Privacy Policy - HomestocHomestoc
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Privacy Policy

 
This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Homestoc Inc. collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users / user  of the www.homestoc.com website. This privacy policy applies to the Homestoc Inc. and all products and services offered by Homestoc Inc.
 
At Homestoc Inc. we appreciate your use of and contributions to our websites, our mobile and desktop applications, and/or our related services (collectively known as the “Services,” or, each individually, a “Service”). Homestoc Inc. respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.
 
This is our privacy policy and we will comply with it, as well as applicable Canadian privacy laws, when we gather and use information from users of the Services. We encourage you to read this privacy policy to understand what we do with the information we collect from you.
 

Pay Per Listing Business Model

The Services and our extensive set of features are generally funded through users when they pay to post a property for sale or for rent. This model helps keep Homestoc Inc. free of charge for our personal user community. It also allows us to explore and build new features.
 
If there are advertisement on the site we do our best to make them relevant and useful to you. Therefore, we may serve advertisements to you based on the information we collect from you or in relation to your interaction with the Services.
 
We promise to be transparent about the information we monitor and collect from you. We keep information private between you and Homestoc Inc., except what is explained below.
 

Collection of Information

When you use the Services, we may collect a variety of information.
  • Information you provide. When using the Services, you may provide information about yourself, such as name, address, phone number, email and details around a potential property listing or transaction. This may occur, for example, when you register on the Services, claim a home, correspond with a real estate agent, landlord or homeowner via the Services, or complete other forms, such as a loan request. You may also provide information about a third party through the Services, for example, if you share a real estate listing with a recipient via email. We may combine this information with other information we collect from your interaction with the Services or from other companies.
  • In addition, when you order products or services through the Services, Homestoc Inc. may collect your credit card information. This information is secured using the latest industry-standard encryption technology. Homestoc Inc. will use this information solely to complete your order and will not share this information with outside parties, except to the extent necessary to complete the order or comply with applicable Canadian law.
    • Cookies and Web Beacons. Our Site may use “cookies” to enhance User experience. User’s web browser places cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about them. User may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If they do so, note that some parts of Homestoc.com may not function properly.  Cookies are bits of electronic information that can be transferred to your computer or other electronic device to uniquely identify your browser. When you use the Services, we may place one or more cookies on your computer or other electronic device.  We may use cookies to connect your activity on the Services with other information we store about you in your account profile or your prior interactions on the Services to, for example, store your preferences. The use of cookies helps us improve the quality of the Services to you, by identifying information which is most interesting to you, tracking trends, measuring the effectiveness of advertising, or storing information you may want to retrieve on a regular basis, such as your favorite homes. At any time, you may adjust settings on your browser to refuse cookies according to the instructions related to your specific browser. However, if you choose to disable cookies, many of the free features and Services will not operate properly on Homestoc.com. Also, the pages on the Services may include Web beacons or pixels, which are electronic files to count users who have visited that page, to track activity over time and across different Web sites, to identify certain cookies on the computer or other electronic device accessing that page, or to collect other related information, and this information may be associated with your unique browser, device identifier, or Internet Protocol address. We may, for example, implement a pixel beacon on the pages of the Services where you view a certain advertisement so that we can track whether you visit a Web site associated with that advertisement at a later time.
  • Third-party Cookies and Web Beacons. We work with service providers and advertising networks to track and manage cookie information and your activities while you’re using the Services and your online activities over time and across different websites. For example, third-parties may use cookies to deliver advertisements to you based on your visit to the Services. For additional information, please refer to the section below entitled, “Behavioral Advertising.” You may opt-out of cookie tracking and analysis from any of these service providers and advertising networks by Opting Out of Collection of Information, which is explained further below.
     Some pages of the Services may use third-party Web beacons from Yahoo, Bing or Google! In addition to our use of the data to analyze visitor activity on the Services, Yahoo, Bing or Google! may use anonymous information about your visit in order to improve its products and services and to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you.

    We have implemented Google Analytics remarketing on Homestoc.com, which tracks and manages cookie information so that we and third-party service providers can better deliver advertisements that are relevant and useful to you on the Services and various websites across the Internet. We have also implemented Google Analytics display network impression reporting to better understand how ad impressions and ad services are related to visits to our sites. You can customize ads or opt out of these services using the Google Ads Settings.

  • Mobile Device and Mobile Browser.  You may adjust settings on your mobile device and mobile browser regarding cookies and sharing of certain information, such as your mobile device model or the language your mobile device uses, by adjusting the privacy and security settings on your mobile device.  Please refer to the instructions provided by your mobile service provider or mobile device manufacturer.
  • Usage logs. When you use the Services, your computer or other electronic device communicates a variety of information to computer servers, including the existence of cookies, your Internet Protocol address, and information about your browser program. Homestoc Inc. also creates a record of what information you are requesting, such as the page or subject areas you are visiting.
  • Social Networks.  If you use the social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram etc) connection functions offered through the Services, we may access all of your social network profile information that you have made available to be shared and to use it in accordance with this privacy policy.  Please refer to the instructions governing your social network account to manage the information that is shared through your account.
  • Calls. Calls to Homestoc Inc. or to third parties through Homestoc Inc. may be recorded or monitored for quality assurance and customer service purposes. If a call is recorded between you and a third party, it will be deemed private information of both you and the third party, and may be released to either of you.
 

Usage and Disclosure

We may collect personal identification information from Users in a variety of ways in connection with activities, services, features or resources we make available on our Homestoc. Users may visit Homestoc.com anonymously. We will collect personal identification information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us. Users can always refuse to supply personally identification information, except that it may prevent them from engaging in certain Site related activities.  In general, Homestoc Inc. uses the information collected from you to communicate with you and operate our Services. Homestoc Inc. also uses this information to respond to your requests and present you with advertising that we believe will be of interest or useful to you. Your privacy is important and we are committed to protecting information that identifies you personally, where you have chosen to keep it private (“Personal Information”). We will only share Personal Information that you provide outside the public areas of the Services in the following circumstances:

  • Consent. When you consent or direct Homestoc Inc. to share the Personal Information. For example, if you choose to contact a real estate agent, landlord or lender through the Services, your name and email address will appear to the recipient of the message.
  • Service providers to Homestoc Inc. When Homestoc Inc. hires a service provider to help operate the Services or our business, Homestoc Inc. may give access to Personal Information only as necessary to perform the service for Homestoc Inc, and subject to the terms of this privacy policy.
  • Partners with whom we conduct business.  Homestoc Inc. may give business partners access to Personal Information only as necessary to offer products and services with those business partners, and subject to the terms of this privacy policy.  Business partners maybe third party companies or employees of Homestoc. Inc.
  • Legal obligation or protection from harm. When Homestoc Inc. has a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the Personal Information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any requirement of Canadian law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce or investigate a potential violation of the Terms of Use, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise respond to fraud, security or technical concerns, (d) support auditing and compliance functions, or (e) protect the rights, property, or safety of Homestoc Inc., its users, or the public against harm.
  • Merger or sale. If and when Homestoc Inc. is involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of transfer or sale of some or all of its business, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding. Personal Information may be transferred along with the business.
  • Legal Obligations.  When Required by Law and served with a court order Homestoc Inc. will cooperate with Federal and municiple law enforcement and provide them with any and all information they require or deem necessary pertaining to our users and their usage of the Services.
 
When you provide public information without identifying yourself, we will protect your personal identity as described above. If your account profile does not identify you personally, Homestoc Inc. won’t reveal your identity to third parties except in accordance with this policy. You should keep in mind that the information that you choose to provide in a public area of the Services (such as your profile page or the discussion forums) will not be protected by this privacy policy because you have made an active choice to make that information public.  We are not responsible for any Personal Information you choose to submit in any public area of the Services.

When we deliver ads based on data about your use of the Services, we keep your identity anonymous. We won’t identify you personally to third parties, except in accordance with this privacy policy. Of course, if you choose to respond to an advertised offer with your name and contact information, you will no longer be anonymous to the third party advertiser.  Further, while we do not share your Personal Information with third parties unless permitted above, Homestoc Inc. may share aggregate anonymous information with third-parties. This information does not personally identify individuals, but instead provides a helpful understanding of the groups of people who prefer certain types of information and services.

 

Real Estate Listing Information

Homestoc Inc. aims to provide open and transparent information about real estate markets. For example, we make available homes currently for sale to rent, and allow any user to post a question or answer about a given home. Many times, this information is already publicly available. As long as discussion surrounds real estate and not individuals, we intend to keep this information freely available through the Services. Where a professional participates in the Homestoc communities, we may also allow users to comment on the professional, such as the lender and agent ratings in Homestoc’s webpages.
 

Email Management

You may receive email from Homestoc Inc. for a variety of reasons – for example, if you took an action through the Services, you signed up for a regular report, or you posted your home for sale and a buyer sent you a message. We respect your desire to manage email correspondence. If you have an account with Homestoc Inc, you can select your preferences through your account settings. Also, you can manage your receipt of some types of communication by following the instructions included in the email we send you. Please note that, even if you unsubscribe from certain email correspondences, we may still need to email you with important transactional or administrative information.

Behavioral Advertising

We may participate in behavioral advertising. This means that, for example, when you use the Services, we or third party service providers or advertisers may use cookies (that they collect or that we provide to them) or other similar technologies to collect information about your use of the Services (including mobile applications) or your online activities over time and across different Web sites. Collected information may include the content you view, the date and time that you view this content, and the Web site that referred you to the Services, and this information may be associated with your unique browser, device identifier, or Internet Protocol address. These practices help tailor advertisements that are relevant and useful to you. These tailored advertisements may appear on the Services or on other websites, applications or properties.

 
In addition, if you have provided your email address to us, we may use a scrambled, unreadable form (a hash) of your email address to deliver tailored advertisements to you on the Services or on other websites, including via Facebook’s Custom Audience Feature or other similar Facebook tools. We will not share your email address with Facebook, Twitter Instagram or other social media companies. Click here to learn about how you can control the ads you see on Facebook.

You may opt-out of cookie tracking and analysis as described in the section below entitled ‘Opting Out of Collection of Information’. The Services do not otherwise respond to ‘do not track’ signals.

Opting Out of Collection of Information by Third Parties

Homestoc Inc. third-party ad servers, ad network providers, and third-party advertisers may provide you with advertisements that you may see on the Services or on other affiliated websites. To improve the relevancy and help measure the effectiveness of such advertisements, the Homestoc Inc. Ad Providers may use cookies, Web beacons, clear .gifs or similar technologies. These are used to record users’ activity, such as the pages visited, and to learn what types of information are of most interest to the users.
 
Homestoc Inc. Ad Providers. Use of these technologies by Homestoc Inc. Ad Providers is subject to their own privacy policies and is not covered by our privacy policy.

Homestoc Inc. marketing service providers. If you do not want Zillow Group and its marketing services providers to follow your usage of our Services via cookies and Web beacons, you can opt out of Cookies/Web beacons from: comScoreGoogle AnalyticsOmniture and Yahoo! Opting out of these services does not mean you will no longer receive online advertising. It does mean that the service from which you opted out will no longer deliver ads tailored to your Web preferences and usage patterns. Please note that, if you opt out and later delete your cookies, use a different browser, or use a different computer or other electronic device, you will need to renew your opt-out choices.

Location Data

Homestoc Inc. can provide you with helpful information based on where you are. If you tell Homestoc Inc  where you are (e.g., by allowing your mobile device to send the Homestoc website  your location), Homestoc Inc. may use that information to provide you with location-based information and advertising. If you wish to deactivate this feature, you can disable location services on your mobile device.
 

Third-Party Websites

Throughout the Services, we may link to the websites of other companies and/or individuals. Further, certain functionalities on the Services may involve the distribution of your listing information to third-party websites. These third-party websites may collect Personal Information about users on those websites, and Homestoc Inc. privacy policy does not extend to these external websites and third parties. Please refer directly to these third parties and websites regarding their privacy policies.
 

Homestoc Rentals

You understand that when you join Homestoc rentals, you will be added to the Homestoc rentals directory, which is available to all Homestoc rentals users and which may be made publicly available. The directory information may include certain personal Information you provide to us, such as your name, email and other contact information, unless you opt out of including such information in your directory listing by editing the settings in your Homestoc rentals account.

Data Storage, Security and Retention of Information

We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information, username, password, transaction information and data stored on our Site. You acknowledge that Personal Information will be processed and stored by Homestoc Inc. in databases hosted in the United States and Canada. Homestoc Inc. has taken reasonable steps to protect the information users share with us, including, but not limited to, setup of processes, equipment and software to avoid unauthorized access or disclosure of this information. No transmission of information via the Internet can be entirely secure, however, so please always use caution when submitting Personal Information this or any website.
 
We will retain your personal Information for as long as you have an active account, as needed to provide you with the Services, to comply with our legal, financial reporting, or compliance obligations, and to enforce this privacy policy.
 

Contacting Homestoc Inc. 

You can access, update, and delete Personal Information you provide to Homestoc Inc. in your account profile by logging into your account or emailing us at privacy@homestoc.com for accounts on Homestoc.com. While we are ready to assist you in managing the Personal Information you provide to us, we cannot always delete records due to financial reporting, compliance, or other reasons.
 
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, or the privacy practices of Homestoc Inc, please email us at privacy@homestoc.com.
 
Please note that this policy may be amended at any time. You should check back for the most current version before relying on any of the provisions in this privacy policy. By using the Services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Your acceptance of this privacy policy

By using Homestoc.com, you signify your acceptance of this policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use Homestoc. Your continued use of the site following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.

 
— Updated May 2015