Is your real estate agent packing? Not filling boxes to help you move, but “packing heat” -- as in carrying a gun?

Many agents are doing just that these days to protect themselves when showing houses to complete strangers, or listing houses for sellers they aren’t familiar with, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Of the 3,000 members who responded to NAR’s latest safety poll, 14% said they carry a firearm on their person. Male agents were more likely than their female counterparts to carry a gun; women overwhelmingly preferred to carry pepper spray.

One female agent in Northern California told me that while she and members of her team haven’t carried firearms yet, guns “could be in the future for us.” Similarly, when a male agent in Maryland was asked if he carried, he responded, “Not yet.”

Another man, one who’d been a police officer for 16 years before becoming a full-time agent in Massachusetts, was explicit when asked if he carried a gun: “I own firearms and practice with all the revolvers, compact pistols and semi-compact pistols I own,” he said. “I have a concealed firearms permit. I prefer my S&W .380 ‘Bodyguard’ with a red laser built-in sight. ... It is a very concealable weapon I can carry in any season.”

He said his broker’s policy prohibits guns in the office. But does he carry when actually showing houses? “Why would I not?” he said.

Overall, the NAR survey found that half of all agents carry some kind of self-defense weapon. But only 38% said they have taken a self-defense class.

Just 4% of the respondents had actually been the victim of a crime, but nearly half were aware of crimes committed against their fellow professionals. And that’s what has another Maryland agent concerned.

“Each report of a Realtor getting attacked makes me a little nervous, as this is one of the most dangerous professions there is,” she told me. Still, this agent, who has a concealed weapon permit, doesn’t want anyone to know if she’s carrying or not because “it could put my life in danger.”

Another female agent has the same concern, saying she had considered carrying a gun but was “afraid it would be turned against me.”

Both of these women say they are very cautious about listing and showing houses.

“I do so much background checking on everyone I’m meeting, and make sure that people know who I’m with and where I’m going,” said one. “If I’m ever not 100% comfortable, I make sure to take someone with me.”

“I try to use my intuition and my New York street smarts when showing homes,” said the other agent, adding that she has had “a couple of close calls.” One instance caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand up.

As she tells the story, a man called her out of the blue asking if she remembered him. She didn’t, but he said he wanted to sell his two-acre property. Even though she had no clue who he was, “he talked to me like I had known him for years,” she said. Against the wishes of her now-husband, she went to see the property.

Fortunately, she didn’t go to the site alone; she took along a new agent in her office. When they arrived, the “seller” took them deep into the property, where they saw a house in the early stages of construction. The only thing that was close to being finished was a fully furnished bedroom.

The supposed seller kept trying to separate her from her male colleague, but she wouldn’t have it. Then he asked her to come back later, alone. She didn’t. And after the two agents left, she never spoke to him again.

Now she says of the incident: “It’s dangerous. Even male agents are being attacked. ... We put ourselves in scary positions all the time.”

Homeowners should also be cautious when showing their homes. Don’t let in anyone you don’t know, especially if you’re alone or if your children are home. If someone shows up to your door, have that person call your agent and set up an appointment.

If your unknown visitor is with someone who says he or she is an agent, ask for their card and call the office to verify. But don’t call the number on the card; rather, look up the office number online, just to be safe. If they are who they say they are, they won’t take offense.

Sellers also need to safeguard their properties when they are being shown -- especially during open houses, when visitors are sometimes left to wander on their own. Here are some precautions suggested by trade group Florida Realtors:

-- Hide any bills or documents that may contain personal information, such as account numbers or Social Security numbers. Hide extra keys (for the house and vehicles), garage door openers, smartphones, tablets and laptops, and remove your checkbooks and deposit slips. But don’t stash anything in a top drawer: That’s the first place thieves look.

-- Lock up or remove your jewelry and prescription drugs, and shut down or lock desktop computers.

-- Take videos or photos to record what is in each room before the open house. That way, you have proof if something is missing.

-- After the open house is done for the day, make sure that all windows and doors are locked. Unlocking a secondary bedroom or basement window is a favorite way for thieves to gain access after dark. If you’re away, ask a neighbor or your agent to perform this important task.

There’s good news for mortgage applicants who don’t fit into the precise mold demanded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: After pulling back at the start of the pandemic in March, other lenders are returning to the market.

Banks like Citi, Flagstar, Regions Financial and Truist have turned on the financial spigots again, according to industry publication Inside Mortgage Finance, and non-bank lenders have begun loosening their rules.

Better yet, demand for these loans by investors has strengthened -- meaning as direct lenders sell loans on the secondary market, they will take in more money to make even more loans.

There’s not as much investor activity as there was before COVID-19, but it’s on the upswing compared to April, Michael Franco of SitusAMC told me. The company provides due diligence services for investors.

Pooja Pathak, a director of structured finance at MetLife, sees the same thing. “Demand is out there,” she said during a recent panel discussion.

Loans that don’t make the grade at Fannie and Freddie, the two government-sponsored entities that buy the lion’s share of mortgages, were once called “subprime.” And they’re held out as largely responsible for the mortgage meltdown that led to the 2008 Great Recession.

Back then, Wall Street capital chased mortgages like these: loans in which their balances increased rather than decreased, balloon mortgages in which a large amount was unpaid until the loan term expired, interest-only loans in which no principal was repaid, and loans in which neither the borrower’s income nor employment was verified.

As a result, loans were made to practically anyone who could fog a mirror because, in selling their production to investors, lenders assumed little risk. And when housing prices began to slide, the mortgage market crashed.

The mortgage business “spiraled out of control,” says Steve Schnall, founder of Quontic Bank. “There was a race to the bottom of the credit barrel. And when property values stopped rising, everything collapsed.”

Now, mortgages that don’t fit into the Fannie-Freddie box are known as “nonprime” and “non-QM loans,” as in non-qualified for purchase by the GSEs. But they’re not nearly as dangerous, says Franco.

No more “liar loans,” for example. Negative amoritization loans are gone, too, as are balloon and stated-income loans.

Non-QM lenders have to meet the same regulations set up by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act for lenders who want to do business with the GSEs.

Under the rules, for example, lenders selling loans to Fannie and Freddie must be reasonably certain that the borrower has the ability to repay the loan. There are seven other underwriting factors that must be considered, too, including the borrower’s employment, projected monthly payments for other loans and obligations (such as alimony and child support), and credit history.

Non-QM lenders must do the same. But they often stretch the box -- sometimes more than a little -- based on the borrower’s credit score and loan-to-value ratio, as opposed to debt-to-income ratio. That means they’ll exceed the 43% DTI ceiling that binds the GSEs. And they’ll often lend amounts above Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s statutory limits, which this year is $510,400 in most places.

Quontic Bank is just one of many non-QM lenders. It offers financing to low-income but creditworthy borrowers running small, single-person businesses; well-capitalized startups; and businesses with nonrecurring debt or low overheads. Also on the bank’s target list are immigrants, the self-employed and so-called gig workers: musicians and others who go from one temporary job to another.

“There are many good borrowers who don’t qualify by traditional standards,” says Schnall.

Indeed, with COVID-19 causing temporary job losses, credit dings, career changes, depleted assets, forbearance and other financial challenges, the need for non-QM lending “has remained, if not grown,” writes Aaron Samples of First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation in the most recent issue of the Non-Prime Lending Council’s newsletter.

Using what Schnall says is “a commonsense approach” to approving borrowers for financing, lenders like Quontic are back in the game after all but shutting down when the virus hit. For example, LoanStream Mortgage has expanded its product offerings, including lowering its credit score requirement to 640 and raising its minimum loan-to-value ratio to 80%.

Elsewhere, Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions is now allowing LTV ratios up to 90% for borrowers who can show two years’ worth of bank statements. Greenbox Loans has full-documentation loans up to 90% LTV, plus loans for foreign nationals that require no tax returns, and 70% LTV loans up to $750,000 for people just out of foreclosure.

Meanwhile, the CFPB has proposed allowing non-QM loans to become qualified mortgages three years after their origination if they meet certain qualifications. The objective, the bureau says, is to “incentivize” more lenders to make non-QM loans they otherwise might not.

None of this is intended to necessarily tout the lenders noted here. Rather, it is to say that would-be homebuyers who don’t think they can qualify for financing should find a good mortgage broker who has a finger on the market and see what’s out there. Or, if you’ve been turned down for a mortgage during the pandemic, you might want to give it another try. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Working out of our homes has been part of the American culture since the country was founded. But the pandemic has forced more of us than usual to do so. And some folks who have lost their jobs as a result of the virus have started home-based businesses to get by.

There’s no telling how many people now work from home, or WFH in today’s jargon. Ten years ago, the Census Bureau said 6.6% of the working population worked from their residences. But in 2016, according to a Gallup poll, 43% of all workers said that they spent at least some of their time working in a location different from their co-workers -- up from 39% in 2012.

As recently as 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said 35.7 million -- a whopping 25% of the total workforce -- worked out of their houses. And those numbers have undoubtedly increased as COVID-19 continues to run rampant.

Many laid-off people have started in-home businesses -- sewing face masks, cutting hair or mowing lawns, for example -- just to survive. Some of the other popular home-based businesses include tutoring, personal training, catering, daycare, home repairs, bookkeeping and housecleaning.

But whether you run a business out of your abode or just work there remotely, you should be aware that you could be breaking the law -- or at least the rules of your homeowners’ or condominium association. Even if you are legit, you should make sure you are properly insured.

There’s good reason to regulate home-based businesses. After all, they can alter the residential character of a neighborhood by generating unwanted traffic, taking up scarce parking spaces or creating objectionable noise, obnoxious odors or unsightly conditions.

Local zoning laws address these issues, as do most owner associations. Many at-home workers hide their enterprises, fearing they could be shut down, but questions rarely surface unless a neighbor complains or the worker flaunts the law. And neighbors don’t usually speak up without good reason. For example, my wife’s mechanic was forced to move his backyard business elsewhere when neighbors complained about cars parked all over the place.

If you operate a business out of your house, take great pains not to annoy those living around you. Just in case you do raise the wrath of a neighbor or the authorities, it’s a good idea to look around -- on grocery store bulletin boards or in the local paper, say -- for other businesses that may also be in violation of the rules. The owners of those businesses could become your allies in any confrontation.

When it comes to insurance, most home-based business owners don’t think they need additional coverage because they are protected under their homeowner’s policies, or that their businesses are too small to insure. Wrong on both counts!

Generally, a homeowner’s policy provides no more than $2,500 to replace damaged or stolen business equipment, and doesn’t include business liability or business interruption coverage. These, according to the nonprofit Insurance Information Institute, are essential if an employee or customer is injured on the premises, or if a loss requires you to shut down for an extended period.

Insurance companies differ widely in the types of business coverage they offer, so it is best to shop around. The best choice will depend on the nature of your business. A tax preparer, for example, will have different needs than someone who operates a daycare. The three main types of coverage are:

-- Endorsement. For an additional premium, you can raise your policy limits on home-business losses to $5,000 or $10,000. Such a rider is your least expensive option, but it may not be sufficient to cover a lot of expensive equipment, and it does not include liability or interruption coverage.

Generally, a home-business endorsement is good for folks who have only a few business-related visitors, or none at all -- such as syndicated columnists or other writers. Tutors and piano teachers may be eligible, too, depending on their number of students.

-- Separate policy. Somewhat more comprehensive, an in-home business policy covers business equipment and liability. It will also reimburse you for the loss of important business papers and records, such as accounts receivable, and cover off-site business property. Some will pay for lost income if your house becomes unusable due to a fire or natural disaster, and some might even pay for the extra expense of operating out of a temporary location.

The cost ranges from $250 to $500 or more, depending on the type of business, number of employees, safety features in place and amount of coverage.

-- Business owner’s policy. Known in the trade as BOP, this type of coverage is based on the size of the premises, the limits of the required liability, the type of commercial operation and the extent of off-site servicing and processing activities. It also covers any personal vehicle that is used for business purposes.

To keep your costs down, industry nonprofit III suggests starting your hunt for coverage with trade associations or business groups. These outfits often provide coverage at reduced rates based on the volume of business they can offer an insurer, and negotiate coverage specific to your type of business.

Absent that, make sure you work with an agent who understands your type of business. And again, shop around.