A New York City renter has attracted widespread attention after sharing a detailed strategy for securing a rent-stabilized two-bedroom apartment in central Brooklyn at a monthly rate of $1,680. Alexandra Dye, 29, outlined her approach in a TikTok video that has garnered over 335,000 views, highlighting a method that demands significant time and persistence.

Dye’s technique involves leveraging a lesser-known search feature on the real estate platform StreetEasy. She advises prospective tenants to enter their desired neighborhood, bedroom count, and budget under the Rentals filter, then input the phrase “rent-stabilized” in the Keywords field. Crucially, she instructs users to switch the listing status filter to “Rented” before searching, which reveals previously rented rent-stabilized units that would not appear in a standard search.

Once these expired listings are identified, renters are encouraged to reach out directly to the brokers associated with those units. Dye recommends sending detailed inquiry messages, including information about income, budget, pet ownership, and preferred neighborhoods, effectively providing brokers with the necessary details to consider tenants immediately. She acknowledged a high rejection rate, noting in her video that she received roughly one response for every 15 to 20 messages sent.

This approach reflects the broader realities of the rent-stabilized apartment market in New York City. Approximately 42% of the city’s apartments fall under rent stabilization, where rent increases are regulated by the Rent Guidelines Board, usually limited to 2% to 3% annually. However, the system’s limited public listings stem from brokers and landlords already maintaining established networks of interested renters, meaning many units rarely appear on the market. Dye’s method seeks to circumvent this by proactively inserting potential tenants into these “warm pipelines.”

Dye stressed the intensity of the process, likening her efforts to a full-time job and acknowledging the emotional toll it took. She also noted that renters approaching brokers off-market are typically responsible for paying a broker’s fee—a cost she incurred but found justifiable given the overall savings and the stability of rent-stabilized housing. “If I divide that out by like 12 months, it still keeps me under my original budget,” she said, emphasizing the long-term benefits of securing such a unit.

Since sharing her method, others have reportedly replicated Dye’s success. For instance, a friend’s boyfriend used the same approach to find a rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Dye concluded by underscoring the difficulty of apartment hunting in New York but affirmed her approach’s effectiveness. “Is it worth it? Absolutely,” she said.