Privacy Policy — RealEstate USA
About this app
RealEstate USA helps US consumers learn about homebuying through five on-device calculators (Mortgage, Affordability, Rent vs Buy, Closing Costs, Home Equity & HELOC), a plain-English AI Realtor that answers general questions about US real estate, plus three curated reference directories: Top Sites (30+ trending US listings, lenders, government and news portals), Loan Programs (9 explainers covering Conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, Jumbo, 15-yr, ARM, HELOC, cash-out refi), and Down-Payment Assistance (50-state directory of state housing-finance agencies). All calculators run entirely on your device.
What we collect
| Data | Collected? | Stored where |
|---|---|---|
| Calculator inputs (home price, income, monthly debts, rate, term, etc.) | You type them into the calculators | App memory only — never sent to our servers |
| Last-picked US state preference | Yes | On-device SharedPreferences (realestate_prefs) |
| Free-text questions you type into the AI Realtor | Sent to the AI provider (after PII auto-redaction — see below) | Not stored on our servers |
| Social Security / driver’s license / credit card / bank account numbers | Never — the app auto-redacts these from AI prompts before they leave your device | — |
| Crash logs / analytics SDK | No | — |
| Name, email, account creation | No — the app has no accounts or sign-in | — |
| Location / contacts / photos / microphone / camera | No | — |
AI generation (Pollinations) & PII protection
The AI Realtor sends your typed question over HTTPS to Pollinations, our text-generation provider. Before sending, the app automatically scrubs:
- Social Security number patterns (e.g.
123-45-6789) - Credit-card-length digit sequences (13–19 digits)
- Phone numbers
- Email addresses
- Routing / account number patterns
We do not attach your name, device ID, advertising ID, or any account identifier to the AI request. We have no servers; we do not keep a copy of the prompt or the response.
System prompt: the AI is instructed to (a) answer in plain English with US examples, (b) always lead with the disclaimer that the answer is educational only and not legal/tax/financial advice, (c) refuse and call out any request that discriminates by race / religion / national origin / sex / familial status / disability (Fair Housing Act), any request to falsify income or employment (loan fraud), and any predatory practice, (d) never invent specific lender names, current rates, or guaranteed approval odds.
External links (Top Sites, Loan Programs, DPA)
The three reference directories are static, bundled inside the app — we don't fetch them at runtime. Tapping any row launches your device's default browser (or a Chrome Custom Tab) at the destination URL. We don't run, own, or vouch for those third-party sites, and we don't receive any callback, referral data, or affiliate revenue from them.
Calculators — how they work
Each calculator runs a small formula on your device using your inputs and educational state-level factors (median home price, effective property tax rate, typical homeowners-insurance cost per $1,000 of dwelling coverage, and typical buyer-side closing percent). State factors are rounded approximations sourced from public 2024–2025 averages (US Census ACS, Federal Reserve, Tax Foundation, NAIC, MBA). They are not bound to any lender’s actual rates, taxes, or insurance quotes. Output is rounded to whole-dollar monthly and total figures and labelled as an educational estimate.
Permissions the app requests
- Internet / network state — required for the AI Realtor, the consent form, and ad serving. The app shows a “no internet” screen when offline.
The app does not request location, contacts, microphone, camera, notifications, SMS, storage, or telephone state.
Advertising
RealEstate USA shows ads provided by Google AdMob. Google’s advertising SDK collects and processes limited data — for example, your device’s advertising identifier and approximate IP-based location — to serve and measure ads. This is governed by Google’s policies:
If you live in a region where consent is required (the EEA, UK, Switzerland, or a US state with applicable privacy law), the app uses Google’s User Messaging Platform (UMP) to gather consent, and sets npa=1 (non-personalized ads) by default so it stays compliant with GDPR / UK GDPR / CCPA. You can re-open the privacy-options form any time from Settings.
Children
This app is not directed at children under 13 and is not classified as a “family” app on Google Play.
Disclaimer (repeated, because it matters)
RealEstate USA provides educational estimates and AI explanations only. Nothing in the app is a mortgage quote, an offer of credit, professional real-estate advice, legal advice, tax advice, or financial advice. The developer is not licensed as a real-estate agent, broker, lender, attorney, or tax professional. Always consult licensed professionals in your US state before making any real-estate, mortgage, or refinancing decision.
Contact
If you have questions about this policy, contact the developer through the Google Play listing.