Your home is on the market. You found buyers, a nice young couple just starting out, and they're sold on the home. But wait, there's one more person you have to sell: the appraiser.

You can no longer try to influence the professional who's responsible for placing a value on the house -- a value that your lender must feel comfortable with if, for some reason, you don't pay back your loan and the bank has to foreclose.

No, the days of MAI -- which actually stands for Member of the Appraisal Institute but was euphemistically known in the trade as "Made as Instructed" -- are long gone. But there is still plenty you can do to improve the chance that you will obtain the value you are looking for.

According to builders and realty agents, many a deal has been scuttled when lenders assigned appraisers who lived hundreds of miles away or were not familiar with the area. So after the appraiser calls to set up an appointment, check his or her bona fides.

"The best way for owners to combat potential problems is to ensure the appraiser is qualified and competent," says Ken Wilson, president of the Appraisal Institute, a trade association based in Chicago. "Consumers have every right to demand the use of someone with field experience in their market and knowledge to handle the assignment properly."

Ask your lender about the appraiser's professional designations. How long has he practiced? What level of experience does she have with your market and your type of property? Is he familiar with the neighborhood?

Of course, you spruced up the house when you put it on the market. You painted, perhaps, and you certainly fixed that broken window in the master bath and stopped the leak in the hall water closet. And you put away all that clutter in the kitchen.

Now make sure the house is just as dandy when the appraiser finally arrives. Tidy up. Get the dishes out of the sink and into the dishwasher. Clean off the counters. Pick up the dirty clothes from the bathroom floor. Change the furnace filters.

Also, send the kids off to the neighbors' or out to the movies, and lock up your animals.

None of this will add or subtract from the valuation. But human nature being what it is, says John Brenan, director of appraisal issues at the Appraisal Foundation, it will convey the notion that the house is well-maintained. The Appraisal Foundation was created by Congress to set appraisal standards and appraiser qualifications.

While you cannot try to directly influence the appraiser -- offering a free dinner at his favorite restaurant, maybe, or a little cash under the table -- you can speak with him. It's a myth that you can't.

"Conversation is not only allowed, but it is vital," says Brenan. "The appraiser needs to be able to discuss pertinent items about the house or contract."

When the appraiser arrives, present him with a list of everything in and about the house that you believe adds value -- a new refrigerator, perhaps, or an addition above the garage. You are not trying to influence the deal, per se. Rather, you are "simply documenting," says Brenan. "You are not saying you need an extra $5,000 because you put on a new roof last year. You're just saying that you put on a new roof."

Your list should include a detailed description of any improvements or replacements, the dates they were made, who did the work (backed up by invoices to show they were done by a professional as opposed to a weekend do-it-yourselfer), a brochure to show the quality of the materials and building permits.

Also list any ways your house differs from others on your block: different finishes used, your better view, your larger lot size. "The list goes on and on," says Brenan. "You can't provide enough information about the house, the neighborhood, the schools. It will help give the appraiser a better understanding about the market."

Also give the appraiser a list of comparables, or "comps," which are similar properties in your neighborhood that sold recently. The appraiser may well already have the exact same houses, so at the worst, your list may be redundant. But then again, he may have only one or two.

Either way, says Brenan, "as long as you don't make any demands, a good, competent appraiser should appreciate" the help.

Some backwards appraisers still balk at accepting such information. One recently told Jill Sackler, an agent with Charles Rutenberg Realty in Merrick, N.Y., that he was no longer allowed to do so. But Barbara-Jo Roberts Berberi, a Ruterberg agent in Crystal Beach, Fla., had the opposite experience recently.

The appraiser "was thrilled" with the list of comps Berberi provided, she said on the ActiveRain real estate chat room.

Berberi's list included an explanation of how it was created, a map and drive-by photos of the other houses. Her list was of houses built after 1990 (the subject house was built in 2002) that had between 1,800 and 2,890 square feet (subject was 2,360).

She also highlighted the per-square-foot sold price for each comp so the appraiser could see at a glance that the contract price for the subject house was just under the lowest price of houses that sold in the previous six months.

It took some effort on her part, Berberi said, but "it saved him some work and made both our lives easier."

It hurts when you've been rejected for a mortgage.

Of course, there are many reasons you can be turned down. You may not have been employed long enough in your current job, for example, or you may not make enough money for the property you want to buy.

But if you are spurned because of a low credit score, the pain of rejection is sometimes made worse by the reason your score didn't make the grade.

Actually, lenders don't give you a reason, per se. Rather, you receive what's called a "reason code:" a two-character numeric code and a terse, industry-speak statement -- for example, "01 Amount owed on accounts is too high" -- as to why your credit score isn't higher.

Sometimes you are given two, three or even four reason codes. But even if you get just one, you're left scratching your head, wondering what in the devil the lender is talking about.

A new tool from scoring model VantageScore may help. VantageScore is a rival to FICO, the company that created the algorithms used by the major credit reporting agencies. It is meant to empower consumers to better understand their credit profiles and how to improve them.

According to research by VantageScore, even lenders themselves are sometimes baffled by the codes, which are generated by credit reporting agencies. And even if lenders aren't confused by the codes, they are certainly frustrated by the fact that their customers are.

But a new website from VantageScore, ReasonCode.org, offers new insight in plain English (or Spanish) into the meaning of each reason code and perhaps how to fix the problem. It won't help you right away, but it should ease the agony when you reapply for funding.

ReasonCode acts somewhat like a search engine. You can type in a specific reason code that you received from your lender and instantly receive a deeper explanation of the code, plus tips for addressing credit behaviors that negatively impact your credit score.

There are dozens of reason codes or factor codes from the three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. FICO has built logarithms for each company based on their specific requirements, so you are likely to see different codes for the same reason when comparing two or more credit scores.

Problem is, the FICO codes don't line up with those from VantageScore. But if you take the time to enter a few key words or phrases from your FICO codes into the ReasonCode search box, you will find a better explanation of what the code might mean. Then, run your cursor over that explanation and you'll see several possible ways to fix the issue.

For example, you might see a reason code 14, or "Length of time accounts have been established." Search the word "time" at ReasonCode, and you get several choices, including one that says, "Time since oldest account opened is too recent."

Click on that statement and you'll get a deeper explanation and a tip on how to avoid the situation the next time. "Don't open more accounts than you actually need," the site advises. "Research shows that new accounts indicate greater risk. Your score will benefit as your accounts get older."

If you get an 05 reason code, "Too many accounts with balances," type the word "balances" and you'll learn "you have bankcard or revolving accounts in your credit file with balances that are high compared to the credit limit on the account, which is a proven indicator of increased risk."

What can you do? "Pay down balances on your accounts and keep them below 30 percent of the total credit limit on that account," ReasonCode suggests. "Over time, this will have a positive impact on your score."

When you receive a credit score, the reason codes will be listed in order of impact, so the first one listed is the most important -- the No. 1 reason your score isn't any higher. The second number corresponds to the second-most important factor in building your score, and so on.

Even if you receive a high score, you'll still see reason codes. Any score less than the top number will see codes as to why the score wasn't higher. Consequently, some codes on the list are not terribly significant.

But for the rest of us, reason codes could be considered a road map to improving our credit scores, if we could understand them.

Remember, the score isn't the sole determinant in whether you will receive funding or the interest rate you will be charged. But it is a key factor, so improving your score can increase your chances.

If you try the exercise outlined above, you'll have a better understanding of why you didn't score any higher and what you can do better the next time.

If the ease with which hackers pilfered the financial information of millions of Target and Neiman Marcus customers has you worried about how easily your private data can be lifted from your mortgage company, wait until you hear what a major cyber security firm found out about lenders.

Here's a hint: It isn't good.

According to HALOCK Security Labs, mortgage companies big and small allow information-sharing practices that put your personal and financial data at grave risk.

In its investigation of 63 lenders, the Schaumburg, Ill., firm discovered that seven out of 10 allowed applicants to send their info over unencrypted email as attachments. Moreover, nearly the same percentage encouraged faxing sensitive data, which is somewhat less dangerous but still not as secure as encryption.

Only 40 percent of the lenders studied offered a postal mail option, and just 12 percent provided a secure email portal.

Asked why a secure email portal was not offered, several lenders said it was a matter of convenience, or what the customer was "most comfortable with."

This comment from a survey respondent explains this insecure practice: "Oftentimes it was easier to have my clients send documents like W-2s through email because everyone has access to an email account. Most (lenders) don't want to take the time to explain what a secure portal is and how to use it. Everyone understands email."

Do you need to worry? Let Carlos Sa, head of information technology at the Mortgage Network, a lender with 40 offices on the East Coast, answer that question. He says he sees attacks on Mortgage Network's systems on a regular basis.

"It's not consistent," says Sa. "It comes in waves, but they're mostly very basic attacks."

A lot of those attempts, according to Mortgage Network President Brian Koss, are not aimed at his company in particular. Rather, he says, hackers "are randomly looking for anyone who has any kind of (financial) data."

Sa says that security keeps taking an increasing part of the budget at the company, just as it has at many others. "A bigger portion every year," he says.

Much of what's spent on security is used to set up firewalls, which can be used to prevent malicious information from making its way into the system and prevent specific information from leaking -- or being leeched -- out. But firewalls can't protect you or the system from malicious information attached to emails.

The Massachusetts-based company encrypts all its laptops before they are shipped to its loan officers. Encryption is an algorithm that turns the message into unreadable cipher text. It won't prevent hacking, but it reduces the likelihood that the hacker will be able to read the stolen data, rendering it useless.

Sa also tests the company's computer systems on a regular basis. "There's always something in our logs that is interesting and odd," he says. "People are trying any number of ways to hack our programs."

So how can you be sure your most personal financial information won't be snatched from your lender? Here are a few tips:

-- Brand awareness. If you are sending anything online, be sure you are dealing with brand names. Hackers follow the path of least resistence, and the big-name lenders tend to have the strongest security measures.

Also, the lender's security systems are only as good as those of its weakest contractor. And the big lenders tend to work with only the strongest vendors.

-- Look for e-signatures. If a company offers an electronic signature process, it shows a heightened level of security awareness and sophistication.

-- Avoid unencrypted email. Sending anything over the Internet invites trouble. But since regular emails can be hacked by anyone, use only password-encrypted email to send your information to your lender. "Common sense goes a long way," says Sa. "People are too comfortable with regular email."

Says security blogger Graham Cluley: "If (email) was invented today, no one would use it. It's worth the extra effort to go through the paces of using a secure portal."

-- Stay away from drop-boxes. Drop-box technologies are fine for most data exchanges, but you have no clue who has access. Keep your private stuff private using encrypted email.

-- HTTPs. When applying online or sending anything over the Internet, make sure the website itself is secure. Look to see if the URL begins with "https". And as you go from page to page, make sure the frame and URL have not changed. In other words, make sure the "s" is still there. Otherwise, you could become a victim of a phisher looking to steal your data.

Finally, there's this warning from Terry Kurzynski, a senior partner at HALOCK: "Any type of weak link in a system involving sensitive information exposes people to unnecessary risk. It takes months to recover from identify theft and minutes to log into a secure portal. Do the math."