Homeless Encampment Across the Street

[Nick Mercer]

We just put one of our rehab properties on the market a couple of weeks ago, and during the open house yesterday we saw a huge sign across the street on an empty lot owned by a nearby church.  They are bringing in a homeless encampment onto the large lot.  The sign shows that the lot will be occupied by a lot of colorful tents.

My fear is that this will scare away all of our buyers.  The area itself is filled with $500k+ homes (up to a few million dollars), and buyers with that kind of money tend to be picky.

We're considering refinancing (out of our hard money) and turn it into a rental, airbnb, or lease option and wait until they eventually move out (since these "tent cities" tend to stay in a place for 3 months to a couple of years)... but who would want to live in the house across from the homeless?  We're also not sure our income would qualify for a conventional refinance at the high price point, and that we'll have negative cash flow (and potentially no tenants).

Any advice on how to get out of this sticky situation?