Roots | Privacy Policy

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ROOTS PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy is effective as of 7/29/2024.

This Privacy Policy ("Policy") describes how Roots Homes, Inc. and Roots Brokerage LLC ("Roots", "we", "us" and "our") collects, uses and shares personal information from users of our website at https://roots.homes (the "Site") and the services we provide through the Site (the "Services").

When you access or use our Site or Services or otherwise submit information to us, you are consenting to the collection, transfer, manipulation, storage, disclosure and other uses of your information as described in this Policy. Defined terms in our Terms of Use will have the same meanings as used in this Policy.

Please note that this Policy only applies to personal information you provide Roots Homes, Inc, and Roots Brokerage LLC, the Listing Agent, through the Services. It does not apply to information you provide to your real estate agents or any third party real estate brokers you may use to buy or sell Property.

Overview of Our Services

Our Services identify opportunities for individuals to earn equity in rental properties, or find homes with assumable mortgages and navigate the application and purchase process for such homes, or find buyers for homes with assumable mortgages and navigate the application and purchase process for such homes, and process for listing and selling homes in certain jurisdictions. We collect information from current and prospective customers of our Services, and current and prospective business partners. We use this information to provide Services, for marketing our Services and for other purposes as set forth in this Policy.

The Personal Information We Collect

The type of personal information we collect will depend on your interaction with us, whether you a renter, lessor, owner, buyer, seller or real estate or broker:

Registration: If register to use our Services through the Site and the App, we request the following information to set up your account: your name, address, email address, phone numbers, information about housing budget, personal preferences (geographical, type of residence, and other information relating to the Property you want to rent or own) and other data necessary to perform our Services. If you are an agent, we may obtain your name, address, email address, phone number, license information, license status and your broker.
Background Check and Credit Reports: If you are interested in renting Property from us or from a Property owner with whom we partner, or if you are interested in assuming a mortgage loan from a seller for whom we are coordinating, we may arrange for a background check, identity verification, and credit report to confirm your creditworthiness and suitability to qualify for a loan or rental.
Financial Institutions: We use Argyle ("Argyle"), Plaid, and CRS to gather your data from financial institutions. By using the Services, you grant Roots, Plaid, Argyle, and CRS the right, power, and authority to act on your behalf to access and transmit your personal and financial information from your relevant financial institution. You agree to your personal and financial information being transferred, stored, and processed by Plaid in accordance with the Plaid end user privacy policy which can be found at https://plaid.com/legal/#consumers; by Argyle in accordance with the Argyle end user privacy policy which can be found at https://argyle.com/legal/consumers/consumer-terms/; and by CRS in accordance with the CRS end user privacy policy which can be found at https://crscreditapi.com/privacy-policy/
Selling Information: If you are selling a Property, we might collect the following additional information: your current home financing (such as remaining mortgage balance, current loan servicer, and interest rate) and the legal names of the owners of the property. We collect publicly available data about the Property through third-party sources.
Application Information: We collect your information in connection with your application to rent properties or assume mortgages and purchase properties, including your income, assets, employment, prior bankruptcy filings, prior tax filings, debts and other obligations.
Transaction Information: We collect information to process rent and equity transactions and loan assumption transactions, including your credit card or bank account information, payments made, debt-to-income ratios, Vantage credit score, rents amount paid, and equity earned.
Use of the Site and Other Contacts and Communications: If you contact us through the Site, we may ask you to provide additional information that helps us enhance your Site visit, assist you with technical support issues, or permit post-visit follow-up. For example, if you send us an information request email, we receive your email address, and any other information you provide, such as your name, telephone number, etc.
Third-Party Sources: We may receive information about you from other sources, including publicly available databases or third parties from whom we have purchased data, and combine this data with information we already have about you such as IP address. This helps us to qualify customers for properties, provide Services, update, expand and analyze our records, and identify new prospective customers. For example, we use credit reporting agencies to provide credit reports and background checks for prospective customers.
Information Collected Automatically: If you visit our Site or use our Services, we use cookies and other technologies to track the usage our Site and Services, including your domain name; your browser type and operating system; web pages and images you view; links you click; your IP address; the length of time you visit our Site or use our Services; your device ID; and the referring URL, or the webpage that led you to our Site. We may combine this information with other information that we have collected about you, including, where applicable, your username, name, and other personal information. See the section entitled Cookies below for more information.

How Your Personal Information Is Used

We use the personal and other information we collect from you as follows:

To provide, develop and improve the Services.
To monitor, facilitate and process rent and equity transactions.
To monitor and facilitate assumption of mortgage and real estate purchases.
To monitor, facilitate and process sales transactions.
To respond to your inquiries and provide technical support and customer service.
To send you email and other forms of communications about our products and services and our business.
To (a) ensure our Site and Services are working as intended, (b) operate our business, better understand how users access and use our Site and Services, both on an aggregated and individualized basis, (c) develop, maintain, protect and improve our Services, and (d) perform research and analytics, including to analyze and report on usage and performance of our Site and Services and train and improve our artificial intelligence models.
To detect, investigate, and prevent activities on our Site that may violate our security or Terms of Use, could be fraudulent, violate copyright, or other rules or that may be otherwise illegal, to comply with legal requirements and legal process and court orders, to defend or exercise legal claims, to respond to law enforcement or governmental investigations or requests, and to protect our rights and the rights and safety of our users and others.
For other purposes consistent with any consent that you have provided.

How Your Personal Information is Disclosed

We may disclose the information, including personal information, we receive from you to the following categories of third parties:

Agents, Brokers and Buyers. If you are using an agent or real estate broker to rent, sell or purchase a Property, we may share certain of your personal information with an agent or real estate broker, such as to facilitate viewing of Properties and facilitating rental, sales, and purchases of Properties and assumption of mortgages. This includes disclosures to Listing Agents if you are selling your Properties. We may also share your Personal Information with prospective buyers of your Property.

Property Managers and Owners. If you are renting a Property or seeking to purchase a Property, we may need to disclose certain information to the owner and manager of that Property for their use in managing the Property and entering a lease with your or in connection with your assumption of a mortgage and purchase of a Property.

Financial Institutions: If you are seeking financing for a purchase of a Property or assuming a mortgage from an existing lender, we may disclose certain information to the financial institution or other third party that is providing the financing.

Title and Escrow Companies: The purchase and sale of Property will usually require the involvement of title and escrow companies. We may share your information with them as necessary to facilitate the transaction.

Consent. Where you have provided consent, we share your information, including personal information, as described at the time of consent.

Affiliates. We may disclose the information we collect from you to our affiliates or subsidiaries solely for the purpose of providing Services to you; however, if we do so, their use and disclosure of your personal information will be maintained by such affiliates and subsidiaries in accordance with this Policy.

Service Providers. We may disclose the information we collect from you to third party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform functions on our behalf, such as providing storage services.

Business Transfers. We may transfer your personal information in connection with a corporate merger, acquisition, sale of assets, bankruptcy, or other change in corporate status in which information is transferred to one or more third parties as one of our business assets, including to prospective buyers or investors of our company or its assets.

In Response to Legal Process or Governmental Requests. We also may disclose the information we collect from you in order to comply with the law, a judicial proceeding, court order, or other legal process, such as in response to a subpoena or in response to requests from law enforcement or regulatory or governmental entities.

To Protect Us and Others. We also may disclose the information we collect from you where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Use or this Policy, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

We do not sell or provide your personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

Data Subject Requests

You can make a request to access, correct or delete the personal information we have collected to you by emailing us at hello@roots.homes. We reserve the right to deny requests for any reason to the extent permitted by law. We may request additional information from you to verify your request.

Do Not Track

California law requires that operators of websites and online services disclose how they respond to a Do Not Track signal. We do not currently respond to Do Not Track signals.

As noted in our Cookies section, certain third parties may collect personal information about you over time and across different Internet websites or online services when you use the Site and Services.

Location of Services and Personal Information

Our Services are intended for use in the United States only and we store personal information in the United States. If you access the Site or Services from outside the Untied States, you consent to the transfer of your personal information to the United States, which may have less protections for your personal information than your jurisdiction of residence.

Retention of Personal Information

We generally retain personal information for at long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected. However, we might retain personal information for longer periods of time, if required by our legal obligations or for historical or research and analytical purposes.

We and our service providers use cookies and other tracking mechanisms to track information about your use of and interaction with our Site and Services. We may combine this information with other personal information we collect from you (and our third party service providers may do so on our behalf). Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser for record-keeping purposes. Some cookies allow us to make it easier for you to navigate our Site and Services, while others are used to enable a faster log-in process or to allow us to track your activities at our Site and Services.

In addition, we, our service providers and others sometimes use data-gathering mechanisms on the Services, including without limitation "web beacons", "clear GIFs", "pixels" and/or "tags" ("Tracking Technologies"). These perform statistical and administrative functions, such as measuring site and page traffic, verifying advertising paths, better understanding user interests and activity, gathering related information (such as information relating to a particular browser, device or IP address) and positioning images, and typically do so without detracting from your online experience. We generally use the following types of cookies on our Site and Services:

Strictly Necessary Cookies: These cookies are necessary for the Site to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the Site or Services will not then work.
Functional Cookies: These cookies enable the Site to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies: These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our Site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the Site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our Site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Targeting Cookies: These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

These cookies may collect information about your online activities over time and across different Internet websites or online services when you use our Site and Services.

By accessing and using our Site and Services, you consent to use of cookies and Tracking Technologies and our sharing of information collected through cookies and Tracking Technologies with third parties for data analytics, site performance and advertising purposes, including targeted advertising.

These third parties may track your visits across different websites for purposes of assessing your preferences and interests.

Third Party Analytics. We use automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics, to evaluate usage of our Site and our Services. We also may use other analytic means to evaluate our Services. We use these tools to help us improve our Services, performance and user experiences. These entities may use cookies and other tracking technologies to perform their services. For more information on Google Analytics and how to opt-out, please see https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/google-analytics-opt-out/fllaojicojecljbmefodhfapmkghcbnh?hl=en&pli=1.

Disabling Cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but if you prefer, you can edit your browser options to block them in the future. The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your computer from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. Visitors to our Site who disable cookies will not be able to browse certain areas of the Site or use the Services.

Opting Out of Targeted Advertising

You can opt-out of receiving marketing email communications by using the unsubscribe mechanisms or emailing us at hello@roots.homes.

In addition, we and certain third parties may use your personal information to show you advertisements on our Site and Services or other third-party websites and application that may be tailored to your individual interests. To opt out of receiving such targeted advertising about us, please email us at hello@roots.homes. In addition, you can opt out of certain ad network interest-based advertising by visiting the customer opt-out pages at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ and http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/.

Minors and Children's Privacy

Our Services are not directed to children under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 18 without obtaining parental consent. If you are under 18 years of age, then please do not use or access our Site or Services at any time or in any manner. If we learn that personal information has been collected on the Site from persons under 18 years of age and without verifiable parental consent, then we will take the appropriate steps to delete this information.

Security of Information

No company, including ours, can fully eliminate security risks associated with consumer information. We strive to protect your information. We follow generally accepted standards to protect the information we receive. However, no method of transmission, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Technical mistakes are possible, and if such a mistake takes place, we will take commercially reasonable steps to correct it. We cannot guarantee absolute or warrant the security of any information you transmit to use or receive from us.

Nevada Privacy Rights

If you are a resident of Nevada, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of certain personal information to third parties who intend to license or sell that personal information. Please note that we do not currently sell your Personal Information as sales are defined in Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603A. If you would like to request that we do not sell your Personal Information going forward, or for any questions, please contact us as set forth in the Contact Us section below.

California Privacy Notice

If you are a California resident, you have the right to request a list of the types of personal information that we have disclosed during the preceding year to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, and the identity of those third parties. If you are a California resident and would like such a list, please contact us at the email address in the Contact Us section below.

Links to Other Websites

Our Site may include links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from ours. If you submit personal information to any of those websites, your information is governed by their privacy statements and we have no responsibility for their collection and use of your personal information. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy statement of any other website you visit.

Updates

We reserve the right to modify or update our Policy from time to time. If we modify our policy, we will indicate when such terms are effective and will also update the "last updated" date. We will post any such changes on the Site. We may also notify our customers by emailing them at the email address in their account if required by law. If you use the Services after updates are posted or notice is provided, you agree that your personal information may be used in accordance with such changes. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we collect, use, and disclose your personal information.

If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, or wish to contact us regarding this Policy, please email us at hello@roots.homes.