So Peerstreet ended up foreclosing, and ultimately netted about $3 million on the subsequent property disposition. 

Agreed with above - explore every low cost option to collect, but ultimately, it is the cost of doing business. 

Your returns in investing ultimately come from exchanging terminally abundant goods (fiat dollars, debt/future fiat dollars) for terminally scarce goods (high quality, supply constrained real estate).Selling to go into cash isn’t of interest unless I have a short term need for that cash or am funding another purchase.

If im paying my agent, ultimately im increasing my purchase price, right?

I ultimately started focusing on the Midwest and have been pretty happy so far. 

However, ultimately, make sure you have a viable exit if you can come to a mutually beneficial agreement.  

Start by reading the Ultimate Real Estate Investing Guide: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides/ultimate-real-estate-investing-guide/introduction2.

Financially, I am able to invest a few thousand, ultimately I would like to own a primary home though I am not too certain if it’d be in Las Vegas… prices are insane IMO.

Demand will drop, supply will increase  and those that actually want to sell their house will ultimately have to lower their price - so the theory goes.  

It seems like each market has its own set of tradeoffs to consider and it ultimately comes down to what I'm optimizing for at this stage of my investor journey.