Unless those expenses were paying him and other family members to reduce his " profit" keeping within the bounds set by HUD .Who says my brother in law isnt worth $125,000 a year to change light bulbs . 

They can ask whatever price they want, even if that nets them a profit from what they were owed. 

Investors, what would be your desired profits after a flip?

I know that Phil takes your money up front and that is the tough part, but if he teaches me and leads me to my first profitable deal EVER, why wouldn't that be worth some money?

Probably more profitable!

If you buy it, you're not a wholesaler anymore.Here's how you do it:1 - Make the offer in the name of an LLC for $10k, thus the LLC is the owner of the "contract"2 - Sell the LLC ONLY (with the contract to buy as an asset of that LLC) for $15k (the profit you would have made if you had to buy the property first)3 - Buyer of the LLC (and the contract agreement/asset) executes the "contract" your LLC agreed to for $10kResult:1 - No money comes out of your pocket...ever. 

However if you're positive this area is doing well and it doesn't have:Population decline or stagnationCompanies leaving the area with none taking its placeDeclining average incomeRising average age of populationRising tax delinquencies or foreclosures I would only take the leap if you understand these and there are still risks such as the aging property which might have a lot of deferred CapEx work which will eat up profits if not forecasted and budgeted correctly. 

Congrats, @Jordan Moorhead - that profit will help you get into some more properties!

I was wondering if seller financing could be a way to give my brother a better price and my mother more profit.  

There are a lot of people like @Paul Sandhu mentioned, making calls to owners and agents to lease and re-lease or sublease these properties, and there are management companies as well that can assist with furnishing, eys and turning it over for cleaning between stays. but again I think that owning the building, make this model more obtainable and profitable.