Hi Perplex,
I’m sorry about the roommate issue. There is little worse than having to endure an unpleasant living situation.
It sounds like there’s competition for limited housing where you live? Especially if that’s the case, then you do probably want to dress nicely if there’s any sort of interview as part of the screening. If it’s an open-house style showing, then it certainly couldn’t hurt to introduce yourself (but I’m not sure how necessary that is). The first thing most landlords are likely to take into consideration are credit score and income level, and whether you’ve broken a lease in the past, or caused uncompensated damage to a property. On the latter note, you might want to be prepared to offer references from past landlords so they can run a background check. That’s the kind of stuff that was asked of me last time I rented an apartment.
Another thought: nowadays, folks may also look at your social media, if you have any, so you may want to make sure that whatever you’ve put up there doesn’t do anything to suggest to an outside party that you might somehow be an undesirable tenant (e.g., irresponsible or a magnet for unwanted drama, or such)
Good luck with your new home search
