Homes and buyers beyond public listings.

Jaakko.com is a new kind of home-buying and home-selling service, where owners sell flexibly on their own terms, and buyers find homes that aren't on the usual property portals.

For a lot of owners, committing to an estate agent feels like too big or too expensive a step. Jaakko lowers the bar for selling, which is what lets buyers find homes outside the public market as well. A buyer can show interest in any building, and an owner can see the demand for their own home before deciding anything.

Jaakko works for an owner quietly weighing it up and for one actively selling. When a buyer's interest and an owner's interest land on the same address, the two of them can talk directly and move towards a deal – no middlemen, no commission.

In short, Jaakko works like this:

1. Explore buildings and areas. Almost every building is on Jaakko. You'll see the buying and selling interests people have already added, right there on the map.
2. Say you're interested. Add your own buying or selling interest in moments, and share exactly as much detail as you want to.
3. Start a conversation. When an owner's interest and a buyer's interest meet at the same address, you can talk directly if you both want to.

Adding an interest doesn't commit you to buying or selling anything, and you can remove it whenever you like.

Jaakko's map covers almost every building in the world.

You can explore buildings on the map and add a buying or selling interest in any of them, whether or not anything in them happens to be publicly for sale right now.

In a few cases – a property without an exact street address, for instance – the building may not be on the service yet.

No.

A buying or selling interest only says that you'd be interested in buying, or that you might consider selling. It isn't an offer, a mandate or any other commitment, and removing it is as easy as adding it was.

Your email address isn't shown to other users. It reaches the other side only when you choose to send a message or reply to one, so you can step into the market at your own pace.

Jaakko lets you look for a home far more widely than listings allow: you can show interest in any building, including one with nothing publicly for sale.

For example, you can:

• like a building or follow it without declaring a buying interest yet
• add a buying interest in a particular building or area
• find owners who might consider selling
• find owners who are actively selling
• be told automatically about new homes that fit what you're after
• get in touch with the owner directly
• talk about the home with nobody in between.

Find a building you like on the map, open its page and add your buying interest with Buy here. While you're there you can widen that interest to a larger area if you want – a whole neighbourhood, say.

You can also add an area-wide buying interest straight from the + button in the Activity menu, without visiting a building page at all.

Telling us what kind of home you're looking for, and what size, helps owners see whether theirs might suit you. Adding an interest takes moments and commits you to nothing.

When you find a building or a selling interest you like, tap Ask more to open a conversation with the owner directly.

You can ask about the home, its condition or the sort of price they have in mind, and arrange a viewing.

Jaakko works both for an owner who's only thinking about selling and for one who's serious about it.

If you haven't decided anything yet, you can find out how much interest there is in your home without a listing. If you do want to sell, you can use Jaakko to reach buyers and push the sale along without the traditional agent model.

For example, you can:

• see the buyers interested in your home or your area
• say you'd be open to considering a sale
• offer a home you're actively selling to buyers
• be told automatically about new potential buyers
• talk to buyers directly
• suggest your own home to a buyer who looks like a fit
• use Jaakko's price estimate, photo clean-up and visibility boost.

No.

You can add a selling interest even if you'd only consider selling should the right buyer or the right price come along. You can add one just as well when you're already actively selling.

Find your own home on the map, open its page and add your selling interest with Sell here. You can also add it straight from the + button in the Activity menu. It takes moments and doesn't commit you to selling.

How much you tell people about your home is up to you. If you're serious about selling, it's worth adding thorough details and photos, so that potential buyers have enough to go on.

Jaakko produces an automatic price estimate for every selling interest, using AI and the market data available. The more you tell it, the more it has to work with.

The estimate isn't an asking price or an official valuation report – it's an indicative figure to start the conversation. What you'd actually sell for is always your call, and you can replace Jaakko's suggestion with your own price.

You'll see the buying interests aimed at your home and its area. If you spot a buyer your home might suit, open a conversation with Suggest. The buyer sees your suggestion and you can take it from there.

A buyer can also approach you first with Ask more. Either way, the conversation continues privately in Messages.

You can browse the map and some of Jaakko's content without an account. Adding buying and selling interests, conversations, alerts and the tools all need one.

You can create an account with an email address, or sign up with your Google or Facebook account. It's quick and free.

An account lets you add buying and selling interests, talk to other users, keep track of your own activity, receive alerts and the morning digest, and use Jaakko's tools.

A buyer opens a conversation with Ask more, and an owner approaches a promising buyer with Suggest. After that the conversation continues privately in Messages, where you'll find all of them. Messages aren't visible to anyone else.

You can invite someone else in – a partner, or anyone else involved in the deal – so that everyone stays in the same conversation. You can close a conversation whenever you want.

You can share whatever helps the deal along: extra photos, floor plans, housing company documents.

If you have buying or selling interests on Jaakko, you'll get a morning digest by email. It gathers up the new homes and buyers that fit your interests, along with anything else that matters to you, so you don't have to keep checking the service yourself.

You can also subscribe to alerts by email and text message. Text messages are switched on in Profile by adding your phone number.

The same events and updates are collected in the Activity menu, where a single look tells you what's happened around your interests.

The Tools menu holds the services that help with selling, buying and the stages of a deal.

• Price estimate – an indicative estimate of what a home is worth, built from AI and market data. Three fuller estimates a day, free. More about the price estimate →
• Photo clean-up – AI tidies and styles ordinary photos into listing photos. The first 60 photos are free. More about photo clean-up →
• Visibility boost – we advertise your buying or selling interest on Facebook and Instagram, so you reach buyers and sellers beyond Jaakko too. €49.90 / 14 days. More about the visibility boost →

Jaakko's core features are free: browsing the map, buying and selling interests, conversations and alerts cost nothing, and there's no commission.

The tools are free up to a point too: you can order three fuller price estimates a day, and photo clean-up comes with a package of 60 photos.

The only paid service at the moment is the visibility boost, at €49.90 for 14 days.

We're building Jaakko into a real alternative to the traditional agent model. New services for other stages of a deal are coming shortly, and we'll have more to say about them soon.

All feedback is welcome.

If you have a question, run into a problem, or have an idea for something we should build, write to support@jaakko.com.

We're improving Jaakko all the time, based on what users tell us.

Jaakko has a number of features meant to make the meeting between a buyer and an owner safer.

Users can verify their identity on the service. You'll know a verified user by the blue icon, which means they've confirmed who they are to Jaakko. It adds a degree of certainty about who you're dealing with.

Verification alone doesn't guarantee that a user is trustworthy, that they have the right to sell a home, or that what they tell you is correct. Before any binding decision or payment, always check the other party's identity, the ownership and property details, and the documents involved.

Never send money or sensitive information on the strength of a conversation on Jaakko alone.

Jaakko's first job is to help a buyer and an owner find each other and talk directly. You don't need an agent to use Jaakko, or to find a buyer or a home.

A home sale does involve important legal, financial and practical stages. You can handle them yourselves with Jaakko's tools, or bring in professionals. If you need one, we'll connect you with an expert who can help with the deed of sale and the rest of the paperwork. Leave a request in Messages or under Help with the deal.

The parties remain responsible for checking the information themselves, and for their own decisions and agreements.