Using Philadelphia as an example, in other areas, especially the more suburban neighborhoods, you could run into ERSA, steep slope, and more common to encounter interpretation issues on the part of the plans examiner.

Right now the only interpretation I can think of that would make sense to me is that the actual action of 'trading' refers to the party who actually closes the deal Of course you need an attorney or agent to close, you can't just close a deal yourself so that would make sense to me.

I always lean on the overly cautions/conservative interpretation, but if I am honest, my tax preparer rolls his eyes at me from time to time

They all interpret the rules differently.

I like your interpretation better.

(I used 35% since that’s about i’m getting taxed on my w2)You forgot about the depreciation deductions on the rentals.It appears as though every analysis you are doing misses something (actually more than one thing) or interprets something wrong. 

I'm not looking to create a proforma or deal analysis, I'm just looking for some resources on how to interpret them. 

Additionally, doing the search is the easy part -- interpreting the search is the hard part with a much steeper learning curve.

Don't rely on information provided to you and interpreted by others-can't stress this enough.

I re-read my original post and realized it could be interpreted as perhaps casting aspersions toward contractors as a group.