I am trying to go into this investment with the mindset that we are making passive income first, gaining equity second, and whatever we get appreciation wise is icing on the cake. 

Cash flow is only icing on the cake.  

Option 1 has no pets, just the icing on the cake!

We talked to a guy who owns a lot of real estate in the area, and he suggested we buy a SFR and sell it in a couple of years because he thinks the market is going to rise, but from everything I've learned on bigger pockets, that's supposed to be the icing on the cake, not the purpose of your buy...  

As petroleum prices sink to newly tested lows, expect the trickle-down effect to take a toll on the cities in Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and fracking states, like Ohio.While Charlotte and Atlanta are both good investment locations in 2016, I believe it is safe to say that Seattle is going to take the cake in 2016.

Appreciation is just icing on the cake.

I've been told appreciation is always icing on the cake, with "the cake" being a good buy.

Hi BPs, I'm getting an MF with a tenant in a space that's clearly moldy (black spots on wall, and confirmed a nice mold cake in the crawlspace below). 

If you give some more details, I (and many others on BP, I'm sure) would be happy to do some analysis for you.As far as appreciation goes; conventional wisdom on BP tells you to ignore it and just consider it icing on the cake, but I mildly disagree.

I just went through my first (and second) application/credit/background process with cozy. once you do it once, its a piece of cake, no complaints from either tenants. very easy to set up monthly (pro-rated first month too!)