Privacy policy

Last updated

Little Houses For Sale (“we,” “our,” or “us”) runs a marketplace where people list tiny houses for sale, browse listings, and contact sellers and builders directly. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and what you can ask us to do with it.

It covers littlehousesforsale.com and the services on it. By using the site you agree to the practices described here. If you would rather not, please don't use the site.

Information you give us

Most of what we hold is information you typed in yourself. Depending on what you do on the site, that can include:

  • Account details. Your email address, display name, and password when you register. If you sign in with Google instead, we receive your name, email address, and profile photo from Google rather than a password.
  • Profile information. Optional details you add later, such as first and last name, phone number, preferred location, budget range, and the kinds of homes you're interested in.
  • Listing submissions. Everything in the listing form — title, description, price, dimensions, year built, features, city, state, ZIP code, delivery details, your contact name, contact email, contact phone, and the photos you upload.
  • Builder profile submissions. Company name, description, website, location and service areas, contact details, year established, business type, license and insurance details you choose to provide, pricing ranges, portfolio photos, logo, certifications, testimonials, and social profile links.
  • Inquiries. When you contact a seller or builder through the site, we collect your name, email address, an optional phone number, and your message.
  • Email signups. Your email address — and first name for guide downloads — when you subscribe to the newsletter or request a free guide.
  • Comments and reviews. Any content you post publicly on listings or builder profiles.

Information we collect automatically

  • Pages you visit, how long you stay, and how you arrived at the site
  • Approximate location derived from your IP address, plus device and browser details
  • Referring website and campaign tags (such as utm_source and utm_campaign) so we can tell which pages and campaigns bring people in
  • Cookies, local storage, and session storage — described in full in our cookie policy

For newsletter and guide signups we store a one-way hashed version of your IP address rather than the address itself, along with your browser user agent. We use these only to catch automated signups and abuse.

Our mobile apps

Our iOS and Android apps collect the same account and listing information as the site, plus:

  • Location, only if you allow it. Used on your device to show how far each home is and to sort by nearest. It is not sent to us or stored.
  • Photos and camera, only if you allow it. Used to add photos to a listing you create. Only the photos you choose are uploaded.
  • Push notification token, only if you turn on alerts. Used to send alerts for your saved searches and saved homes, and deleted with your account.
  • Saved homes, saved searches, and listing reports you create in the app.

The app has no ads and no third-party tracking, and we don't sell app data. You can delete your account in the app under Account. That deletes your sign-in, profile, saved homes and searches, and alert devices, and takes your listings off the Service.

How we use your information

  • Publish the listings and builder profiles you submit, once reviewed
  • Pass your inquiries to the seller or builder you chose to contact
  • Create and secure your account, and verify your email address
  • Send the guides you asked for and the newsletter you subscribed to
  • Respond to your questions and support requests
  • Review submissions for accuracy, spam, and policy violations
  • Understand which pages and features are useful so we can improve them
  • Detect and prevent fraud, scraping, and other abuse
  • Display advertising, as described below
  • Meet legal obligations and enforce our terms

Service providers we rely on

We don't run all of this ourselves. The companies below process data on our behalf so the site can work:

  • Google Firebase and Google Cloud. Account authentication, database storage for accounts, listings, builder profiles, inquiries and signups, and file storage for the photos you upload.
  • Vercel. Hosting and delivery of the website, including standard server logs.
  • Brevo. Sending transactional email — verification messages, inquiry notifications, guide deliveries, and listing status updates; and CRM contact synchronization for marketing (with consent).
  • Stripe. Payment processing for paid listing and builder plans. Card details go directly to Stripe and we never see or store them. We keep only identifiers such as your Stripe customer and subscription IDs and your subscription status.
  • Cloudinary and BunnyCDN. Image optimisation and delivery.
  • IP geolocation providers. Used to estimate the country a signup or inquiry came from as part of our spam checks.

Advertising and analytics

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to see which pages get used and where visitors come from. It collects pages viewed, time on page, approximate geographic location, and device and browser information. You can opt out site-wide by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)

The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.

First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser's cache. The "help" feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser's cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.

Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.

The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:

  • IP Address
  • Operating System type
  • Operating System version
  • Device Type
  • Language of the website
  • Web browser type
  • Email (in hashed form)

Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor's referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.

If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website and Network Advertising Initiative website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance's AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.

For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.

User-generated content is public

Listings, builder profiles, comments, and reviews are meant to be seen. Once published, the content and any contact details you put in a listing — including the contact name, email address, and phone number you provide for buyers to reach you — are visible to anyone who visits the page, and may be indexed by search engines or appear in our social media posts.

Please don't include anything in a listing, profile, or comment that you wouldn't want to be public. Your account email address is not published unless you enter it as a listing contact.

Social media

We maintain profiles on Facebook, X, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, and we publish our own listings and articles to them. Those posts draw on published marketplace content, not on your account details. We do not currently offer Facebook or Instagram sign-in.

When you follow one of our social links, or use a share button, that platform's own privacy policy governs what it collects.

How we share information

  • With sellers and builders. When you send an inquiry, your name, email address, phone number if given, and message go to that seller or builder so they can reply to you directly.
  • With service providers. The vendors listed above, only as needed to run the site.
  • Publicly. Content you choose to publish, as described above.
  • For legal reasons. When required by law, or to investigate fraud and protect our rights, users, or the public.
  • In a business transfer. If the site is sold or merged, as part of that transaction.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing.

Data retention

We keep information for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected, and then only as long as required for legal, accounting, or fraud-prevention reasons.

  • Account records are kept while your account is open
  • Published listings and builder profiles are kept while they remain live
  • Inquiries and support email are kept as business records
  • Newsletter and guide records are kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove them
  • Comments you delete are hidden from the site but may remain in our records in a deleted state

Data security

Traffic to the site is encrypted in transit, account data sits in managed Google Cloud infrastructure, and administrative access is limited to people who need it. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security, but we do take it seriously and act on problems we find.

Your choices and rights

  • Access and correction. View and edit your profile and your listings from your dashboard, or ask us for a copy of what we hold.
  • Deletion. Delete your account from your dashboard, or follow our data deletion instructions for a fuller request covering listings, profiles, and email signups.
  • Email opt-out. Use the unsubscribe link in any marketing email. We'll still send transactional messages about your account or listings.
  • Cookies. Manage or clear cookies in your browser — see the cookie policy.
  • Ad personalisation. Adjust your Google ad settings using the link above.

Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights over your personal information. To exercise any of them, email info@littlehousesforsale.com. We may need to verify that you own the account before we act.

Children's privacy

The site is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email us and we will delete it.

International visitors

We operate in the United States, and our providers store and process data there. If you use the site from another country, you are sending your information to the United States, where privacy laws may differ from your own.

Third-party links

The site links out to builder websites, marketplaces, and other resources, and some product links are affiliate links that may earn us a commission. We don't control those sites and aren't responsible for their privacy practices — read their policies before sharing information with them.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site changes. When we do, we'll post the new version here and update the date at the top. Please check back from time to time.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your information:

We review this policy as our services change. Material changes will be posted here with a new “last updated” date. If you have a question about anything in it, email info@littlehousesforsale.com.