These terms are in effect and govern your CarteCasa membership, including the 30-day free trial and the $99/month automatically renewing subscription that follows it unless you cancel. They are not legal, financial, tax, mortgage, or real-estate brokerage advice. CarteCasa is a membership platform that connects you with participating licensed agents — it is not a real estate brokerage.
Membership Agreement
The membership terms between you and CarteCasa, including billing and cancellation.
1. What this agreement covers
This Membership Agreement is between you and CarteCasa LLC ("CarteCasa," "we," "us"). It governs your membership to the CarteCasa platform, including the free trial, billing, and cancellation. It does not govern the licensed real estate services you may separately arrange with a participating agent or that agent's sponsoring brokerage — those are covered by a separate written agreement between you and that agent or brokerage.
2. What CarteCasa is — and is not
CarteCasa is a membership platform that connects members with participating licensed real estate professionals in the Chicagoland area. CarteCasa is not a real estate brokerage and does not provide real estate brokerage, agency, or representation. CarteCasa does not act as your agent, does not owe you fiduciary duties, and does not perform licensed real estate activity. CarteCasa does not provide legal, financial, tax, mortgage, or real-estate brokerage advice. Showings, offers, negotiation, and closings are performed by participating licensed agents through their own sponsoring brokerages, under written agreements and disclosures required by those brokerages and applicable law.
3. Membership, free trial, and automatic monthly billing
Your membership begins with a 30-day free trial. You provide a payment method through Stripe when you start the trial, and you are not charged during the trial. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, your membership automatically renews into a paid subscription of $99.00 per month (USD): your payment method is charged $99.00 on the day your trial ends — your first billing date — and on the same day each month after that, until you cancel. By starting the trial you expressly consent to these recurring monthly charges after the trial unless you cancel first. We will send a confirmation of your trial and renewal terms by email for your records.
3a. Buyer-agent representation is separate from membership
Your membership billing does not change based on whether or when you engage a participating agent for buyer representation. Choosing, signing with, or using a participating agent does not start, accelerate, or add to your CarteCasa billing, and CarteCasa does not charge any purchase, closing, platform, referral, or transaction fee. Any fee for that representation — a separate flat fee, for example approximately $3,000 for buyer-agent representation — is separate from CarteCasa and is handled between you and the participating agent or the agent's sponsoring or managing brokerage, as applicable, under your separate written agreement. CarteCasa does not collect, receive, process, escrow, or touch it; CarteCasa's only charge is the $99/month membership. You may cancel anytime through your billing portal.
4. Fees paid outside CarteCasa
The $99/month membership is the only fee CarteCasa charges. CarteCasa does not collect, receive, process, escrow, or touch commissions, showing fees, buyer-agent representation fees, referral fees, or transaction fees. Showing fees and buyer-agent representation fees are separate, agent-side fees handled between you and the participating agent or the agent's sponsoring or managing brokerage, as applicable, under a separate written agreement. The binding price for any licensed service is the price stated in that written agreement.
5. Cancellation and refunds
You may cancel anytime through your billing portal; cancellation stops future billing. If you cancel before your free trial ends, you are not charged. If you cancel after billing begins, your membership remains active through the end of the monthly period you have already paid for and then ends; membership fees already charged are not refunded and are not prorated for partial periods. If a payment fails, we may retry it and your access may be limited or suspended until payment succeeds.
6. Where CarteCasa is available
CarteCasa is currently available for Illinois homebuyers and Illinois properties. It is not yet available in other states.
7. Written buyer-broker agreement before touring
Before you tour a property or receive licensed real estate services from a participating agent, that agent or the agent's sponsoring brokerage must provide, and you must execute, any required written buyer-broker agreement and related disclosures directly with that agent or brokerage. CarteCasa membership does not substitute for those agreements.
8. No guarantee of showings, savings, or outcomes
CarteCasa coordinates with participating agents but does not guarantee that any showing, tour, offer, credit, saving, or transaction outcome will occur. Showings are not confirmed until a participating agent confirms availability and property access. Any cost comparisons CarteCasa publishes are illustrative examples only; CarteCasa does not promise savings, seller credits, reimbursement, or that any offer will be accepted.
9. Your responsibilities
You agree to provide accurate information, to use the platform lawfully, and to enter into any written agreements and disclosures that a participating agent or brokerage requires before touring or making an offer. CarteCasa membership does not replace those agreements.
10. Relationship to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Your use of CarteCasa is also governed by the CarteCasa Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, which are incorporated by reference. Where this Membership Agreement and the Terms of Service conflict on billing or cancellation matters, this Membership Agreement controls.
11. Changes to this agreement
CarteCasa may update this agreement from time to time. We will post changes here and update the effective date, and for material changes — including any change to the price or renewal terms — we will provide notice by email or in the product before the change takes effect.