Lease options are purely speculative.

It's purely by accident but help me to learn about how the real estate transaction works.

Make is a pure mathematical equation and take any emotions out of it.

In the new scenario you're maybe $200 out of pocket per month with a good chunk of that going to pay down the loan and give you equity.If you're putting 20% down on a pure investment property then yeah lack of cash flow is a problem but not so much for a primary residence with a low down payment.

Banks love them, but they are purely speculation and pie in the sky projections of what the potential income could be one day.

From a pure investment perspective, Erik has a good list to consider.  

So my hope is to continue educating myself and eventually move away from purely passive approach.

Please man do not drive for dollars, don't do door knocking.You get a website and you do SEO.While you do SEO you do either PPC or FBads.Just so you have an image how powerful SEO is take a gander:This is purely organic.

For instance, if you want pure appreciation expectation (AE) then i would out your window :)  NYC, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Miami, Honolulu, and maybe Denver and Austin.   

Without that, the rest is pure speculation.