If you accept the inspection and appraisal, then you earnest money check is deposited into escrow to officially open escrow. 

I should got the official asking price from him but it's him (the son) & his uncle helping her through this situation.So my question is where should I go from here?

You can also check whether there are any outstanding liens, though that kind of info will officially be handled by title company/closing attorney.

I've heard several months, but does anyone know the official time?

I have yet to get an official report, so I'll take a look when I receive that. 

We are still trying to find out the exact rules of the bidding process as the deadline was just announced today.

I have been to a few and officially joined last week. 

The way that it was asked of me sounded like it was a more official document then what they were actually asking for.    

Another guru, Rob Swanson earlier announced in Feb that HUD abandons "flat bidding" and had a new way of selling properties. 

He was trying to purchase it but hard money financing was crazy expensive for him so thought about wholesaling.Long story short we ended up loaning him some money to purchase the house at a good rate and everything documented official, secured loan etc.