies to the extent prohibited by applicable Vermont law or to the extent your
prior consent to share is required by applicable Vermont law.
- Other Situations. We also may disclose your information:
- In response to a subpoena or similar investigative demand, a
court order, or a request for cooperation from a law enforcement or other government
agency; to establish or exercise our legal rights; to defend against legal claims;
or as otherwise required by law. In such cases, we may raise or waive any legal
objection or right available to us.
- When we believe disclosure is appropriate in connection with
efforts to investigate, prevent, or take other action regarding illegal activity,
suspected fraud or other wrongdoing; to protect and defend the rights, property
or safety of our company, our users, our employees, or others; to comply with applicable
law or cooperate with law enforcement; or to enforce our websites' terms and conditions
or other agreements or policies.
- In connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such
as the sale of our business, a divestiture, merger, consolidation, or asset sale,
or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
Any third parties to whom we may disclose personal information may have their own
privacy policies which describe how they use and disclose personal information.
Those policies will govern use, handling and disclosure of your personal information
once we have shared it with those third parties as described in this Privacy Policy.
If you want to learn more about their privacy practices, we encourage you to visit
the websites of those third parties. These entities or their servers may be located
either inside or outside the United States.
Aggregated and non-personal information. We may share aggregated
information (i.e., information about you and other customers collectively, but not
specifically identifiable to you) and other non-personal information we collect
under any of the above circumstances. We may also share it with third parties and
Tree.com,Inc. companies to develop and deliver targeted advertising on our websites
and on websites of third parties. We may combine non-personal information we collect
with additional non-personal information collected from other sources. We also may
share aggregated information with third parties, including advisors, advertisers
and investors, for the purpose of conducting general business analysis. For example,
we may tell our advertisers the number of visitors to our websites and the most
popular features or services accessed. This information does not contain any personal
information and may be used to develop website content and services that we hope
you and other users will find of interest and to target content and advertising.
Third-party websites. There are a number of places on our websites
where you may click on a link to access other websites that do not operate under
this Privacy Policy. For example, if you click on an advertisement or a search result
on our websites, you may be taken to a website that we do not control. These third-party
websites may independently solicit and collect information, including personal information,
from you and, in some instances, provide us with information about your activities
on those websites. We recommend that you consult the privacy statements of all third-party
websites you visit by clicking on the "privacy" link typically located at the bottom
of the webpage you are visiting.
HOW YOU CAN ACCESS YOUR INFORMATION
If you have submitted a RealEstate.com or iNest Form to us, you can update your
personal information by contacting our Customer Care Department at 704-944-2110
for assistance. More information about how to contact us is provided below.
YOUR CHOICES ABOUT COLLECTION AND USE OF YOUR INFORMATION
- You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but
that may result in you being unable to use certain features of our websites because
such information may be required in order for you to obtain services from us.
- Federal and state regulations require that we store certain customer
information for various periods of time. In order to comply with these requirements,
we may be unable to delete your information from our database, until the expiration
of the applicable period.
- When you initially use our websites, you may be given a choice
as to whether you want to receive e-mail messages or newsletters from us. You may
later modify your choice by contacting our Customer Care Department at 704-944-2110.
You also will be given the opportunity, in any commercial e-mail that we send to
you, to opt out of receiving such messages in the future. It may take up to 10 days
for us to process an opt-out request. We may send you other types of transactional
and relationship e-mail communications, such as loan offers, requests for additional
information, service updates or announcements, administrative notices, and surveys,
without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. Please note that
opting out of receipt of promotional e-mail communications will only affect future
activities or communications from us. If we have already provided your information
to a third party before you have changed your preferences or updated your information,
you may have to change you preferences directly with that third party.
- Under our Do Not Call policy you may instruct us not to call you
for marketing purposes by calling our Customer Care Department at 704-944-2110.
We will implement your instructions within 30 days. We have policies and procedures
in place and train our employees to honor your request. Please note that we may
still need to call you for servicing or other non-marketing purposes.
- If you do not want us to send you postal mail for marketing purposes,
you may remove your name from current and future mailing lists by contacting our
Customer Care Department at 704-944-2110.
HOW WE PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We take appropriate security measures (including physical, electronic and procedural
measures) to help safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access and
disclosure. For example, only authorized employees and authorized third-party service
providers are permitted to access personal information, and they may do so only
for permitted business functions. In addition, we use encryption in the transmission
of your sensitive personal information between your system and ours, and we use
firewalls to help prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to your personal
information.
We want you to feel confident using our websites to transact business. However,
no system can be completely secure. Therefore, although we take steps to secure
your information, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal
information, searches, or other communications will always remain secure. Users
should also take care with how they handle and disclose their personal information.
Please refer to the Federal Trade Commission's website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data.shtm for information
about how to protect yourself against identity theft.
OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES
Notice to California Residents
If you are a resident of California, in addition to the rights set forth in this
Privacy Policy, you have the right to request information from us regarding the
manner in which we share certain categories of personal information with third parties
and the Tree.com,Inc. companies for their direct marketing purposes. California
law gives you the right to send us a request at a designated address to receive
the following information:
- the categories of information we disclosed to third parties
for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year
- the names and addresses of the third parties that received
that information; and
- if the nature of the third party's business cannot be determined
from their name, examples of the products or services marketed.
We may provide this information in a standardized format that is not specific to
you. The designated e-mail address for these requests is
privacy@lendingtree.com
Children's privacy
Our websites are general audience sites, and we do not knowingly collect personal
information from children under the age of 13.
Visiting our websites from outside the United States
This Privacy Policy is intended to cover collection of information on our websites
from residents of the United States. If you are visiting our websites from outside
the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to,
stored, and processed in the United States where our servers are located and our
central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States
and other countries might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. Please
be assured that we seek to take reasonable steps to ensure that your privacy is
protected. By using our services, you understand that your information may be transferred
to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in
this privacy policy.
No Rights of Third Parties
This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require
disclosure of any personal information relating to users of our websites.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We will occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices
and services. When we post changes to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the "last
updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes
in the way we collect, use, and/or share personal information that may impact you,
we will notify you by sending an e-mail to the e-mail address you most recently
provided us in your account, profile or registration (unless we do not have such
an e-mail address), and/or by prominently posting notice of the changes on our websites.
We recommend that you check our websites from time to time to inform yourself of
any changes in this Privacy Policy or any of our other policies.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our information-handling
practices, or if you would like to request information about our disclosure of personal
information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, please contact
us by e-mail or postal mail as follows:
Privacy Officer
Tree.com, Inc.
11115 Rushmore Drive
Charlotte, North Carolina 28277
[privacy@lendingtree.com]
© 2008 Tree.com,Inc. All rights reserved.