“Hello, excuse me, how much do you pay for rent?'
While some may consider this question to be either fake or a conversation killer, for Caleb Simpson, asking strangers gave him the career of his dreams. The formula for his videos is simple: he runs up to people on the street and asks how much they pay for rent. If they're willing to stop by, he also asks if he can take a quick tour of their home.
For Simpson, the desire to look inside people's homes launched his career as one of TikTok's favorite personalities. Simpson's video series, which first launched in 2022, has grown his account to 8.3 million followers and averages over 10 million views per video. It's a real Gen-Z MTV cradlehelped by celebrity appearances such as Barbara Corchran, Scarlett Johanssonand Dwight Howard. But while Simpson's series has become so popular that his videos have become a one-stop shop for celebrities looking to give their fans an inside look, the 32-year-old's career began with what he calls “failure after failure” followed by a light bulb moment.
Simpson says he came up with his first real estate video while making a “hard push” for content — daily video memories of stunts, reactions and comedy — essentially throwing video ideas at the wall and hoping something would land. But after failing to connect, he asked his other video production friends if they had any advice. Their answer: “Make something you want to see.”
Following TikTok's rise in popularity following the Covid-19 pandemic, creators have gained a huge following from man-on-the-street style content, interviewing strangers in city centers about everything from favorite restaurants to dating style. While watching one such video, Simpson got an idea. “I was like, I'm really sick of street interviews,” he says Rolling rock. “I want to see more of these people's lives. That would be interesting to me.”
It's one thing to ask a stranger how much they pay for rent, but Simpson wanted to take it a step further. So he decided to ask people if they would let him tour their homes. “That first day I went out and tried to ask like 100 people and most of them were like, 'Haha, geez,'” he says.. “And finally I got someone to say yes, and we went to shoot it. But I still posted all those other clips of me asking people and they all went super viral. And I'd been making videos for long enough that I realized: This was the moment.” After his first videos — the ones touring a duplex in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. a studio apartment with a private terrace. and a 95-square-foot micro-apartment — people started recognizing Simpson on the street and inviting him to tour their homes. Now, it doesn't I have finding people on the street to take videos, but sometimes it's just more fun.
Simpson credits his insatiable interest in people's lives to his upbringing. The middle child of nine children, he grew up in a small town in North Carolina, where he was homeschooled by his parents. “I think that's the reason for my curiosity about the world and exploring it so much,” he says. Rolling rock. “Because I was just at home and always wanted to be out in the world and see what it's like out there.” Simpson took his fascination with the cameras with him to Methodist University in North Carolina, where he jokes that he majored in “binge drinking.” But the end of college brought him to a crossroads. “I just finished school,” he says. “And then I had to make a choice like, do I want to be an active member of society or not?”
He moved to New York, where between managing a tennis club and trying to pay his bills on time, he took what he calls a “tunnel vision” crash course in becoming a creator. But while continuing his journey, Simpson also describes a personality transformation, one that took him from the “old Caleb” to a “new Caleb” ready to work toward his goals. And then the “aha” moment hit. As the Simpson series has grown, it has toured Matt Rife's tour busgrab a slice of pizza with Quavoand he had Drew Barrymore try how soft his bed is. But while Simpson's page has become a popular stop for celebrities of all stripes, he's adamant that these aren't unaffordable mansions.
“Society hasn't really seen inside [normal] people's homes,” he says. “Every show was [about] lifestyle of the rich and famous. It wasn't, “Let me see my neighbor's house.” No one has seen this and we can all relate.”
Simpson notes that much of the continued interest in the series is the relevancy of the mid-sized apartment debate, especially in cities like New York. “That's a line that everybody has. We all live in a box so we can all relate to it,” he says. “Everybody's always talking about the rent.” But his favorite part might be how his videos have become a platform for others to shine. “It's been fun to watch because a lot of people have taken chances [from my videos],'' he says. people”.
Since the exponential rise of apartment tours, Simpson has expanded the series to other cities outside the US, including Tokyo, London and Sydney. In fact, the series has grown so much that Simpson now spends a large portion of his time rejecting people. But perhaps what he's most proud of on this journey is how he's grown. Not as a creator, but as an adult finally ready to take charge of his own life.
“I think old Caleb was scared to see what his potential was. And he's afraid to try to put himself out there again and again and again and again and like see what happens. And maybe he'd rather make excuses, you know?' He says. “New Caleb makes no excuses and is still afraid. But he's trying.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/caleb-simpson-tiktok-rent-apartment-tours-creator-1235018934/