Is StreetEasy still the move? Are people who've looked last year or right now secured something through it?

Just secured a lease through unconventional means (got really lucky and found a full 12 month lease takeover on Facebook), but originally my roommate and I were using StreetEasy and kept an open mind on neighborhoods and looked across most of the east side from Murray Hill to Kips Bay to Gramercy to East Village to LES. Went in to the city so many times for open houses and the lines were always at least 20 people with some having up to 35 to 40 people. As expected, literally never was approved because someone else must have gotten the apartment. We both have usual IB incomes (combined 220K) and both have credit scores of 750+ and in addition had both of our parents who we used as guarantors making 80x as well.

Also kept an open mind and gave apartments without W/D some thought, as well as more unattractive locations. Just wanted to ask that this was the way that has been said on this site for years but is it really still the way? I understand it could fully just be my experience but want to hear from other people. And I understand this happening with places that were a genuine steal (around $4K for a 2bd/1ba) but even pushing out budget to 5K apartments – this was still the case.