Can you explain what the benefit is to a property owner to have a literal stranger sublet their house to a whole bunch of other strangers and pocket the difference in rent?

A side benefit is that the applicant pays Zillow not you for the application fee and their application can be reused for 30 days to submit to other landlords.

Minimal cash upfront, negotiate a monthly rent, lock in a price today that will benefit from any appreciate that might occur during the term of the lease.

They do the hard work while investors like myself get the benefit of having a long term rental.

I do have a lot of knowledge and skills and small network that would hopefully benefit other investors and in turn would help grow a portfolio. 

No option is really better or worse than the other, they both have benefits and draw backs. 

I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt since there was a pandemic.

We've always been curious about the market there, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on areas worth exploring a bit more.I'm open to connecting privately to chat further, but I also appreciate you sharing insights here for everyone to benefit.

In addition to appreciation potential, there are a bunch of tax benefits to consider as well... my favorite being that a tax loss can be carried forward to offset future taxable income.

One wrong move, one wrong contractor, one wrong vendor…will erase any "benefit" one city has over another.