I understand that your wife may be worried about failure, but any kind of investment comes with a chance of failure so the risks must be understood prior to jumping in and the fear must be overcome with the confidence of being successful.Since you're starting funds are $0, a HELOC can be a great tool for getting started, but ultimately you will need some kind of funds of your own because you must pay the HELOC each month during the flip.

I am just asking them to pay for the materials and expenses I paid out of pocket to cover their failures to live up to the lease. 

Only way to ensure failure is to never try ;-)I’d rather try and fail.  

and any experience success with this or failure?

Once it is signed let them know that failure to pay will result in a garnishment of their wages.3.

I was curious if there were any others who started wholesaling part time outside of their 9-5 jobs and found success, or even failure.

A lot of people get stuck in analysis paralysis, if you do the numbers, check them twice , three times over and they work pull the trigger, as a mentor once told me , "man the F up and put on your big boy pants" Knowing that I had done my research and ran the numbers and possibilities. 3) Understand that **** won't be perfect, but the pains and failures that you experience will give you life lessons that will determine if you want to continue or if this isn't right for you.

I agree with @Marc Middleton, move on from this highway to failure property

I would look for another partner for 2 reasons-it creates competition and is not a single point failure in your business.

Ramped up my DM Campaign after many failures w/ minimal replies.