What do I say

I'm about to message my workcrush for the first time on facebook, I want to see if he landed a deal on an apartment he was looking at from a craigslist ad. Should I just start out with 'hey' or "hey did you get the apartment" or "how've you been" or wtf ever I don't know how to initiate conversations. He did tell me how to find his new facebook though, which to me is an open invitation to say hi.

Also lately, I think my 'landlord'/roomate who's been subletting to me about a year is trying to find a way out of the year's lease he just signed for the upcoming year. He asked our new move-in if he was interested in having it transferred to his name, to which he said no. I think he's in some kind of financial trouble, he's been late on a few bills lately, I hear him making phone calls to realtors asking for appraisals on 'a small weekend home'... I'm just very nervous my landlord is trying to find a way to dip :/