Hosting Thanksgiving can be stressful, expensive and time-consuming for hosts, though most of them think it's worth it.

Hosts will entertain an average of 11 dinner guests, spend an average of $251.11 on the meal, and buy an average of $83.23 worth of housewares like dishes, serving ware and decorations, according to LendingTree's 2018 Thanksgiving Survey. On top of that, the survey found that Americans will take an average of 1.8 days off work to host Thanksgiving, resulting in an average of $587.62 in lost wages.

Although hosting Thanksgiving dinner means extra responsibilities, the survey found only 18 percent of hosts are very stressed about it; meanwhile, nearly half of respondents (46%) showed no signs of being stressed at all. And despite the stress and financial strain, 76 percent say they love to host Thanksgiving dinner.

Among the most significant takeaways are the following:

• With an average of 11 dinner guests, Americans will spend on average of $334 to host Thanksgiving, or about $31 per guest.
• More than one in four hosts (28%) say this Thanksgiving will be a financial strain.
• 42% will take time off of work to prepare; of those taking time off, 56% will give up an average of $588 in pay to do so.
• 28% will charge credit cards or borrow money to pay for Thanksgiving, and over one third don't expect to pay it off right away.
• One in four hosts wish they had more help around the holiday, while one in ten wishes someone else was hosting the dinner altogether. Over one-half say they have stress around the holiday.
• Despite the stress and financial strain, 76% say they love to host Thanksgiving dinner.

There are ways to reduce the expense:

• Make it a potluck dinner.Asking guests to bring a dish could reduce costs and effort for hosts. Or, ask guests to bring beverages, like their favorite wine and spirits, a significant portion of overall dinner expenses.
• Create a realistic budget. It's important to know how much money is available to spend before spending any, especially with additional holiday expenses in the weeks ahead. LendingTree's Thanksgiving survey showed that most Americans aren't budgeting properly this holiday season:
  • only 24% have a strict budget for holiday spending.
  • 55% have a general idea of their budget.
  • 21% had no budget in mind at all.
• Stick to your grocery list. It can be tempting to buy all the treats you see displayed on the shelves, but if there is a clear list of what is needed, unnecessary expenses can be avoided.
• Buy generic and use coupons. Chances are, no one will notice generic-brand cranberry sauce at the store. Even fewer will fault the use of coupons or modifying the menu to take advantage of sales.
• Pay your bills early. Many Thanksgiving hosts (around 28%) plan to use a credit card to pay for dinner-related expenses, with 64 percent planning to pay it off in about a month and another 20 percent within two months. One approach is to pay the bills before doing holiday shopping (or put something toward the bills early on),  to not only alleviate stress, and avoid paying unnecessary interest fees.
• Consolidate your debt after the holidays. While it’s better to avoid going deep into debt in the first place, it's not uncommon to overspend during the holidays. Depending on the financial situation of the person, it may make sense to explore debt consolidation options. This can help pay off debt sooner by potentially reducing interest expense.

eOriginal Inc. and LendingQB have completed an integration that supports the generation, execution and management of eNotes. In October, eOriginal began an eNotes program with Wells Fargo Home Lending and joined with MERSCorp Holdings to offer MERS eNote Solutions.

“LendingQB’s work with eOriginal is another milestone in the creation of an open ecosystem for technology and service providers working together to benefit originators,” said Simon Moir, senior vice president and general manager of digital mortgage of eOriginal. “This integration continues eOriginal’s commitment to innovative solutions for the industry that focus on capital efficiency and market execution, while minimizing impact to our client’s business and technology operations.”

Interest in the production of electronic promissory notes, or e-notes, continues to grow as consumers and lenders recognize the value of moving toward a more streamlined, digital process. Through the automated integration into eOriginal’s eNote technology, LendingQB is providing originators of all sizes with accelerated entry into the digital mortgage ecosystem, while gaining process efficiencies and improving quality control by eliminating manual entries and reviews through LendingQB’s loan origination system.

“With growing adoption and demand for more transparency, digital mortgage is delivering a competitive advantage and operational efficiencies that cannot be obtained through paper processes. eOriginal’s technology is designed to provide clients with an enhanced experience, bringing greater scale, efficiency, and accuracy,” said David Colwell, vice president of LendingQB Strategy. “The solution delivers a fully digital mortgage that meets regulatory requirements and is accepted by top lenders, the government-sponsored enterprises, and other stakeholders across the mortgage ecosystem.”

In the wake of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s increasing acceptance of e-notes, this partnership is the latest in the expansion of the digital mortgage ecosystem. LendingQB will begin offering this integration to a select group of lenders in 2018, which will be followed by a broader offering in 2019.

Location might be everything in real estate, but buyer perception isn’t far behind.

Consider that seventy-five percent of Americans believe their local housing market is cooling off--among them, 72 percent say they are not surprised, according to results from Valueinsured's Q4 2018 Modern Homebuyer Survey.

This shift in market perceptions follows five consecutive quarters where majority of Americans believed housing was overheated.  Among states with the most robust home sales activity, 22 percent of residents in California, 19 percent in Colorado, 36 percent in Texas, and 22 percent in Washington say their local market is not cooling.

The ValueInsured Housing Confidence Index registered at 63.0, on a hundred-point scale in the fourth quarter, down 4.7 points in one year. Homeowners, historically the most confident segment on the Index, produced a score of 71.6 in the quarter, the second-lowest level recorded in 30 months.

The report indicates millennial homeowners are among the most bearish:

• 72 percent report home shoppers in their neighborhood are less aggressive now compared to one year prior.
• 67 percent expect a home bought in their neighborhood today will likely decrease in value one year from now.

A Shift from Seller's to Buyer's Market

Millennial homeowners' outlook signals the starter-home seller's market may have peaked. Fully 78 percent believe now is a good time to sell; however, only 38 percent of those who wish to buy a starter home in the near future believe now is a good time to buy--down 8 points in one year. This is meaningful, as starter-home owners' hesitancy to sell and the subsequent inventory drought had been a key catalyst that drove up home prices in many major markets in recent years.

From Bidding Wars to Waiting-It-Out

Despite observing market adjustments, 72 percent of all Americans and 78 percent of urban residents believe home prices are still too high. The latest data represent 10-point and 13-point increases, respectively, from Q2 2018. Urban homeowners in particular blame flippers and speculative investors (70 percent) and wealthy transplants from more expensive housing markets (66 percent) for inflating their local home prices to unsustainable levels.

Theories for what inflated home values aside, many prospective homebuyers now plan to wait it out before pulling the trigger:

• 59 percent of all interested homebuyers (including first-time and upgrade buyers) say they plan to wait for a "meaningful correction" before buying
• 14 percent plan to drop out of buying altogether if a correction does not occur

"In August 2017, ValueInsured was among the first to report Americans' concerns about overheated housing and a possible correction," said Joe Melendez, CEO and founder of Valueinsured. "Fast forward fifteen months, Southern California is in its worst housing slump in over a decade, Seattle leads the nation in fastest home-price drop, and North Texas has the largest sales decline in seven years. Expect the market to stall in the near term."

Originators who fear digital mortgage platforms will replace them have less to worry about than they might have thought. That’s because just 3% of mortgage customers exclusively rely on digital self-service channels in the origination process, according to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study. Customer satisfaction scores reflect performance on six factors, including loan offerings, application-approval process, on-boarding, interaction and problem resolution.

“Technology alone is not a magic bullet in this market; the key is knowing where to leverage it and where to layer in more traditional forms of one-on-one support," said John Cabell, financial services practice lead at J.D. Power. "While improved digital offerings are helping mortgage originators build customer satisfaction, it is important to find the right balance between digital, self-service offerings and personal interaction with a representative.”

For lenders that have made, or plan to make, large investments in automation, there’s reason for concern. Overall satisfaction, based on a top score of a 1,000, is highest among customers who spoke only with their lender in person or over the phone (871) when applying for a mortgage, followed by those who used a mix of personal and self-service tools (868).

Originators add the most value in the follow-up contact after an initial inquiry, and when confirming loan terms and payment, but for maximum borrower satisfaction—speed is of the essence. That’s because satisfaction levels decline sharply for each day spent waiting to hear back from a lender. Overall satisfaction among customers who receive a contact within one day is 869, on a 1,000-point scale.

Satisfaction falls to 852 after two to five days, and to 806 after six or more days. The inquiry channel with the fastest overall contact times, two days on average, is online through a smartphone-tablet or a desktop computer, 2.2 days.

Overall satisfaction with primary mortgage originators increased 10 points due to digital and mobile channels. On average, customers use 3.1 different channels during the mortgage process, with phone (72%), website (69%) and email (58%) being the most commonly used channels.

Quicken Loans ranks No. 1 in mortgage origination satisfaction for a ninth consecutive year, with an 876 score. Fairway Independent Mortgage ranks second, 873, and Guild Mortgage Company ranks third with a score of 857. Mr. Cooper increased 41 points from last year, the largest increase among lenders.