'Speed Roommating' Event Seeks To Match Apartment-Hunters

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In a city of 8.5 million people, it is sometimes still hard to find a decent roommate.

But now, a Brooklyn group is exploring a new way to connect apartment-hunting millennials.

As CBS2's John Dias reported, it is all about a good first impression as young adults walk into an apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. They are not looking for love before Valentine's Day, but hoping they match up with a roommate instead.

"Well, there is nothing like person-to-person connection," said prospective roommate Allison Currier.

"I think that is a much safer way and a much more fun way," said prospective Ngozika Ezeugwu.

It is called Speed Roommating, and it is very similar to speed dating.

The organization Whose Your Landlord set up the event. It costs $7 or the seven-minute sessions.

The young Brooklynites asked questions such as, "Where in the city do you want to live?" and, "How neat are you?"

"None of us ever attended a Speed Roommating event, if it exists, but we thought we will just put it together ourselves and make it available," said Kelly Greene of Whose Your Landlord.

The business usually uses their platform for renters to rate their landlords online, but decided to expand their services, saying the participants do not have to make a decision right away.

"We are definitely not going to have people sign up for leases today," Greene said. "It's just building that connection."

According to a recent Zillow report, 40 percent of New Yorkers between the ages of 23 and 65 have a roommate of some sort. The nearly dozen people at the event actually want to become part of that statistic soon.

"Everyone is looking for a roommate these days. Everyone is looking to have some type of way to minimize expenses, especially when it comes to living in a place like New York City," said Vixon John.

So for the millennials in attendance, they were eager to have seven minutes of their time to turn into finding someone to share an apartment with – even it if it a seven-floor walk-up.

Organizers with Whose Your Landlord plan on hosting similar events like this every single month.

For more on Speed Roommating and how you can get involved in the next event, click here.