As I understand it, if one has a full-time job, it is almost impossible to qualify as a REP due to the hours devoted to RE requirement.Different tax advisors may offer different interpretations of the REP tax code.In sum, my answer is: not sure you qualify as an REP - best to discuss issue in depth with an appropriate tax professional.

So if it says "Year to month end" I would interpret it as the start of accounting year thru end of October.

I am interpreting this to be per person and that there is not a marriage penalty.  

yep. as said earlier, the laws are important to know. you will learn alot along the way. alot of times, they will leave without being problematic. you dont need to know all the laws, you just need to know where to find them and interpret them. we have what i call "professional renters" among us.

Examples:Lender 1: RTP Federal Credit Union: "Must have rental income on 5 years tax returns to get this loan"Lender 2: Coastal Federal Credit Union:  I THINK that I do in fact meet their parameters to qualify for this loan, but they are idiots and I think they're interpreting my tax returns in correctly. 

After reviewing the Fannie Mae site, I'm interpreting that the principal residence should be excluded from the reserve calculation, meaning PITI and Unpaid Principal Balance (UPB).  

I interpret this to mean that if I pay $180,000, we could close quickly.

Know how to read and interpret your loan agreement.

However in your case you're really trying to shorten the time frames down to artificially match a flipping model.I'm thinking that your intent then could very well be interpreted that you never had the intent to hold for productive use.  

I know this vision may be interpreted as overly ambitious, but I like hard work and I like challenges.