I also collected the 3% commission as the buyer's agent so our total out of pocket was $1500.

That's all wholesaling is, it's brokering real estate except instead of being up front & telling the distressed seller that you'll sell their property for X amount & take X amount as your commission / fee you are taught to lie to the seller & pretend you are going to buy the property while you secretly attempt to "assign" your contract.It doesn't work.

Once you factor in closing costs on both ends, some minor repairs, and commissions (at least on the resale) how much meat is left on the bones?

I sell by paying a local realtor $200 to get on MLS in their name, and pay 3% buyer agent commission.    

My plan has been to save up my commissions and buy a 2 or 3 family rental.

This timeframe is so that they receive their commission on the initial deal.

There’s no money in the deal if you pay $220k and the ARV is only $240k after repairs and commissions you will lose money.

Don’t forget to include selling expenses and commissions.

I sold 5 of my last 6 rental homes FSBO.  3 were direct to buyers with 0 commissions paid, 2 had buyers agents.   

I was under the impression that it was perfectly fine and legal for an agent to represent themself when buying a home (and keep the buyers agent commission).