Hi TF, #3 partially explains #2. High turn-over = high annual costs.
After that, it's a matter of whether the yield percent is generous enough to cover the costs and still make us happy.
Maybe the premium/discount swings would tell us whether or not we could trade the foreign bond funds successfully against a domestic bond fund. Ideally we'd find them 180° out of phase so that we'd be selling premium bond funds to buy deeply discounted ones.