Privacy Policy for M/I Homes
This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected online by M/I Homes, Inc., its affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively referred to as "M/I Homes") in connection with its U.S.-based websites, microsites, mobile sites or mobile apps that expressly adopt, display or link to this Privacy Policy (collectively referred to as our “Sites”). It also applies to personal information M/I Homes collects in connection with the M/I Homes pages on social media sites, such as Facebook®, Twitter® or others (collectively referred to as our "Social Media Pages").
This Privacy Policy answers the following questions:
- What information does M/I Homes collect about you on our Sites and Social Media Pages?
- How do we use the information we collect about you?
- How is technology used to serve our advertisements on other sites that you visit and what choices do you have?
- Does M/I Homes share your information with third parties?
- What choices do you have over how M/I Homes uses your information?
- How does M/I Homes secure your information on its Sites?
- How does M/I Homes protect children's information?
- Will this Privacy Policy change?
- What other terms govern your use of the Sites?
- How can I contact M/I Homes?
- If I am a California resident, what are my privacy rights?
1. What information does M/I Homes collect about you on our Sites and Social Media Pages?
We may collect information about you from a variety of sources, including when:
- you provide us information
- we observe or collect information through technology
- we receive information about you from third parties
- we collect information on our Social Media Pages
Information You Provide
We may collect information you provide directly to our Sites, such as the following categories of information:
- Contact Information: We may collect contact information, which includes personal information such as name, address, email address, and telephone number.
- Login Information: When you create an account with us, we will collect login information such as your username and password.
- Profile Information: We may have access to profile details about you, such as your personal preferences and previously viewed homes.
- Financial Information: We collect financial information that you submit to our Sites, such as mortgage application information, payment details, and other financial information.
- Demographic Information: We may have access to demographic details about our Site users such as birth date, gender, zip code, and other similar details.
- Submitted Content: We collect any content you submit to our Sites, such as customer satisfaction surveys or other similar posts.
- Employment Information: We may collect employment information from you, including your resume, cover letter, employment history, and similar employment-related materials.
- Social Media Information: We may allow you to use your personal social media account, on social media sites ("Personal Social Media Account"), to provide information to us when you participate in certain features on our Sites. The information we collect may include any information you have shared on your Personal Social Media Accounts. We may continue collecting this information from your Personal Social Media Accounts should the information be revised by you later. If you choose not to provide us with certain requested information, you might not be able to take advantage of some of the features on our Sites.
Information Observed or Collected Through Technology
a. Navigational Information. Navigational information, such as the following, is collected by us and our third party service providers when you use our Sites:
- browser type and version
- operating system
- the Internet service provider used to access our Sites
- IP Address
- use of links to arrive at our Sites
- web pages requested and viewed
- time spent on our Sites
- for our mobile websites and apps, technical information about the device used, such as screen size, cookie support by the device and how images may appear
b. Location Information. Our Sites and emails include features that may require collecting different types of location information that we then use for the specific feature you have selected, such as:
- Where to Buy. Our Sites may allow you to search for the nearest model home or development that offers the home that you may want to visit or purchase. If you access one of our Sites through a mobile device and you have enabled location-based services, specific location information may be collected for these features. If you access these features through a desktop device, you may be able to choose to have your browser provide us your location information to respond to your request. The specificity of the desktop device location information can vary depending on the browser you are using and how you are connected to the internet.
- Email. Our emails may use your IP Address to determine the postal code where you are located when you open the email. This allows us to tailor content to you, such as a map of nearby M/I Homes communities. The specificity of the location can vary depending on the device used to open our emails.
c. Cookies and other similar technology. We and our third party service providers use "cookies." Cookies assign a unique identification to your device and are typically stored on your device by your web browser. We may also use pixel tags (also known as web beacons, web bugs, and clear GIFs) on the Sites and in emails. A pixel tag is a nearly invisible pixel-sized graphic image on a webpage or in an email message. The information we and our third party service providers collect through cookies, pixel tags, and similar technology includes the following:
- your interactions with our Sites and with our advertisements
- the time of your visit to our Sites
- confirmation when you open email from us, including the time you open the email and whether you click on any links in the email
- sites you visit after visiting one of our Sites.
For additional information on the use of cookies for advertising, see "3. How is technology used to serve our advertisements on other Sites that you visit and what choices do you have?".
Information Obtained from Third parties
We may combine information about you from other sources with the information we have collected about you on our Sites or Social Media Pages.
For example, in connection with searching and applying for jobs with us, we may use a third party to collect and process the applicant profiles and preferences, monitor website activity, maintain the database based in the U.S and provide plug-ins (such as LinkedIn) at your request. We require that the information you provide on pages hosted by these third parties be maintained by them in confidence. Information you voluntarily supply will be stored in a database, which will be accessed by authorized personnel of M/I Homes to address your inquiry or consider you for employment purposes with any of our affiliates. We may also keep the information for future consideration.
Information Collected on M/I Homes' Social Media Pages
Personal information may be collected directly by us through our Social Media Pages. The type of information we may collect is similar to what is described above under "Information You Provide." Personal information may also be collected by the social media site hosting our Social Media Pages. Our Privacy Policy does not cover the privacy and security practices of the social media sites on which M/I Homes has its Social Media Pages.
2. How do we use the information we collect about you?
The information we learn from you helps us personalize your experience with us and our communications to you, and helps us continually improve your experience on our Sites.
We use the information you provide, information collected through your Personal Social Media Accounts, and information collected on our Social Media Pages for things like:
- opening an online account
- improving and developing our products
- servicing our customers
- advertising and marketing, including emails and postal mail
- personalizing your experience when visiting our Sites
- responding to your inquiries
- market research and surveys
- conducting events, promotions, contests and sweepstakes
- warranty and product registration
- processing job applications
We use navigational information gathered through technology for determining things like:
- which parts of our Sites are most visited or used
- what features/products are browsed
- how to improve and better transact business
- the effectiveness of our Sites
- difficulties visitors may experience in accessing our Sites
- monitoring the number of visitors to our Sites
- average time spent on our Sites
- any programming errors or failures on any of our Sites
We use information collected through cookies and similar technology to determine many of the same things listed for navigational information above. In addition, cookies and similar technology are used for things like:
- personalizing your experience on our Sites
- serving tailored ads on other sites, as described below
- tailoring email marketing to you based on your preferences on or use of our Sites
- determining return visitors
- measuring the effectiveness of our advertising.
We use third-party analytics providers, such as Google Analytics, to measure traffic and usage trends, and to help us better understand your use of and interaction with our Sites and Social Media Pages. For more information on how Google uses data when you use our Sites, click here.
Similar to the navigational information described above, the social media sites where we have our Social Media Pages may provide aggregate information and analysis to us about visitors to our Social Media Pages. This allows us to better understand and analyze our user growth, general demographic information about the users of, and interaction with content on, our Social Media Pages.
3. How is technology used to serve our advertisements on other sites that you visit and what choices do you have?
We may contract with third party advertising companies to tailor online advertising to be directed to you on other websites. These third party advertising companies place, use, or rely on technology, such as cookies and pixel tags, to obtain information about your interactions with our Sites as well as with other websites. This information helps us select advertising to serve to you and where to serve it based on your experience on our Sites and other sites that you visit.
For information about opt out programs that these third party advertising companies participate in, and the effect of opting out, click the following: DAA Opt Out click here or NAI Opt Out click here. By clicking this website, you will then leave our Site for another online site where you may specify your preferences under that opt-out program. You can also click the preference icon that may appear on some of our advertising served through these technologies. You should also note that our systems may not recognize “Do Not Track” headers from some or all browsers.
4. Does M/I Homes share your information with third parties?
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to unrelated third parties except as set forth below. We may share your personal information with the following:
- Service Providers: We partner with third parties to assist with many aspects of our business. We provide your information to our contractors, vendors, affiliates and third party service providers in order to perform tasks on our behalf such as the following:
- facilitating your purchase, loan application, or mortgage
- assisting in servicing our products
- providing and improving our communications with you
- responding to requests to our investor relations
- cloud based and hosting services
- Marketing Providers: We partner with third parties to assist with the advertising and marketing of our business. We may share with them the types of information described in "2. How do we use the information we collect about you?" We may also receive information collected by these third parties and combine it with other information we have collected.
- Other Third Parties: We may share information with our contractors, vendors, affiliates, and/or other third parties so that they can provide information to you about their products and services. For example, we may share your information with third parties so that they can offer products or services to you, such as but not limited to: security system services, lighting, cable, and/or internet services, and mortgage or insurance products and/or services. We may also share information when requested by a third party developer/seller or their agents in connection with M/I Homes' purchase of real property or your interest in, viewing, touring, or your purchase of, a home, unit, or lot from M/I for the purpose of monitoring sales activity; conducting quality assurance inquiries; marketing or promoting communities, amenities, or other properties; providing information about communities, amenities, homeowner, or condominium owner associations; or providing information about applicable bylaws, rules and regulations. Such information shared with such third party developers/sellers may include without limitation, your contact information, information you provide to M/I throughout the homebuying process, and/or information you provide to M/I when purchasing or closing on a home.
- Legal or Compliance: We will disclose information about you, including to government bodies or law enforcement agencies, when we believe it to be necessary for compliance with the law or to protect our Site users, our Site, or the public. For example, we will disclose information about you:
- when it is necessary for completing or servicing any transactions that you have authorized and, in some instances, to verify the existence or condition of your account with a financial institution, credit bureau or other third party;
- to verify an application for employment;
- as required to cooperate with a subpoena, search warrant, or other legally valid inquiry, court order, or other legal process, or as required or permitted by law;
- to protect the rights, property, or safety of our Sites, our users or others, including where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims; or
- as necessary and appropriate to protect M/I Homes from harm due to fraud or other illegal activities.
- Parties to a Business Transaction: If M/I Homes were ever merged with or acquired by another company, or if we acquire another business entity or are involved in a corporate reorganization or other change of control, or if we sell substantially all the assets of a division, affiliate, or subsidiary, some or all of the personal information collected about you could be shared with the acquiring or acquired company.
We may also share aggregate data about our sales, customers, traffic patterns, and other related Site information with third parties.
5. What choices do you have over how M/I Homes uses your information?
We give you choices about the information we collect and how we communicate with you.
- Email: You may opt-out of our marketing emails by following the instructions listed in the email that you received. However, even if you opt-out you may still receive non-marketing emails, such as customer service communications.
- Online Account: If you have an account with M/I Homes, you may keep your contact information and payment methods accurate and up to date by logging into your account on our Site. You may also opt-out of certain marketing communications by changing your account settings.
- Location Information:
- Mobile Device Location Information. Your mobile device settings may allow you to disable location-based services, which will prevent our Sites from accessing your precise mobile device location information. We recommend you review the help or user manual provided with your device for instructions.
- Desktop Device Location Information. Your desktop web browser may allow you to remove permission you granted through your desktop device for our Sites to access your location information and/or completely block requests for location information. We recommend you review the help or user manual provided with your browser for instructions.
- Email Location Information. Your email program may allow you to prevent the pixel tags or images in the emails you receive from us from downloading, which will also prevent our service provider from accessing your location information. You can also unsubscribe from receiving our emails, as described in the "Email" section above.
- Postal Marketing: If you no longer want to receive marketing materials from us via regular postal mail, please fill out the General Inquiry webform at https://mihomes.com/support/general and, in the "Questions or Comments" section, tell us that you wish to be removed from the M/I Homes postal mailing list and include the postal address you wish to have removed.
- Managing Subscriptions: If you wish to make changes to your email preferences or to unsubscribe from receiving marketing emails, you may do so at https://mihomes.com/subscriptions.
- Social Media: This privacy policy does not cover the privacy and security practices of social media platforms on which we have Social Media Pages. Please review the terms, policies, and settings of those social media platforms if you have questions about how they collect and use your data.
- Online Advertising: For information about opting out of third party advertising, visit: DAA Opt Out click here or NAI Opt Out click here. You will leave our Sites for a separately managed online site where you can specify your preferences. We may use more than one third party company for placing this advertising, which would require you to opt out of each company.
6. How does M/I Homes secure your information on its Sites?
Our Sites utilize encryption technology. We also use firewalls and have implemented other reasonable technical, administrative and physical measures designed to protect the personal information in our custody or control from unauthorized access, use, modification, and disclosure. Moreover, we regularly monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks. While we implement these security measures on our Sites, you should be aware that complete security is not always possible.
We may enable you to navigate to third-party websites through links on our Sites. We do this for your convenience. If it is not one of our Sites, we do not endorse, may not have any affiliation with, do not control, and are not responsible for those third-party websites and/or their Internet and web practices. Whether the third-party content appears within our Site environment (like a map frame), or you leave our Site for another website to view it, the terms, conditions, and privacy policies of those other websites govern your online experience. Please review their terms of service and privacy policies if you have any question about their practices.
7. How does M/I Homes protect children's privacy?
Our Sites and Social Media Pages are not intended for children under the age of 18. No one under 18 should share any personal information with us, including by creating an account. We do not knowingly collect any personal information from children under 18. If we learn that we have collected the personal information of a child under the age of 18, we will make reasonable efforts to delete that information from our records. To request deletion of personal information relating to a child under 18, please email [email protected].
8. Will this Privacy Policy change?
We may make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it periodically. We will update the effective date of the Privacy Policy at the top of the page at the time a change is made.
9. What other terms govern your use of the Sites?
This Privacy Policy constitutes an integrated part of our Terms of Use.
10. How can I contact M/I Homes?
If you have questions or concerns with respect to our Privacy Policy, please contact us by visiting https://mihomes.com/support/general and submitting your question. Our corporate offices are located at 4131 Worth Ave. Suite 500, Columbus, Ohio 43219.
11. If I am a California resident, what are my privacy rights?
If you are a resident of California, you have rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, California Civil Code § 1798.100 et seq., (with any implementing regulations and as may be amended from time to time, "CCPA") relevant to your Personal Information (as defined under the CCPA), as well as other laws, subject to certain exemptions provided therein.
If your Personal Information is subject to the CCPA, you may have the right to:
- Request that a business provide you access to the following no more than twice in a 12-month period:
- the categories and specific pieces of Personal Information that the business has collected about you;
- the categories of sources from which your Personal Information is collected;
- the business or commercial purpose for collecting or sharing your Personal Information;
- the categories of third parties with whom a business shares your Personal Information; and
- the categories of Personal Information that are sold (as defined under the CCPA) and the categories of third parties to whom the Personal Information was sold.
- Request that a business delete your Personal Information, subject to exceptions under the CCPA or other applicable law; and
- Request that a business not "sell" your Personal Information by opting out of the sale of your Personal Information.
California residents also have the right not to receive discriminatory treatment for the exercise of any of the privacy rights conferred by the CCPA, as described in this section.
How to Submit a Request
If you are a California resident and wish to request access to your Personal Information, to request deletion of your Personal Information, or to request that we opt you out of the sale of your Personal Information, please submit your request through this webform.
Alternatively, you may also make requests by emailing [email protected] or by calling 614-418-8370. Please help us by providing your full name, email, and home address, and clearly indicate which right you wish to exercise. The information collected through this process will be used only for responding to your request.
We will provide you with access to your Personal Information or delete your Personal Information only in response to a verifiable consumer request. We will compare the information you provide to us to any information we may have in our possession in order to verify your request. We may also contact you to request additional information in relation to your request. The information you provide must match the information we have in our possession. This measure is in place to help ensure that Personal Information is not disclosed to any person who does not have the right to receive it. The information collected through this process will be used for verification purposes only.
Requests Made Through Agents
Please note that you may authorize an agent to make a request on your behalf. If you use an agent, we will take measures to verify your agent’s authorization similar to the verification described above for fulfilling any access or deletion requests. We may require more information to ensure proper verification of your agent’s identity and authorization.
Categories of Personal Information Sold
We share Personal Information with companies and third parties that we work with, including third parties who help us market or advertise to you. California law may characterize the way we share your information with companies that provide services to you or to us as "sales" of Personal Information. In the previous 12 months, we may have sold (as defined under the CCPA) the following categories of Personal Information: device information, location information, website interactions, transactional data, social media usage, profile information, and other submitted content. We may sell this Personal Information to any third party listed under "4. Does M/I Homes share your information with third parties?"
Categories of Personal Information Disclosed for a Business Purpose
We share Personal Information about you with service providers and third parties for business purposes, such as operational purposes and other purposes related to providing you with the products and services you seek from us. For more information about the business purposes for which we disclose Personal Information, please see "4. Does M/I Homes share your information with third parties?", and please see "1. What information does M/I Homes collect about you on our Sites and Social Media Pages?" for what types of information may be shared.
Additional California Privacy Rights
California residents may also ask us to provide them with (i) a list of certain categories of personal information that we have disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the immediately preceding calendar year, and (ii) the identity of those third parties. California residents may make one request per calendar year.
To make this request, you may contact us at [email protected]. In your request, please include a subject line that states "CA Shine the Light Request", state that you are a California resident, and provide a current California address for our response.
Effective as of June 30th, 2017This document was last revised on Friday, August 19, 2022.