Stats do indeed "lie" whether intentionally because the group creating the stats has an agenda, or unintentionally because of human error.

I am trying to buy a home & I have been pre-approved but the lender says that I will not be approved unless I show that I am either going to re-enlist or have a civilian job lined up for proof of income.The problem w/ this is that I cannot show proof of civilian employment because I do not have a job lined up nor do i plan to re-enlist.I have read online that I could provide the letter of intent to re-enlist, and just not follow through w/ it.

Most that I have come across do not have your best intention in mind because they are giving back a large amount of the commission they would normally keep.  

Right now if you don't know how to wholesale, you have NO IDEA how much an investor will buy it for and the last thing you want to do is get it under contract for whatever the seller wants to sell it for and you have zero intentions of buying it yourself then in panic mode to find a buyer and if you don't find a buyer you just piss them off and make yourself and all other wholesalers look bad.  

Does the intent of trying to live in the new property meet the requirement?

Bottom line, don't buy with short term rental intent without doing your research. 

Every real estate property that is purchased with the intent as an investment(treated as a rental) will have some amount of depreciation.The amount of depreciation depends on the property purchased.Whether you can offset rental losses against your other income will depend on your tax profile.Best of luck!

The Legal issue with wholesaling revolves around 3 things: Intent to buyAbility to buy Negotiating on someone else's  behalfYour intent should always be to actually close and then resell but there are situations where an assignment is the most logical decision for the buyer; for example, let's say you tie up a property but another more promising investment comes along and you have a limited amount of capital, in that case an assignment would make sense...I've seen these things play out in court so I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who has actually seen a "Wholesale case" litigated. 

I'm an accidental landlord, this house wasn't purchased with the intention of being s rental.

Failed attempt #1 was pursued with a letter of intent which I sent to the address on file at the assessor's office.