Crossing different asset classes to determine the best course of action becomes quite difficult, though I like your analogy. I tend to start with a goal and then try to match the strategy that best achieves the goal. In your case,

I think your goal is immediate return with highest possible speculative return, with a limited cash/fiat outlay. The curation and author rewards are the immediate return, all though not passive, and the chance that Hive moons is the speculative investment. I took a more traditional approach with a focus on rental property without any speculative return as an early investment.

Like you mentioned, I cut the grass and did all of the property maintenance. Real estate/rental property has two advantages that I don't think Hive has: LEVERAGE & DEPRECIATION. You can have a small cash outlay and then borrow the rest to purchase the rental property. Of course, property knowledge is paramount since you must be able to earn more in rent than interest, taxes, insurance and maintenance. The Depreciation is very beneficial in offsetting the profit and other earned income on taxes.

I think the best thing that you are doing is studying before entering into an investment. Your knowledge that you share has been very beneficial for me as I plan my crypto investments. Also, I will say, Crypto investing is much more interesting and fun than real estate rental property. I never liked those midnight move outs; clogged drains; and torn up interiors that came with rentals.