with millions of hosts, if you are in a bigger market, there is only a few spots that can be on the first page. 99.99% of hosts will not be on the first page. so making sure you have the most exposure to the most possible guests is the aim. just like a company making a tv commercial to be exposed to the largest audience possible.sorry, i dont think your post is controversial, its just wrong. 

As for what you are missing: Case Shiller ranking of top residential buy n hold cities for this century had the top 3 spots all being CA cities. 

It doesn't take long to learn how to spot a good deal.6.

The Great Smoky Mountains is the #1 destination of all national parks in the country.It's (probably) the #1 spot investors have focused on for investing. 

Other hot spots I am sure you will hear about are Florida, NC, Texas, Indy to name a few.

two things I have learned.  1,200 is a sweet spot for demand, and if you do have a large unit of 2,500 get a couple of them zoned for auto. 

It doesn't take long to learn how to spot a good deal.6.

This is spot on.

Was a total weird happenstance of things, I got recruited on the spot when I attended as an unsuspecting "mark". 

No pictures.One property we spot check because we are only an hour away.If we find issues or get cleaning complaints they are going to do better or we get a new cleaner.