Effective on: 8/9/2022
The Houston Realtors Information Service, Inc. (“HRIS” or “our”, “us” or “we”), a Texas corporation, operates the ShowingSmart.com website whereon real estate information and related services are available to a visitor and to Realtors®/licensees (for both “you” or “your”).
ShowingSmart.com was created to provide visitors and Realtors®/licensees information in relation to the sale or rental of real estate. One of our missions at ShowingSmart.com is to afford Realtors®/licensees the opportunity to connect with visitors through ShowingSmart.com. This Privacy Notice describes our policies and practices relative to any and all information relating to you that you have provided to us or that we have collected from you. Upon your use of ShowingSmart.com, whether by accessing or usingShowingSmart.com, by activating any account with ShowingSmart.com or by interacting with a Realtor®/licensee through ShowingSmart.com, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of all information about you pursuant to this Privacy Notice. Further, you hereby acknowledge by your use of ShowingSmart.com that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Notice and our Terms of Use. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Notice, then discontinue your use of ShowingSmart.com immediately.
This Privacy Notice describes the information we collect, process, and use through ShowingSmart.com.
In addition, California residents please see important and additional information at: Privacy Notice for California Residents.
1. What Information We Collect
We collect the following information through your access and use of ShowingSmart.com, including when you visit ShowingSmart.com, when you fill out and submit forms on ShowingSmart.com, when you use location services on ShowingSmart.com, or authorize your representative to provide your information to ShowingSmart.com:
a) Personal Information You Submit To Us. If you create a ShowingSmart.com account, whether under an account of your Realtor®/licensee or as Realtor®/licensee, we collect information you submit such as your email address, your first name and last name, your address, your business address, telephone numbers (including mobile), birthday, photo, username/password, licensing information, and any other information that you choose to provide to us or a Realtor®/licensee (“Account Information”). If you purchase products or make payments through our storefront, we collect information you submit to us such as your first name and last name, your email address, your shipping address, your billing address, your credit card information (“Purchase Information”). We do not store or save your credit card number, but for members, we may keep a generic and non-personal identifier of your account for reoccurring membership payments. If you tell ShowingSmart.com where you are (e.g., by allowing your device to send ShowingSmart.com your location), ShowingSmart.com may use that information to provide you with location-based information and advertising (“Location Information”). If you wish to deactivate this feature, you can disable location services on your device. Collectively, your Account Information, Purchase Information and Location Information is “Your Provided Information.” Other than as described above, we do not collect or store “sensitive” or “special categories of personal data” information as defined by applicable law.
b) IP Address. 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 device on the Internet, it automatically gives that device the address where it should send the information. This is called the computer’s “IP address”.
c) Cookies and Web Beacons. Cookies are bits of electronic information that can be transferred to any device such as a computer or mobile device to uniquely identify its browser. When you visit ShowingSmart.com, we may place one or more cookies on your device. The use of cookies helps us improve the quality of our services to you, by identifying information which is most interesting to you, tracking trends, or storing information you may want to retrieve on a regular basis, such as your favorite homes. At any time, you may adjust the settings on the browser of your device to refuse cookies. However, if you choose to disable cookies, many of the free features and services on ShowingSmart.com will not operate properly. Also, the pages of our service may include Web beacons, which are electronic files to count users who have visited that page.
d) Third-party Cookies. We work with service providers and advertising networks to track and manage cookie information and your activities while you are on ShowingSmart.com. Our third-party ad network providers and third-party advertisers may provide you with advertisements that you may see on ShowingSmart.com or on other affiliated websites. To improve the relevancy and help measure the effectiveness of such advertisements, these ad networks or advertisers may use cookies, Web beacons, or similar technologies. These are used to record your online activity, such as the pages visited, and to learn what types of information are of most interest to you.
Use of these technologies by third-party ad servers is subject to their own privacy policies and is not covered by our Privacy Notice. Learn more about our participation in the Network Advertising Initiative, and the choices you have about these technologies (such as opting-out) at networkadvertising.org The Network Advertising Initiative offers some centralized opt-out tools; otherwise you must visit each provider’s website individually and opt out. 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.
e) Usage Logs. When on ShowingSmart.com, your device communicates a variety of information to computer servers, including the existence of cookies, your Internet Protocol address, and information about your browser program. We also create a record of information you are requesting, such as the page or subject areas you are visiting.
f) Social Information. If you enter ShowingSmart.com through Google, Facebook, Twitter or any other third-party authorization service (“Social Information Site”), we may receive information that you authorize the Social Information Site to share with us, which may include your information. When we receive this information, it becomes ShowingSmart.com information for purposes of your use of this site. Your information would also be subject to our Privacy Notice. Any information that we collect from your Social Information Site account may depend on the privacy settings you have set with that Social Information Site, so please consult that Social Information Site's privacy policy. You have the ability to disconnect your Social Information Site account from ShowingSmart.com by adapting the privacy settings in your Social Information Site account. If you come to the ShowingSmart.com through a Social Information Site, from other websites or with devices that enable third parties to collect information from or about you, such third parties receive information about you subject to their privacy policies. We may make use of the information that they provide us to further customize your ShowingSmart.com experience.
g) Publicly Available Information. We collect publicly available data from government sources.
2. How We Use the Information
a) To Provide You Services. We use information we collect, including Your Provided Information (i) to provide real estate related information and services, (ii) to provide membership accounts and members-only resources, including Members Only Site, ShowingSmart member Websites, Agent Profiles, and the Member Finder, (iii) to request updated information, (iv) to contact you for marketing purposes through weekly newsletters, surveys, promotions or print and/or online versions of the Houston REALTOR magazine, (v) to contact you regarding association business, (vi) to provide products purchased through our storefront, (vii) to provide autodialed, telemarketing text messages, including Short Message Service (SMS) messages, (viii) to verify your license through the TREC database, (ix) to verify your identify, (x) to improve our services, and (xi) to deliver personalized service to ShowingSmart.com users, including recognizing you when you return and storing your preferences.
b) Realtor®/licensee Provided Services. If you have chosen to receive information from a Realtor®/licensee by submitting any of Your Provided Information to them through ShowingSmart.com, then that Realtor®/licensee may use your information to identify you, contact you and provide you real estate related services. If you have activated an account on ShowingSmart.com, we may share your information and activity from that account with Realtors®/licensees in order for them to provide you real estate related information in relation to the type of account or services you activated.
c) Disclosures to other third parties. In addition to sharing your information with Realtors®/licensees, we may share your information with our third party contractors for the following purposes on your behalf (i) to verify your identity and (ii) to process your credit card payment for the purpose of completing your payment for purchases and membership payments. Our third party payment processing vendor is not permitted to use the credit card information or any of Your Provided Information for any purposes other than to fulfill the specific purchase transaction. Additionally, we may share your information with our third party contractors for purposes of providing elements of ShowingSmart.com on our behalf, including information technology service providers, software providers, application providers, website hosting, cloud service providers, and communication services providers, such third parties use your information only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them. If you opt in to receive text messages from ShowingSmart.com, any information collected will not be sold or shared with any third parties.
d) Entity Sale. We may disclose, transfer, sell or assign your information obtained through ShowingSmart.com, or information 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 ShowingSmart.com and/or HRIS. You will be notified via email or prominent notice on ShowingSmart.com for 30 days of any such change in ownership or control of your information.
e) Investigations. We may also make your information available to law enforcement personnel and agencies when requested to do so or as required by law, subpoena or court order. We may disclose information that is useful or helpful to prevent, investigate or address possible wrongdoing in connection with any service provided by us, to protect our services as well as our users, affiliates, vendors, us or the public and to enforce our Terms of Use. Information you provide to us relative to complaints or comments about another may be shared with the person or entity to which the complaints or comments were directed as well as the public.
f) Retention and Termination. We will retain your information for as long as your account is active, as long needed to provide you services, or as long as needed to fulfill one of the purposes listed. The subsequent use, management or disclosure of any information collected by or provided to third parties such as Realtors®/licensees is subject to their privacy policies and practices. If you wish to cancel your account with ShowingSmart.com or request that we no longer use your information to provide you services, then contact us at privacy@har.com. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, perform investigations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
3. You Have Choices
ShowingSmart.com offers you the opportunity to correct, update and amend your Account Information through your ShowingSmart.com account at any time. Simply access your account settings page and change, remove or update your information there. You can withdraw your consent for our use of your Account Information at any time by going to your account settings and deleting the account. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing of your Account Information we conducted prior to your withdrawal or deletion, nor will it affect processing of information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent. If you have any concerns, want an electronic copy of your information from your account, or need help in correcting, updating, amending or removing your information at ShowingSmart.com, then please contact us by email at privacy@ShowingSmart.com or call us at (713) 629-1900, and we will help you in any way possible.
4. Email Management
You may receive email from ShowingSmart.com for a variety of reasons. We respect your desire to manage email correspondence. If you have an account with ShowingSmart.com, you can select your preferences through your account tools. Also, you can manage your receipt of some types of communication by following the instructions included in the email we send you. If you wish not to receive further emails from real estate entities or agents with whom you have registered, then you must personally contact that entity or agent and convey that information to them.
5. Storage and Security of Data
We take the security of your information very seriously. We use industry accepted tools and procedures that protects data in our system. However, due to the open communication nature of the Internet we cannot guarantee that information we receive from you or that communication between you and us and us and you will be free from unauthorized access by third parties. You are providing your information to us at your own risk.
6. Links to Other Sites
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites which are linked or connected to ShowingSmart.com. We provide these links to enhance the experience of our users for the purpose of providing information and services. We do not take responsibility for the contents, advertising, products or other materials made available through any other websites 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.
7. Children
ShowingSmart.com is intended for adult use and is not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you become aware that a child has provided us with information without parental consent, please contact us. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with information without parental consent, we will take steps to remove such information and terminate the child’s account.
8. Privacy Statement Changes
HRIS reserves the right to make changes to its Privacy Notice at any time. Any changes will be effective on the Effective Date noted above. Your use of ShowingSmart.com after the Effective Date constitutes your acceptance of any changes to the Privacy Notice. It is your responsibility to read and understand what, if any, changes affect you.
9. Questions About Our Privacy Notice?
If you have any questions about our Privacy Notice or the practices of ShowingSmart.com, you can send an email to privacy@ShowingSmart.com, or send correspondence to Houston Realtors Information Service, Inc., Attention: Privacy Notice Issue, 3693 Southwest Freeway Houston, TX 77027. You can reach us by phone at (713) 629-1900.
