A video of a woman trying to close a large apartment window in a building that's over a century old has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was shared by @msf_manyshiningfathers and has received 1.3 million views since it was posted on October 17. The footage was captured in Los Angeles, according to a location shared with the post.
A note overlaid on the video reads: "Living in a loft apartment is a dream, but what you'll get is this 'hella heavy, so hard to close' window."
The footage shows a woman standing dangerously close to a large open window looking out on the city as she tries to pull the window down. At one point, she's holding on to the top panel of the window frame, dangling her entire body against the open window, which left some TikTok viewers fearing for her safety.
A caption shared with the post says: "Living in a loft apartment is such a lovely thing, but this was a reminder that this building is more than a hundred years old."
The woman is later seen standing up on the window ledge, trying to push the window down. After one final attempt, she manages to safely pull the window shut from inside.
In later comments, the poster wrote: "Omggg I do have a balcony behind that window. I would never go up if I didn't have balcony." She explained that she has "a fire escape balcony behind the window haha, so I was like just naturally went up there."
U.S. homeowners continue to battle soaring housing costs. Millions of potential homebuyers have been "priced out of the market by elevated home prices and interest rates," according to a 2024 report from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. The home price increase was reported in 97 of the top 100 markets, with higher rises in the Northeast and Midwest.
The report found that "the pandemic-era rent surge produced an unprecedented affordability crisis." About half of U.S. renter households are burdened by housing costs, spending over 30 percent of their income on rent.
According to the report, 12.1 million households are "severely cost-burdened," spending more than half of their income on housing expenses, a 1.5 million rise from pre-pandemic levels.
'Almost Had a Heart Attack'
The scene in the viral clip terrified some viewers on TikTok, with several unaware that a balcony was outside the window.
User genie wrote: "My heart sank for a moment," and @curly.carolinne simply said: "My anxiety."
Naomi.fizzle said, "2Girl you scared me climbing on that window," while seame said: "Don't stand on that! Omg."
Dahiana wrote: "I almost had a heart attack thinking that was open without a balcony there," and laa.deborah wrote: "omg I did not see the balcony I was in shock when you got up."
Ryah Santiago wrote: "My heart was racing the whole time girl."
OMOYÉ wrote: "Bro the way an ACCIDENT can happen..."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. The video has not been independently verified.
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