Now, my Vanguard brokerage fund could lose money (December 2018), or I can make gains (up 14% in 2019).

But don't let the leverage cowboys convince you to do something that loses sleep at night. 

But if you avoided an investment property in order to get an FHA in CA later, you're essentially *not* investing and getting those returns just so you can make an 'investment' later that is going to lose you money too.

The good news is there are legal structures that can be put in place to eliminate the possibility of losing big in that case, even if insurance won't do the trick.

You can still lose your investment in the LLC.

I might lose some money in that deal but lease it would be back to performing.Or I could go through with an foreclosure process and take the house.

You may lose your earnest money but you will not be forced to purchase the property.  

Leave awareness building to bigger players with a budget to bleed (hopefully, you will get there soon)2.

If you sell to an investor, they're also looking for a good deal and tax into consideration RE commissions and you might end up losing money on the deal.

They didn't have the funds to catch up the property so I added value to them by solving their problem of losing the home to tax sale and allowing them to stay put without forcing them to leave.