Privacy Policy

Homie ("we," "us," or "our") operates askhomie.ai (the "Service"). We are committed to protecting your personal information and being completely transparent about how we collect, use, and protect your data.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you interact with Homie via our website, conversational interfaces, SMS text messaging, or email, how that information is used, and your rights regarding your data.

1. Information We Collect

A. Information You Provide to Us

• Contact Details: Name, mobile phone number, and email address provided when requesting housing matches or signing up for alerts.
• Housing Preferences & Search Criteria: Target city, neighborhoods, move-in and move-out dates, duration of stay, monthly budget range, bedroom/bathroom requirements, furnished/unfurnished preferences, pet status, and lifestyle or amenity requests (e.g., in-unit laundry, parking, proximity to transit or workplace).
• Personal Background & Context: Any details you volunteer about yourself (e.g., profession, company, school, reason for moving, LinkedIn profile URL) to help us present you effectively to prospective hosts.
• Host / Listing Submissions: If you are a host submitting a property: property address, rent, availability dates, photos, amenities, lease terms, and host contact information.
• Communications: Records and transcripts of your messages with Homie via web chat, SMS, and email, including feedback on listings you like or pass on.

B. Payment Information

If you subscribe to Homie Alerts or purchase Homie Concierge, your payment transactions are processed directly by our third-party payment processor, Stripe. We receive only non-sensitive order metadata, such as transaction IDs, confirmation of payment, billing zip code, and subscription status. We never collect or store your full credit card numbers on our servers.

C. Automatically Collected Information

• Log and Device Data: Browser type, operating system, IP address, approximate geographical location (city/state level), access times, and referring URLs.
• Cookies & Local Storage: We use essential session cookies and local browser storage to preserve your ongoing chat session and housing preferences across browser refreshes.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect strictly to deliver and improve the Service:

• Housing Matchmaking: Sourcing, filtering, scoring, and matching you with relevant rental listings, sublets, rooms, and coliving spaces.
• Facilitating Introductions: Connecting you with hosts, landlords, or community members when you express interest in a listing.
• Real-Time SMS & Email Alerts: Delivering criteria confirmations, curated listings, search updates, and concierge communications.
• Service Operations & Payments: Administering subscriptions, billing, fee payments, and verifying qualification for our 100% money-back guarantee.
• Service Improvement: Training and evaluating our matching algorithms, conversational flow, and data accuracy.
• Safety, Fraud Prevention & Compliance: Preventing scams, monitoring for abusive behavior, enforcing our Terms, and complying with applicable legal obligations.

3. How We Share Your Information & Third-Party Service Providers

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to data brokers or third parties for their own commercial or advertising purposes.

We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

A. Hosts & Prospective Roommates (With Your Direction)

When you request a warm introduction or ask us to coordinate with a host, we share the relevant details you provided (such as your name, move dates, background summary, or LinkedIn link) with that host to facilitate the connection.

B. Third-Party Service Providers (Subprocessors)

We work with trusted service providers to support our operations under strict confidentiality agreements:

• Cloud & Database Infrastructure: Secure cloud hosting and database providers (such as Supabase and AWS) located in the United States to securely store match history and criteria.
• Artificial Intelligence Gateways: AI foundation models and secure API gateways (such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google) used to interpret housing preferences and match criteria. Prompts sent to AI APIs are processed securely and not used to train public models.
• Messaging & SMS Providers: Telecom and SMS gateways (such as Twilio) to deliver text messages and alerts to your phone.
• Payment Processing: Stripe, Inc., to process payments and handle recurring subscriptions securely.

4. STRICT MOBILE / SMS PRIVACY POLICY (A2P 10DLC COMPLIANCE)

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with or sold to any third parties.

• Opt-In: Your mobile phone number is only used to deliver the specific housing search alerts and updates you explicitly requested.
• Opt-Out: You can unsubscribe at any time by texting STOP to any message you receive from us.
• Help: Text HELP to any message for support, or email support@askhomie.ai.

5. California Consumer Privacy Rights (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), grants you specific rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to Know / Access: You have the right to request the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of sources, the business purposes for collecting it, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
• Right to Delete: You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information, subject to statutory exceptions (such as completing a transaction, detecting security incidents, or complying with legal obligations).
• Right to Correct: You have the right to request correction of inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you (by denying services, charging different prices, or providing a different quality of service) for exercising any of your CCPA/CPRA rights.
• No Sale or Sharing of Personal Information: We do not "sell" your personal information, nor do we "share" your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, as those terms are defined under California law. We have not done so in the preceding 12 months.
• California "Shine the Light" Law: Under California Civil Code § 1798.83, California residents may request information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for direct marketing purposes. We do not disclose personal information to third parties for direct marketing.

To exercise your California privacy rights, please email us at privacy@askhomie.ai with the subject line "California Privacy Request".

6. European Privacy Rights (GDPR / UK GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, our processing of your personal information is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

A. Legal Bases for Processing (Article 6 GDPR)

• Performance of a Contract: Delivering housing matches, coordinating introductions, and managing your subscriptions (Art. 6(1)(b)).
• Consent: Sending SMS alerts and communications where you have explicitly opted in (Art. 6(1)(a)).
• Legitimate Interests: Operating, securing, and improving our Service, detecting fraud, and preventing abuse (Art. 6(1)(f)).
• Legal Obligation: Complying with accounting, tax, or legal requirements (Art. 6(1)(c)).

B. Your GDPR Rights

Under Articles 15–22 of the GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access your personal data.
• Rectify inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Request erasure of your data ("Right to be Forgotten").
• Restrict or object to the processing of your data.
• Request data portability.
• Withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing prior to withdrawal.
• Lodge a complaint with a competent Data Protection Supervisory Authority.

To exercise these rights, contact privacy@askhomie.ai.

7. International Data Transfers

Homie is based in the United States and our servers and infrastructure are located in the US. If you are accessing the Service from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. We implement appropriate safeguards (including standard contractual clauses where applicable) to ensure your data remains protected.

8. Data Retention & Security

• Retention: We retain your personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this policy (e.g., during your active housing search), to provide customer support, or as required to comply with financial, tax, or legal recordkeeping duties. If you ask us to remove your search profile or text STOP, we deactivate active outreach and securely archive or delete your criteria.
• Security: We employ industry-standard administrative, physical, and technical safeguards (including HTTPS/TLS encryption in transit and AES-256 encryption at rest) to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, loss, alteration, or misuse. However, no internet transmission or electronic storage system is 100% secure.

9. Children's Privacy

Our Service is not directed to individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, please notify us at privacy@askhomie.ai so we can promptly delete it.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our legal obligations, features, or data practices. We will notify you of material changes by updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please reach out to us:

• Privacy Inquiries: privacy@askhomie.ai
• General Support: support@askhomie.ai
• Website: https://askhomie.ai