As premium rise across the nation, Bankrate.com features a helpful story on ways to keep homeowner’s insurance premiums down. Some of the tips may surprise you.

Here are some highlights:

1. A series of small claims is expensive to process for an insurer and may result in higher premiums
2. Don’t lie about your history of claims — similar to CARFAX, homeowners have a “record” that track prior filings
3. Higher credit scores can lead to lower premiums
4. Your driving records impact your premium calculation
5. A robbery before you ever moved in could result in higher premiums

The article also provides a fair amount of myth-busting so it’s worth a read. A few minutes could save you some good money on your home insurance.

The Federal Open Market Committee adjourns from a two-day meeting today and so this is a good time to remind yourself: The Fed does not control mortgage rates.

Rather, the Fed sets the Federal Funds Rate.

And the FFR is, in turn, used to determine Prime Rate.

Prime Rate, in turn, is used to determine the rates for credit cards, charge cards and home equity lines of credit.

And this is why today’s meeting should be important to holders of debt — the Fed’s decision to lower, raise or hold the FFR at its current level can impact the spending of every American household.

The Fed is widely expected to hold the Fed Funds Rate steady today, but Ben Bernanke & Co will issue a press release discussing the group’s view on the economy and the outlooks for the future.

As it relates to mortgages, the Fed’s actual actions today mean nothing. Instead, it’s all about the words. What will the FOMC say about inflation, the economy, and the outlook for the future?

This is what impacts the mortgage markets more than anything else.

If the Fed shows fear of inflation, mortgage rates will go up. If the Fed is satisfied that the economy is exhibiting controlled growth, mortgage rates will come down, by contrast.

Right now, markets are anticipating a bullish view on inflation from the Fed and that is one of the reasons why mortgage rates increased so dramatically since March. It will be looking for further clues at 2:15 P.M. ET today.

One of the most difficult things about having your home on the market is keeping it meticulous for repeated showings.

Every residence has loads of corners and nooks that require constant attention to stay spotless.

Potential buyers don’t intend to be oblivious, but they often bring dirt, mud, coffee cups and other strange particles with them from the outside world as they trudge through a showing of your home.

Rainy days don’t help the situation.

To reduce the amount of cleaning and re-cleaning, try making your home “showing-friendly” by following these simple steps:

1. Leave a large welcome mat outside your door. Make sure that it’s neutral (i.e. no “GO AWAY” or other novelty mats)
2. Leave another welcome mat just INSIDE your door. This one should match your home’s decor.
3. Stack up some shoes close to the door and in plain view. This is a gentle hint that removing off your outside gear is preferred.
4. Place a coat rack near the door if the weather is cool or rainy.
5. Leave a trash can in plain view with a trash bag in it.

These small precautions can lessen the need to re-clean your home after every showing (or even multiple showings in a day). They will help keep your place looking terrific.

From the CBS News Video Web site, an interesting story for anyone who’s recently applied for credit.

Credit repositories now sell the contact information of people applying for new mortgage loans to other mortgage lenders that want to compete for the business.

Called “trigger leads”, an unsuspecting mortgage applicant can have his credit checked by a mortgage lender, and then discover that the credit bureaus have sold the rights to his personal information to countless other credit firms across the country.

Because trigger leads identify a person making a lending decision right now, one marketer of trigger leads calls them “the best leads in the business”. It’s no wonder that the credit bureaus are marketing them, and that some lenders are salivating over them.

As the family in the CBS video learned, though, it’s difficult to make the phone stop ringing. Some of the calls bordered on harassment.

For consumers, there is a very low-tech opt-out Web site called http://www.optoutprescreen.com that is sponsored by the three major credit bureaus (and are also the ones that sell trigger leads). You can opt out for five years, or submit a form by mail to opt out forever.

Watch the video and then go protect yourself.

(Image courtesy: CBS News Video)

June is the peak selling month for real estate.

If your home is listed and hasn’t sold in June, though, it’s not the end of the world. It’s just time to be a little bit more creative.

A good real estate agent will have loads of ideas to expand your home’s natural buyer pool.

If you live near a college, for example, home sales can come later in the summer if parents are looking to buy “second homes” for their children to live in.

Condos can be especially attractive to older students (think: upper-20s and 30s) and/or graduate student with families, and your agent may specifically market to these buyer sets.

A home is product and needs to be marketed like anything else we buy. If your home didn’t sell yet, don’t worry — there are always options.

Don’t feel bashful about picking your real estate agent’s brain for some good ideas to help re-position your home for a late-Summer sales push.

Pop Quiz:

Q. Which of the following reactions are normal for condominium owners when thinking about their building’s condo association?

1. Fear of the association’s ability to impose restrictions on residents of the building
2. Confusion about the association’s purpose
3. Denial that dues and assessments are determined by a resident “governing body”
4. Acceptance of how the association can preserve the condo units’ value strong by-laws

A. They are all correct. These are all normal reactions to a condo association.

As a buyer considering a move to an association-controlled home, though, you can use home showings to get beyond your initial “reaction” and to see whether the association is effective or not.

For example, take a quick gander at common areas.

Are they clean? Is the landscaping well-maintained? Are the floors and walls kept in good condition?

Even as we talk about curb appeal in homes, common areas (and building exteriors for condo buildings) are the curb appeal for owners in an association.

A good association can add value to a property; a bad one can take it away. Your real estate agent can help you ask the right questions to determine “just how good or bad is the association for this home”.

Is “news” always news, or is it masked opinion?

When doing research on mortgages, it’s important to pay attention to the objectivity of your research source.

Often, a writer will deploy key adjectives, phrases, and/or images that distort an otherwise factual story.

This cartoon from clangnuts.com is a terrific example.

It implies that interest only home loans are for people that can’t otherwise afford homeownership.

The truth is that interest only loans are used by all economic classes of homeowners — not just those that need payment relief.

Many people choose interest only home loans for their flexibility, or as a financial planning tool.

Sure, there are some people that use interest only loans to “get onto the housing ladder”, but that is a statement about the homeowner and not the mortgage product.

Our opinions are often formed by the words and images we hear in a public forum. Sometimes, it pays to look a little deeper.

If you are planning to be a landlord for the first time, take some time to research what you’re getting into.

Don’t take the plunge until you have gathered as much information and read as many books about the subject as possible, and then until you have talked to as many people as possible.

Landlording is a tough business, and it is not for everyone.

You may want to go into property management after doing your research, of course. But there are many things you can learn first to make the job easier — ranging from personal finance to real estate law to home maintenance.

Think of being a landlord as a career, not a hobby.

If you have never welded but want to be a welder, the first thing you need to get is a strong education in welding. The same is true with the tough but fine art of being a landlord.

For those that drive to work each morning and even those with extreme commutes, this is old news.

Since Memorial Day weekend when gas prices touched $3.24/gallon nationally, the cost of filling up dipped below $3.00. According to Gas Buddy, Monday’s average cost per gallon was $2.995.

Even though each gas tank feels less expensive, gas prices are still much higher for late-June than in years prior.

2002: approximately $1.40/gallon
2003: approximately $1.48/gallon
2004: approximately $1.92/gallon
2005: approximately $2.14/gallon
2006: approximately $2.82/gallon
2007: approximately $2.99/gallon

Gas prices change quickly and those changes can be attributable to the price of crude oil, increased demand for gas from road travelers (i.e. summer road trips), or an interruption in the overall production (i.e. supply) of Gulf Coast refineries or from crude oil sources.

Since 2002, all three factors have contributed to the increased cost of gasoline. Over the past three weeks, though, we’ve all gotten a break and should enjoy it while it lasts.

Trouble is brewing in Nigeria that could push us right back over the $3.00 level very soon.

Porches can be a fantastic addition to any house, invoking a certain “charm” or providing space for a swinging love seat.

Regardless of its function, your home’s porch’s form is often what creates your home’s first impression.

Because porches do not shed water, they can require a lot of maintenance. Wood will eventually rot because it stays wet.

New technologies such as engineered composites, however, do not rot and can be pre-made to be used as a deck. This is a recommended course of action.

Railings and fixtures — staples of any porch — can be wood products without fear of premature rot as water does not “pool” on vertical surfaces.

If you plan to sell your house, a new, maintenance-free porch can be a major selling point in addition to improving “curb appeal” and first impressions.

The graphic at right comes from The Wall Street Journal and it illustrates something that we all intrinsically know: Sub-Prime ARMs foreclose at a faster pace than all other home loan types.

When adjustable rate mortgages reach the end of their “fixed rate” period, some homeowners are unprepared for the upward-adjusting mortgage payments and that can lead to payment shock.

It doesn’t mean that sub-prime mortgages are bad for all homeowners, however.

A little known fact: Nearly all sub-prime ARMs carry an initial fixed period of 24 months or more. This means that the sub-prime borrower has at least two years to make financial adjustments that include:

1. Paying collections, charge-offs and other delinquent accounts
2. Making timely payments on loans, credit cards, and open charge accounts
3. Reduce his monthly debt load with systematic payments to creditors

All of these actions help the homeowner ascend from sub-prime borrower status and into the realm of “prime” loans.

With a plan of action and the will to carry out that plan, a sub-prime borrower can improve his credit standing in the eyes of mortgage lenders in less than two years. Then, he can remortgage into a new (fixed?) loan before the sub-prime ARM’s two-year fixed period ends.

This is a terrific method for reducing sub-prime ARMs in foreclosure — improve a homeowner’s credit rating so they can leave the sub-prime world on their own accord and before their payment ever has a chance to change.

Today, we’re going to do some old-fashioned cross-referencing and see what inferences are there to make.

According to RealtyTrac, California was home to six of the leading 10 foreclosure cities in April 2007.

These cities were:

#1 Stockton
#2 Vallejo-Fairfield
#4 Riverside-San Bernardino
#6 Modesto
#7 Sacramento
#8 Merced

Stockton — as leading foreclosure city in the nation — registered one foreclosure for every 131 households. That is six times the national average.

Now, let’s flash back to homestore.com’s Top 5 Home Buying Spots story from 2001.

Using home appreciation as its guide, the story highlighted the five fastest growing cities in the nation.

Recognize any of these city names?

#1 Stockton-Lodi (23.5%)
#2 Modesto (21.4%)
#3 Salinas (21.2%)
#4 Santa Rosa (18.3%)
#5 Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa (17.4%)

I cannot say for sure if there is a direct correlation between the two data sets because they are six years apart, but it’s probably more than just a coincidence.

The American Consumer keeps spending.

This morning, the monthly Retail Sales report showed a larger-than-expected jump. Even after stripping out elevated gas prices, the sales increase was more than double the expected amount.

The economy surges ahead, fueled by everyday spending, and this does not bode well for the future of mortgage rates.

The recent run-up in mortgage rates is largely from inflation fears. With inflation, investors’ dollar-denominated securities have less value over time because the dollar itself is worth less.

Runaway consumer spending exacerbates the potential for an overheated economy and that is why today’s figures are slightly troubling. Each time you and I make a purchase, we are (in small way) contributing to the economy’s growth.

Inflation, of course, is the enemy of bonds and your mortgage rates are determined by the prices of mortgage bonds. Inflation erodes the value of the bonds and that is what causes mortgage rates to increase.

As a homeowner, higher mortgage rates may depress your local market because fewer home buyers can qualify for home loans, lowering overall demand.

Rates are up by as much as 0.875% in the past 3 months.

With so many different parties involved (and each charging a fee for service), closing costs can build up quickly on a home purchase. But that doesn’t mean you as a home buyer have to pay them directly.

For one, some closing costs are negotiable.

Your mortgage lender and title company of choice both have some degree of leniency in their “bottom line” costs. They may not be able to reduce a fee for you, but in the right situation, they may be able to credit for a portion of a fee.

This is because stringent industry accounting rules require certain items to appear on a settlement statement.

Another way to save at closing is to ask the seller to cover a portion of your closing costs.

If your costs represent 2% of the sale price, you can build the 2% back into the purchase price and have the seller concede it back to you at closing.

An example is when you buy a home for $400,000 with $8,000 in costs. The seller may agree to accept $408,000 from you and then “pay” you $8,000 as a closing cost credit at closing.

Rather than spending $8,000 to close on your home, the costs get spread into smaller monthly payments of $10-20 over the life of the loan.

This process is called seller concessions and is very common.

Some sellers will go even further and offer interest rate buydowns for buyers — you won’t know unless you ask!

As a home buyer, the market is hungry for you right now and this is a rare opportunity to get a deal you might not otherwise think you can get. Rather than fear closing costs, negotiate them.

According to RealtyTrac, one out of every 783 homes in the United States filed for foreclosure in April. This is down one percent from March, but up 62 percent from one year ago.

If you are struggling to pay your mortgage and have not yet entered foreclosure, the best thing to do is to call your lender and notify them of your difficulties.

There is no need for a long sob story — just the facts will do.

Remember: foreclosure is a difficult and expensive proposition for mortgage lenders and they want to avoid it just as much as you do. Often, they’ll help you craft a payment plan to get current on your loan(s) — but they have to hear from you first!

Anything you can do to preserve your credit rating serves you well in other areas of your financial world including credit card interest rates, auto loans, and insurance payments.

Bad situations happen to people who otherwise have good credit all the time. Don’t let a temporary problem destroy your credit or threaten your home.

No one benefits from drastic action taken against you, so give the lender a call and work things out to everyone’s satisfaction.