Center Square – Privacy Policy
Here at Center Square, our greatest measure of success is making moves easier and more transparent for our clients. When you use Center Square to find, buy, rent, or sell your home, we take our responsibility to respect your privacy seriously. We promise to never sell your data, or using it in any way other than to help you find the home of your dreams. If we collect data from you, we will tell you why we need it and what we’ll do with it.
Read on through our privacy policy to learn more about the information we collect, why we use it, whom we share it with, and how we protect it, along with the tools you can use to keep your data and privacy secure.
Introduction
We know that everyone moves differently. And hearing about you, your family, and your story moves us. We want to know what you want, what you need, and what your next home looks like. To make that happen, we use the information you give us to provide you with the best possible services and to help you find your perfect next home.
Not to worry: we’re extremely selective with how we use data, and we make sure that we’re using your information to add value to our services. On this page, we’ll do our best to explain everything you need to know about our privacy policy at Center Square. If you have any questions that we haven’t answered here, you can always contact us by visiting our website or emailing us at [email protected].
Information collected by Center Square
When you use our proprietary home buying and selling service, CS Connect™, we collect a variety of information from and about you and the devices you use. Some of this information identifies you directly (like an email address), and some of it is associated with you through your account, profile, or device (like your location data).
The kind of data collected about you depends on how you use Center Square. If you only use our services to browse for homes, we’ll have less information about you than if you use our services to sell your home, buy a home, or find a rental. Even if you don’t have an account with us, it’s possible that we could still collect some data about you, like your email address and phone number (if you, for example, contact a real estate agent through our platform), or your IP address when you browse our site. We only use this information to contact you and/or to improve your experience with Center Square.
Information from Public Sources and Third Parties
Center Square collects information from public sources, like county and state tax and property records, government agencies, and multiple listing services (or MLS). Most of this information has to do with properties, not people. But some of the information we collect, like property ownership or real estate license records, might lead back to individuals. Again, this information already exists within the public domain.
We also collect information about you from various third parties in order to provide better service to you. This may include demographic information and other attributes about you.
Information From Service Use
Along with the information you give to us directly, we collect a variety of information automatically as you use Center Square services.
Activity information
We collect information about how you use Center Square and CS Connect. This might include your home or rental search history, homes you view, purchases, clicks, and other uses of our features. When you call or text Center Square using our platform, we collect information about your call or text, including the date and time of the call or text, your phone number, and the content of the call or text.
Device information
Like other websites, we sometimes collect data about the browsers and devices you use to access Center Square. The data we collect includes browser or device model and settings, operating system, unique identifiers, and the version of the app you’re using. We also collect data about how your browsers and devices interact with our services, including IP address, crash reports, system activity, and the date, time, and the URL of the site you visited before Center Square.
You can decide to limit our collection of certain data by adjusting your privacy and security settings on your tablet or mobile device.
Location Information
If you have location services enabled on your tablet or mobile device, Center Square can collect the location of your device. We use that information to provide you with location-based information, such as home listings in your area. We also use the information to offer location-based services. If you don’t want to use these features, you can always turn off location services on your device.
We also collect location information for similar purposes from your browser if you enable it. If you want to, you can disable location access through your browser settings.
Cookies, pixel tags, and other tracking technologies
We use various tools to collect data when you visit our sites and apps, including cookies, pixel tags, and other similar technologies. Cookies are bits of electronic data that can be transferred to your computer or other device to identify your browser.
When you use Center Square, we and our partners may use cookies and other tools to gather information about how you view and use our services, and to connect your activity with other data we store about you. The use of cookies helps us give you a better experience by understanding what you’re interested in, saving your preferences, and storing information you may want to retrieve on a regular basis. At any time, you can disable cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser. However, if you choose to disable some or all cookies, some parts of our services may no longer work properly.
Why Center Square uses your information
Completing your transactions
When you use Center Square to carry out real estate transactions, like buying or selling your home, we use the personal information you provide to verify your identity and complete your transaction.
Providing and improving our services
We use your information to provide our services to you. This includes anything from returning rental search results to processing your home closing. We also use your information to improve our services.
Communicating with you and connecting you with others
We use the contact information you provide us, like your phone number and email address, to speak and communicate with you. This includes things like responding to comments, questions, and requests you send our way. It also includes notifying you of transaction or service updates and changes. We may also inform you about our services, offers, promotions, news, and other updates that might be of interest to you.
Personalizing your experience
We use the information we collect about you and your activity on our services to personalize the services we offer. We also use it to show content or features that we think you might like. This includes things like customized search results that match your preferences and prior search criteria.
If we know you’re working with a particular real estate agent, we may share information about your saved homes and searches with that agent to let them serve you more effectively. You control what we share with the real estate pros you work with.
Managing communications preferences
Center Square may send you email for a variety of reasons. This might include contacting you and communicating with you about an inquiry you sent to us through our site or email address. You always have the option to unsubscribe from automated or promotional email campaigns. Still, even if you unsubscribe from some email campaigns, we may still need to email you with important communications or other non-advertising information.
Calls and texts
Some of our services allow you to provide your phone number to us. If you give us your number, we may call or text you, for example, to give you information about getting an offer on your home through Center Square. We will contact you through these methods only in accordance with applicable legal requirements, and you always have the ability to opt out of further calls or texts.
Protecting your information
We understand that no matter how we collect your information, we have a responsibility to protect it. We take that responsibility seriously.
Of course, no method of Internet transmission or data storage can provide 100 percent guaranteed protection to your information. If anything ever happens to compromise your data or information, we’ll let you know as soon as we can and try our best to make it right.
Center Square is based in the United States and the information we collect is governed by U.S. law. Where we are subject to the privacy laws of other countries, we comply with those requirements. If you access or use our services or provide information to us, your information will be processed and stored in the United States, so your rights and privileges will reflect U.S. law rather than your local law.
Legal Disclosures
In this section, you can find some legally required disclosures under state privacy laws. There shouldn’t be any surprises in this section — we’ve tried to explain our privacy practices in plain English throughout the rest of the privacy policy.
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act or CCPA, California residents have certain rights regarding their data, including:
- The right to know the categories of personal information we’ve collected and the categories of sources from which we got the information (see Information collected by Center Square)
- The right to know the business purposes for sharing personal information (see Why Center Square uses your information)
- The right to know the categories of third parties with whom we’ve shared personal information (see Sharing your information)
- The right to access the specific pieces of personal information we’ve collected and the right to delete your information (see Privacy tools and choices)
- California residents also have the right to not be discriminated against if they choose to exercise their privacy rights.
Changes to this policy
At some point, we may need to update our privacy policy and practices to reflect changes in our services, technology, and data use. We won’t change the policy in a way that significantly changes the way we use or share data without telling you in advance and giving you the option to stop using our services if you want.