Your lender can tell you more about requirements such as the FHA self sufficiency. 

But you should have sufficient cash reserves to be able to deal with evictions, damage, and making payments while you look for a tenant/buyer.

I'm thinking getting to the same profit/month (at least $1,350) from both properties combined or even less is sufficient for now as i'm forecasting both reduces in interest rates in a year or two (refinance from 6.375%), and property equity goes up in general in the Tampa Bay market. 

For example, do I need to sleep in the house or can I live/work out of it for the majority of the day and then sleep at my parent's place?

Requesting assets is normal - I typically check to make sure balance is sufficient, but it sounds for this purpose the cash out will cover the reserves. 

Our property can sleep up to 22 and has a large common area for groups to hang out together.  

So that said personally I'd likely stand firm on the fact that the property was rented as is and while 28"X28" may not be todays 'code' it by your own admission is sufficient for him to egress if needed.

We find the best overall cash flow properties are four bedroom homes that sleep 8 to 10 people for under 1.5 million.

I went to REIA meeting yesterday where I got connected to a lot of hard money, local bank, and private lenders and I couldn't sleep last night thinking of all the possibilities. 

Lastly, you need to ensure that you, your real estate agent, if applicable, and your loan officer that is assisting you do the perform the FHA Self-Sufficiency Test for that 3-4 unit properties to ensure that it passes that.