Privacy Policy

Overview

Horizon Real Estate Group, LLC, doing business as Horizon Realty Group ("Horizon," "we," "us"), runs ncbuyersbrief.com. This policy explains what we collect, how we use it, who we share it with and the choices you have. Horizon Realty Group is the assumed business name of Horizon Real Estate Group, LLC (Currituck County Register of Deeds, Book 1878, Page 507).

1. Information We Collect

What you give us. Your name, email address and, if you choose, your phone number, plus what you tell us about the home you want or the home you are selling (budget, timeframe, area, features, a property address) when you fill in a form, book a call or contact us.

What we collect automatically. Your IP address, device and browser type, the page that sent you here, the pages and listings you view, the listings you save, and your general location (city level), through cookies and similar technologies described in section 4.

Listings you viewed. Your browser keeps a short list of the listings you viewed on this site. When you send us a form and agree to be contacted, your ten most recent listings (address, link and time viewed) are saved to your contact record, and listings you view afterwards are added, so the broker working with you can follow up about the homes you looked at. We do not save the listings viewed by anyone who has not contacted us, and we do not send that list to Google, Meta or any other advertising company.

Our site assistant. Our site assistant, Melinda, is an AI. When you use it, your messages are processed by AI service providers we use under contract, whose servers may be located outside the United States. Before a message leaves our systems we remove email addresses, phone numbers and street addresses from it. Please do not type other personal information. We keep the text of questions, without those details, to improve the site, and handle it under this Privacy Policy.

2. How We Use Information

• To answer you and send what you asked for (a guide, listings, a report, a showing time).
• To tell you about homes and services that fit what you told us.
• To run and improve the website.
• To measure and show our own advertising, as described in section 4.
• To keep the records North Carolina real estate rules require.

3. Confidentiality and Agency Relationships

Information you send through this site is not confidential unless you have a written agency agreement with us. Until then, we may use it to follow up with you about our services. Once an agency agreement is signed, your information is protected under North Carolina real estate law and the REALTOR® Code of Ethics.

4. Advertising, Analytics and Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies on ncbuyersbrief.com. Some are ours. Some belong to Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Microsoft (Microsoft Advertising, which runs ads on Bing). Here is what each one does.

Analytics. We use Google Analytics 4 through Google Tag Manager to see how people use the site: pages viewed, listings viewed, forms started and finished, and the device and general location (city level) of the visit. Google Analytics sets first-party cookies on our domain. We have turned on Google Analytics advertising features, which means Google may use its own advertising cookies and signed-in Google account information together with our analytics data to build audiences for our ads and to report on them.

Session recordings and heatmaps. We use Microsoft Clarity to see how visitors use the site so we can improve it: clicks, taps, scrolling, the pages viewed and the kind of device. Clarity turns this into anonymised session recordings and heatmaps. What you type into a form is masked and never recorded. Clarity runs only when your cookie choices allow it, the same as our other tags, and not when your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal. Microsoft may use this data as described in its own privacy statement. To turn it off, decline analytics cookies.

Advertising measurement. When you submit a form, we tell Google Ads, Meta and Microsoft Advertising that a form was submitted, what kind of form it was, which listing or price range it concerned, and an estimated value we assign to that kind of lead. We send this both from your browser and from our server. To help them match the submission to an ad you may have clicked, we send a coded (hashed) version of your email address (and, to Google and Meta, your name), and the click identifiers that Google, Meta and Microsoft placed in the link or in a cookie when you clicked one of our ads. If you gave us a phone number, our server may also send Meta a coded (hashed) version of it, for the same matching. Google calls this enhanced conversions. Meta calls this the Conversions API. Microsoft calls this offline conversions. The coding is one-way; we never send your email, name or phone number in readable form. We never send your phone number to Google, Microsoft or any other advertising company, coded or not. Meta is the only one that receives it, and only in coded form.

Search measurement. When you search the site, we tell Google Analytics the words you typed and how many results you saw. When you search listings, we tell Google, Meta and Microsoft Advertising what kind of search it was: the words you typed, the price range, home type, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the features you chose, the town when you chose just one, and the listings shown. We do not send any of what you type that looks like contact details: email addresses, phone numbers and street addresses are removed first, and the words you type are never placed in the page address. If you have already given us your email address, the search we send to Meta also carries a coded (hashed) version of it, plus Meta's click and browser identifiers. If you have already given us your contact details and agreed to hear from us, we also save the same search details to your contact record so your broker can help you find the right home.

Advertising audiences and retargeting. Google Ads, the Meta Pixel and Microsoft Advertising's UET tag use cookies and similar technologies to recognize your browser when you visit the site and later when you use Google services, Facebook, Instagram or Bing. We use this to show our own ads to people who visited the site, viewed listings in a price range, saved a listing or asked for a guide, and to stop showing ads to people who already contacted us. We may also show ads for specific homes you looked at, using a listing feed we give to Meta and Google. We build these audiences from what people do on the site, never from age, sex, race, religion, national origin, disability, family status or the neighborhood where someone lives. Our ads follow the federal Fair Housing Act and North Carolina fair housing law and carry the Equal Housing Opportunity statement.

What Google, Meta and Microsoft do with it. Google, Meta and Microsoft receive the information above under their own terms. They use it to measure and deliver our ads, and Meta may also use it to improve its own advertising systems. We do not control their privacy practices. Their policies: Google, Meta and Microsoft.

Your controls.

• Cookie settings: use the "Your Privacy Choices" link in the footer of every page to turn advertising cookies, or analytics cookies, off or on at any time. Your choice is stored in your browser for this site. Open cookie settings
• Global Privacy Control: if your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to turn advertising cookies off: our server does not send your form submissions to Google, Meta or Microsoft, and Google's and Microsoft's tags run without advertising cookies or identifying details.
• Google: My Ad Center lets you turn off personalized ads. The Google Analytics opt-out add-on stops Google Analytics in your browser.
• Meta: Ad preferences and "Your activity off Meta technologies" in your Facebook or Instagram settings.
• Microsoft: Ad settings lets you turn off personalized ads from Microsoft, including on Bing. Declining analytics cookies turns off Microsoft Clarity.
• Industry tools: the Digital Advertising Alliance and the Network Advertising Initiative.
• Browser: you can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking all cookies may stop saved listings and forms from working.

Opting out stops personalized ads from us. You may still see our ads that are not based on your activity.

5. How We Share Information

We do not sell personal information. We share it only as follows.

• Companies that work for us. Hosting and content delivery (Bunny.net, Cloudflare), email delivery (Plunk, Amazon SES), our customer system (HighLevel / LeadConnector, which delivers text messages through Twilio), scheduling (Cal.com), spreadsheets and workflow tools, AI services that help us read, sort and draft messages (including the AI assistant our brokers use), and the MLS data provider that supplies listings. They may use your information only to provide their service to us.
• Advertising and analytics companies. Google, Meta and Microsoft Advertising (Bing), as described in section 4. They receive a coded email address (Google and Meta also a coded name), click identifiers, device and page information, and form events. Meta may also receive a coded phone number if you gave us one. Google and Microsoft never receive your phone number. Microsoft is also our analytics provider for session recordings and heatmaps (Microsoft Clarity), which never include what you type into a form.
• People in your own transaction. If you buy or sell with us, we share what the transaction needs with the other party's agent, the closing attorney, the lender you choose, inspectors and the MLS, at your direction and as North Carolina Real Estate Commission rules require.
• Law and safety. When a law, court order or regulator requires it, or to protect our rights or someone's safety.
• A sale of the business. If Horizon or one of its websites is sold or merged, your information may move to the new owner under this policy.

We never share your text-message opt-in data or consent with any third party. We never sell, rent or share your mobile phone number with third parties, affiliates or lead generators for their marketing or promotional purposes; the only advertising company that receives it is Meta, in coded form, to measure our own ads (section 4). We never sell or pass leads to other companies.

6. Texting

If you give us a mobile number and tick a text box on one of our forms, our Texting Terms apply. We do not share your text-message opt-in data or consent with any third party, and we do not sell, rent or share your mobile phone number with third parties or affiliates for their marketing or promotional purposes. Your mobile number is used by Horizon Realty Group (Horizon Real Estate Group, LLC) to call or text you as you agreed, by the companies that deliver our messages for us, and, in coded form only, to measure our own ads on Meta (section 4).

Two kinds of texts. Service texts are about something you asked us for or a transaction you are part of: replies to your questions, showing and appointment confirmations, document and e-signature reminders, transaction dates, and a confirmation when a document you requested was emailed. Marketing texts promote our services: new listings that match your search, market updates, events and offers to help you buy or sell. We send marketing texts only if you tick the marketing box, up to 8 per month. Service texts are sent as needed. Our texts come from (252) 632-8681.

What we record when you opt in. Your name, mobile number and email; which box you ticked and the exact wording shown; the date and time; the page you were on; your device's IP address and browser; and later the messages exchanged between you and us. We keep this record for at least five years after your last message so we can show that you agreed and when you stopped.

Who delivers our messages. Our customer system is HighLevel (LeadConnector). It sends texts through its carrier partner Twilio and the wireless carriers. These providers handle your number only to deliver and store messages for us and may not use it for their own purposes. Texts are stored in our customer system and may be machine read or reviewed by a person for quality and training.

Your own transaction. If you buy or sell with us, we share what the transaction needs (your name and contact details, for example) with the other party's agent, the closing attorney, the lender you choose, inspectors and the MLS, at your direction and as North Carolina Real Estate Commission rules require. That never includes your texting consent, and none of them may message you for marketing because of it.

How to stop. Reply STOP to any text, or tell us to stop in any message, email or call, and we stop within 10 business days, usually at once. STOP, END, QUIT, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, REVOKE and OPT OUT all work, as does plain language. You can keep service texts and stop marketing texts, or the reverse, by telling us which. Reply HELP for help. Message and data rates may apply. If you are in a transaction with us and stop messages, we reach you by phone or email instead.

Recorded calls and text messages. Calls and text messages to Horizon Realty Group and the brokers who work with it will be recorded and machine read or periodically reviewed by a human for quality improvement purposes. This notice is about recording. It is not a request for permission to text you.

7. Email

When you ask us for a guide, listings, a report or a FAQ, we email it to you and we also send occasional emails about buying or selling in the area, as the form says. Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link, and you can change what you receive at your email preferences. Emails about a transaction you are part of continue regardless.

8. Your Privacy Choices

You can: turn advertising or analytics cookies off ("Your Privacy Choices" in the footer); send a Global Privacy Control signal; unsubscribe from email; reply STOP to texts; ask us what information we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it (email notices@mail.horizonrealtync.com with "Privacy Request" in the subject). We answer within 45 days. We may keep what the law or North Carolina Real Estate Commission record rules require. We do not discriminate against anyone for exercising these choices.

9. How Long We Keep It

Lead and contact records: until you ask us to delete them, or seven years after our last contact. Transaction records: at least three years, as North Carolina Real Estate Commission rules require. Text-message consent records: at least five years after your last message. The listings you viewed stay with your contact record for as long as the record itself, and are deleted with it. Analytics data in Google Analytics: 14 months. Microsoft Clarity session recordings: about 30 days; its heatmaps and summary reports: up to 13 months. Advertising audience membership: up to 180 days (Meta), 390 days (Microsoft) and 540 days (Google) from your last visit or action.

10. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards. No internet transmission is completely secure.

11. Children's Privacy

This site is not directed at children under 13. If we learn we collected a child's information, we delete it.

12. Third-Party Links

This site links to other websites (for example cal.com, huduser.gov, and census.gov). We are not responsible for their privacy practices.

13. Changes to This Policy

Changes take effect when posted. The "Last Updated" date shows the latest revision. We will give clear notice of material changes.

14. Contact

Privacy requests: put "Privacy Request" in the subject line.