@Russell Brazil  I agree with Russ totally depends on what kind of real estate.. keep in mind that when you ask this on BP 90% of those on this site will gravitate to the only real estate is rental either sfr or small plexs or MF.. there are many many other types of real estate .take for instance in my mind one of the safest and most passive is investing in land in the path of progress.. pay cash and hold it.. nothing to it.. over time if you buy right or you buy a timber tract with middle age marketable timber species like Doug Fir or white pine  west  East  … these are very solid long term safe investments that you just make and sit and wait.some of the biggest money made in real estate though is land in the path of progress.. this keeps you immune from the ups and downs and risks of tenants.. 

Lease option includes what typically?  

A heloc is interest only so lower payments and none when not using the money but typically it is  line of credit commitment for a 10 year period before changing to an amortized loan and the interest rate is variable (during the non amortization period).

However, given that we’re both military and a couple other circumstances, we have a bit more capital than a typical young-20s couple to invest so are also looking to buy a multi family (ideally quad or tri-plex) property that we can do some light rehab on and start cash flowing.

This is typically handled through a rent-back agreement at PITI with a sufficient security deposit.

What type of market analysis do they typically do to determine the sales price?

One thing that was not mentioned was that if you end up in a larger property with a commercial mortgage, they're typically 5-10 year loans with 20-30 year amortizations.

The more established contractors typically order their material directly through contractor sales reps, as opposed to making daily trips to Home Depot or Lowes.

That's probably why it's hard to explain how a married couple who's not separated has two primary residences.FHA typically requires a year in the property as your primary then you can get another and move. 

But for these small, "executive office suites", there's not typically any moving of walls or any build-out at all.