Windermere Real Estate Services Company

Privacy Notice

 

1. Overview

Windermere Real Estate Services Company (“Windermere,” “we,” “us,” and “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through compliance with this Privacy Notice (“Privacy Notice”). This Privacy Notice describes the types of Personal Information we may collect from you when you visit the website at www.windermere.com (the “Site”), that you may provide in electronic messages between us, and that you provide through other means, including in person. It also describes our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that Personal Information.  For agents utilizing MoxiWorks products and services, you can find MoxiWorks’ privacy statement here.

Do not Sell Or Share my Personal Information Form

Please read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your Information and how we will handle it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, do not use the Site. By accessing or using the Site, you agree to this Privacy Notice.

If you are a California resident, please visit our Your California Privacy Rights page. 

If you are in the Europe or the UK please see section 14 below.  

This Privacy Policy does not apply to our employees and non-employee workers.  In some cases, different or additional notices about our data collection and processing practices may be provided and apply to our processing of certain Personal Information. The additional notice will control to the extent there is a conflict with this Privacy Policy for your Personal Information that is subject to that notice.

Windermere may change this Privacy Notice at any time, at its discretion. Your continued use of the Site after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Privacy Notice periodically for updates.

This Privacy Notice is subject to and governed by the Windermere Website Terms of Use (“Terms of Use”) available at the Site here.

2. The Types of Personal Information That Windermere Collects about You and How Windermere Collects Personal Information about You

Windermere may collect two types of information from you when you visit the Site: Personal Information and Non-Personal Information (collectively “Information”).

• “Personal Information” refers to data by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, email address, and telephone number.
• “Non-Personal Information” means data that is about you but does not identify you specifically. If you do nothing during your visit to our Site but browse, read pages, or view content, we will gather and store Information about your visit that does not identify you personally.

We collect Information:

• Directly from you when you provide it to us.
• Automatically as you navigate through the Site.
• Through third-parties, including by analytics.

Information You Provide Directly to Windermere. The Information that you provide us directly through our Site may include:

• Information that you provide to Windermere by registering or filling in forms on our Site. We may also ask you for Information when you report a problem with our Site. It may also be necessary for you to provide us with Information so we can communicate with you about an inquiry you have made.
• Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.
• Your generic location (such as city or neighborhood).
• Your precise geographic location.
• Information you provide through use of your account on the Site, such as when you share or save a property or save preferred searches.

Information Automatically Collects from You. The Information that Windermere may automatically collect and store about you when you visit the Site may include:

• The Internet Protocol Address and domain name used. The Internet Protocol address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your Internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use the Internet Protocol Address to direct internet traffic to you.
• The type of browser and operating system you used when accessing the Site.
• The date and time you visited the Site.
• The length of time spent on a particular page.
• The web pages or services you accessed at the Site.
• The website you visited prior to coming to the Site.
• Your generic location, such as city or neighborhood.

Third Parties.  Windermere may also collect or receive Personal Information about you from third party sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, social media platforms, brokers and affiliated agents, and other real estate professionals.  Some analytics Information may be collected by cookies and related tracking technology.  See section 6 for additional details regarding third parties and analytics.

3. How Windermere Uses Information It Collects about You and the Purpose for the Collection and Use

We use Information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Information, for the following purposes:

• To present our Site and the Site Contents (as defined in the Terms of Use) to you.
• To operate, manage, and administer your account.
• To provide you with data or services that you request from us. For example, when you provide your name and email address to contact us, we are able to use your email address to respond to your comment or question personally.
• To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
• To personalize our services and advertising to you.
• To create new products or services or to improve our business and the services we provide you.
• To notify you about changes to our Site or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
• To communicate with you regarding our products and services, including for marketing purposes.
• In any other way we may describe when you provide the Information.
• To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
• For any other purpose with your consent.

Site statistics are compiled into traffic reports, which help Windermere understand, anticipate, and respond to user needs. If we learn, for example, of heightened interest in certain aspects of Windermere’s projects, we are likely to highlight that information on the Site home page. This helps us create a better overall experience for Site users.

Windermere will retain your Personal Information as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice, including to provide the services you have requested, comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and achieve other purposes described under this Privacy Notice. The exact time period will vary based on the nature of the Personal Information but will not exceed legal limits.

4. How Windermere Protects Your Personal Information

We have implemented measures designed to protect your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. Unfortunately, the internet is not completely secure. Although we are working to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information either in transmission or when stored. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Site.

5. When Windermere Shares Your Personal Information

We may use and disclose Non-Personal Information about our users without restriction. We may disclose Personal Information that we collect or you provide as described in this Privacy Notice:

• To our subsidiaries and affiliates, including third-party payment facilitators.
• To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business, as described further below.
• To real estate agents.
• To a buyer or other successor (potential or actual) in connection with a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Windermere’s assets, including any related due diligence.
• To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
• For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the Personal Information.
• With your consent.
• To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including responding to any government or regulatory request.
• To enforce or apply our Terms of Use.
• If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Windermere or others.

Windermere does not sell your Personal Information except as stated in this Privacy Notice.

6. Cookies, Tracking, and Third Party Analytics

Our services may use first party and third-party cookies, pixel tags, plugins, and other tools to gather device, usage and browsing information when users visit our Site, such as the following:

• Cookies.Cookies are small text files that a web server (such as Windermere‘s or its chosen web hosting company server) places on a user's computer. When accessing a cookie, Windermere’s server reads a number associated with a browser.  With that number, our web server can tailor its content to the needs of the specific browser, and we can optimize the Site for your use.  You may refuse to accept cookies by activating a setting on your browser. However, this may affect the functioning of the Site.  If you don’t refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you access or log on to our Service.

 

• Web Beacons. Web Beacons are tiny graphics with a unique identifier that are used to track the online movements of web or mobile application users. Unlike cookies, which are stored on a computer’s hard drive or your smartphone, web beacons are small graphics that are embedded invisibly on, for example, web pages or in HTML-based emails. Our third-party analytics providers may place web beacons on the Site that track what other websites you visit (both before and after visiting the Site). Our third-party analytics providers use information obtained from web beacons to help us improve our business and services. We do not control the use of web beacons by third parties.

 

• Google Analytics Advertising Features. We also may have the following Google Analytics advertising features implemented: Demographics and Interest reporting, Remarketing, GDN Impression Reporting and Double Click Campaign Manager. These features collect data using Google advertising cookies and anonymous identifiers. Windermere and third-party vendors use these first-party cookies to access the success of online marketing campaigns, inform future campaigns, and improve usability on the Site. To learn how to opt-out of the Google Analytics Advertising Features we use, please see Google Analytics’ currently available opt-outs for the web at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

 

• Log files. Most browsers collect certain information, such as your IP address, device type, screen resolution, operating system version and internet browser type and version. This information is gathered automatically and stored in log files.

We use the Information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to improve, analyze and optimize our Services and their functionality, to personalize and improve your experience while using the Services, to improve and measure our advertising campaigns and to better reach users with relevant advertising both on our Services and on third party websites.

We may also work with third-party ad networks, analytics companies, measurement services and others to display advertising on our Services and to manage our advertising on third-party sites, mobile apps and online services. We and these third parties may use cookies, pixels tags and other tools to collect information on our Sites (and on third-party sites and services), such as browsing history, IP address, device ID, cookie and advertising IDs, and other identifiers, general location information and, with your consent, your device’s geolocation information.  We may use this Information to provide you more relevant ads and content and to evaluate the success of such ads and content.

Click the “Cookie Preferences” link in the footer of our Site to review and update your preferences for most types of cookies, other than those that are necessary to the functionality of that Site.

7. Third Parties Providing Services on Our Behalf

We use third parties to host the Site, design and operate the Site features, and perform administrative, analytics, and communications. Services these third parties provide include enabling Windermere to send you email newsletters and providing Personal Information to Windermere about the use of the Site and viewing of our content. We may disclose your Personal Information to these companies so they can carry out these services.

8. Personal Information from Children under 13

Windermere complies with the requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and related regulations. The Site is not directed at children, and Windermere does not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under 13 years of age. If Windermere learns that a child under 13 years of age has provided Personal Information, Windermere will delete this Personal Information from our databases. If you are under 13, do not use this Site or provide any Personal Information about yourself to Windermere, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address. If you become aware that Personal Information of a child under 13 years of age has been provided, please contact us at legal@windermere.com.

9. Links to Other Websites and Services

We are not responsible for the practices employed by websites or services linked to or from the Site, including the information or content contained therein. Our Privacy Notice does not apply to third-party websites or services.

10. Do Not Track

Some browsers incorporate a "Do Not Track" (“DNT”) feature that, when turned on, signals to websites, and online services that you do not want to be tracked. At this time, the Site does not respond to DNT signals.

11. Your Choices about Personal Information

If you choose not to provide Personal Information, you may be unable to access or use all portions of the Site. We send promotional and marketing emails only with your consent. If you no longer wish to receive these or other communications, you can stop them by clicking on the “unsubscribe link” provided in such communications.

Please report your concerns about collection or use of Personal Information available on the Site to legal@windermere.com.

12. Social Features and Third-Party Plug Ins

The Services may integrate with social sharing features and other related tools which let you log in to the Services or share actions you take on the Services. Your use of such features enables the sharing of Information with your friends or the public, depending on the settings you establish with the social sharing service. Please refer to the privacy policies of those social sharing services for more details about how they handle the Information you provide to or share through them.

13. Residents of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) and the United Kingdom (“UK”)

If you are located in the EEA or UK, you may have certain rights under local law with respect to your personal data that are described below. The Site is not intended for users located in the EEA or UK who are under the age of 16. If you are located in the EEA or UK and are under the age of 16, do not use the Site.

Controller of Personal Information. Windermere is the Controller of your Personal Information. Windermere’s primary place of business is 1151 Fairview Avenue North, Seattle, Washington 98109.

Processing and Purposes for Processing. Windermere may process your Personal Information on one or more of the following legal bases and purposes:

• Performance of a Contract: as necessary to enter into a contract with you or a legal entity you represent, to perform our contractual obligations, to provide services, to respond to requests from you, or to provide customer support;
• Legitimate Interest: where we have a legitimate interest, as described in this Privacy Notice (see “How Windermere Uses Information It Collects about You and the Purposes for Collection and Use”); our legitimate interests may include performance of contracts with franchisees and other parties; support for our business operations; customer relationship management and improving our Services, including marketing and analytics; marketing and advertising; fraud prevention; security; investigations; and business transactions like mergers and reorganizations.
• Compliance with Laws: as necessary to comply with relevant law and legal obligations, including to respond to lawful requests and orders; or
• Consent: with your consent, in some situations.

Your Rights. Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Ask whether we hold Personal Information about you and request copies of such Personal Information and information about how it is processed.
• Request that inaccurate Personal Information is corrected.
• Request deletion of Personal Information that is no longer necessary for the purposes underlying the processing, processed based on withdrawn consent, or processed in non-compliance with applicable legal requirements.
• Request us to restrict the processing of Personal Information where the processing is inappropriate;
• Object to the processing of Personal Information.
• Request portability of Personal Information that you have provided to us (which does not include data derived from the collected Personal Information), where the processing of such Personal Information is based on consent or a contract with you and is carried out by automated means.
• Lodge a complaint with the appropriate data protection authorities.

You can exercise your rights above by using this link.

When your consent is the basis for our processing of your Personal Information, you may withdraw your consent at any time, and we will stop any further processing of your data for that purpose.

The categories of Personal Information that Windermere collects are identified in section 2, “The Types of Information That Windermere Collects about You and How Windermere Collects Personal Information about You.”

Additional information about how long Windermere will retain your Personal Information and how it shares your Personal Information is found in section 3, “How Windermere Uses Personal Information It Collects about You and the Purpose for the Collection and Use,” and section 5, “When Windermere Shares Your Personal Information” above.

14. How To Contact Us About This Privacy Notice

To ask questions or comment about this Privacy Notice and our privacy practices, please contact us at legal@windermere.com or by mail at:

 

Windermere Real Estate Services Company

ATTN: LEGAL DEPARTMENT

1151 Fairview Ave N.

Seattle, WA 98109

 

EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS VERSION:  March 15, 2023