Perhaps they were much worse once upon a time and have recovered, or my threshold for acceptable is different than the conventional wisdom. 

I am medically recovering right now so I have plenty of time on my hands.

Do you / should you / can you, insure these properties, in the event that they are foreclosed on and recovered in bad shape?

If you have closing costs coming out of your own pocket, it will take time to recover those costs with interest savings.  

I found BP about 18 months ago while slowly medically recovering from a medical problem I had then and still do.  

This site mentions this downside.The second option, paying the penalty, makes it extremely hard to recover the costs, especially in a very challenging market like we have here.The reality is if you are truly "investing" then you have money.

When this market was recovering early flips were lying on the ground everywhere and margins were so huge that tax was a secondary consideration.  

They may or may not help you recover more but, if you remain stationed overseas they can manage the claim process for you locally.

You risk them refinancing into a loan with better terms in a year or two and cashing you out, in which case you are nowhere close to recovering your investment.

Don't bury yourself in a transaction that may cost you tens of thousands of dollars to recover from your first time out.