Hindsight is 20/20..right? Looking back, what questions do you think would have flagged your bad roommate?

TL;DR: looking back, what questions/answers would have helped you avoid your bad roommate — even if the responses weren’t the reality?

Starting to plan a move to a new city, and will likely start trying to find a good roommate(s)!

As a long time lurker, I know it’s all too easy for things to hit the fan (and based off of posts here, in so many terrifying ways).

I think people often advertise themselves as being a certain way, not because they believe they aren’t, but because saying I’m “clean” or “low maintenance,” is so subjective— and they actually believe it to be true. (Of course, there are exceptions to this).

For example: if asked, both a friend of mine and myself would say we consider ourselves clean people. For me, that means I generally don’t leave dishes in the sink overnight, but it might happen for dish or two occasionally (occasionally is also subjective! To me this is maybe 1-2 a month). And if I do, it’s definitely done early the next day. But for my friend, it means the cup goes in the dishwasher as soon as you finish your drink, and she’s upset if that doesn’t happen.

I know I wouldn’t like living with my friend, because I also need a little flexibility every once in a while, and I don’t want to be the bad roommate in her story. But on the other hand, I don’t want to agree to live with someone who says — I’m low maintenance and I don’t mind if you leave stuff in the sink because that might mean they feel verrryyyy comfortable leaving dishes pile up for days.

So, long story short: does anyone have ideas about ways to identify whether a person might be a compatible roommate — by asking certain questions, or by other “tells,” maybe beyond the substance of their answers themself, when you are just getting to know them?

TIA and sorry if asked before.