VISITORS’ PRIVACY POLICY

PRIVACY STATEMENT:

  • Effective On: 4/12/04; Version # v. 040804

    • We at the Houston Association of Realtors® (hereafter referred to as “HAR”) and Houston Realtors Information Service, Inc. (hereafter referred to as “HRIS”) are committed to the protection and security of the information provided by the visitors to HAR.com. Your privacy and trust are important to us and we want to honor that trust by advising you of what we do to manage your information. This document was written just for that purpose.

  • Houston Association of Realtors is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to enable individuals and organizations to establish trusting relationships based on respect for personal identity and information by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy statement covers the site www.har.com. Because this Web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to our users’ privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe .


Our site was created to provide our visitors with information about Houston REALTOR® members, affiliates and service providers together with general information about Houston and its environs. Most importantly, one of our missions with this site is to afford our REALTOR® members with the opportunity to connect with you, the homeselling, homebuying public that enjoy an online investigative method of research and might not otherwise have an opportunity to find a REALTOR®.

WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT:
Generally speaking, our Web site is informational and our visitors can browse anonymously. We do not collect any personally identifiable information from the visitors to this site unless they register for MyHomeFinder. If a visitor signs up for MyHomeFinder, we collect your email address and your first name and last name which is optional , so that we can provide you the service. Disclosure of your email address, and any other volunteered information, to a listing organization is entirely optional and is a service available for visitors who wish to receive information from a listing firm. We have given the visitor the opportunity to "opt out" of email contact from a REALTOR®.

If you are a first time visitor to HAR.com and wish to register for MyHomeFinder, you make this "Opt Out" decision when you register for MyHomeFinder. If you are already registered for MyHomeFinder, you make the choice where you enter your login and password. You may change your decision on the Account Settings page or edit your Saved Searches or Bookmarked properties.

We may collect your IP (Internet Protocol) address to administer our site. When a web browser or email application requests a web page or email from another computer on the Internet, it automatically gives that computer the address where it should send the information. This is called the computer's "IP address". This "address" does not contain any personally identifiable information.

HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION:
We will not sell, rent, or exchange any data collected through the HAR.com Web site by way of MyHomeFinder except as provided in this Privacy Statement. If you have chosen to receive information on bookmarked properties from listing organizations, HAR and/or HRIS will provide your email address, as well as any "optional" information you provide on MyHomeFinder, to its member listing organizations in order for them to provide you with property details probably not otherwise available. Also, HAR and/or HRIS may, occasionally, use your email address to contact you for updated information, surveys or promotions. If you wish not to receive updates, surveys and/or promotions from HAR and/or HRIS pertaining to our services you may contact us by e-mail at: privacy@har.com and we will be pleased honor your request. If you wish not to receive further emails from listing organizations after registering for MyHomeFinder, you must personally contact that listing organization and convey that information to them.

HAR and/or HRIS may disclose, transfer, sell or assign information obtained through this Web site, or otherwise in its possession, to third parties as a result of a sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, reorganization or liquidation of HAR and/or HRIS. HAR and/or HRIS. You will be notified via email or prominent notice on our Web site for 30 days of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information.

  • HAR and/or HRIS may also make information available to law enforcement personnel and agencies when requested to do so or as required by law.


    • YOU HAVE CHOICES:
    HAR and HRIS offer you the opportunity to correct, update and amend information in MyHomeFinder at any time. Simply access your Account Settings page and change or update the information there. If you have any concerns, please feel free to notify us by e-mail or phone and we will make every effort to correct, update or amend your information. You may contact us by e-mail at privacy@har.com and we will help you in any way possible . ph, 713.629.1900

    COOKIE TECHNOLOGY:
    Cookie technology is employed only when you reach a certain level in the HAR Web site. The purpose of the use of cookies is to better serve our visitors. Cookies that are used in the HAR Web site are called "Session Cookies". Session cookies are use to control the current state of the website and contain the information that is useful only to the computer memory. The information does not contain any personal information of the person visiting our website . In case you did not know, "Cookies" are small text files sent by Web servers to be stored on the hard drive of Web site visitors. These files often contain personalization settings or unique identifiers to allow for successful log in to the password-protected part of our Web site, to keep track of your information and help us understand the movements of visitors within and between Web sites. Our advertisers and information links may use their own cookies, so please refer to their Privacy Statements or Policies.

    DATA SECURITY:
    We also want you, our visitors, to know that we take the security of your information very seriously. We use industry accepted tools and procedures that protect the files in our data system. However, due to the open communication nature of the Internet we cannot guarantee that communication between you and us and us and you will be free from unauthorized access by third parties.

    BUSINESS & PRIVACY ISSUES WITH LINKS TO OTHER SITES:
    Neither HAR nor HRIS are responsible for the availability of or the business and privacy practices of other Web sites which are linked or connected to HAR.com. We provide these links to our visitors for information and service. We do not take responsibility for the contents, advertising, products or other materials made available through any other Web site nor for their data collection practices. We refer you to their Privacy Statements and Policies to learn how they collect and use information about you.

    PRIVACY STATEMENT CHANGES:
    HAR and HRIS reserve the right to change or amend its Visitors' Privacy Statement to address new issues of privacy and information security and to reflect changes to our Web site or business practices. Any new changes and/or amendments will be noted on our Home Page and will always be posted in this section of the HAR Web site. If we make material changes to this policy in how we use your personal information , we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our home page.

    QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR PRIVACY STATEMENT?
    If you have any questions about this Visitors’ Privacy Statement or the practices of this Web site, you can send an e-mail to: privacy@har.com. 3693 Southwest Freeway Houston, TX 77027 Phone (713) 629-1900

    If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry or your inquiry is not satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact TRUSTe through the TRUSTe Watchdog Dispute Resolution Process at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php. TRUSTe will serve as a liaison with the Web site to resolve users concerns.