Taxes, insurance, PMI, and HOA stay on both offers

The comparison keeps those four costs identical so the dollar gap is the loan, not the house.

One house, two lenders

The sentence on the compare panel says taxes, insurance, PMI, and HOA are the same for both offers. They are house costs. The lenders are competing on rate and fees.

PMI in that sentence is the premium tied to this loan size and price. The tool does not give each lender a different PMI quote.

The gap you are meant to trust

The savings figure is the difference in hold-period cost. Because the housing extras match, they cancel out. You can still see them in the housing total above the comparison.

A monthly gap is shown separately. It is the difference in principal and interest only. A lower monthly payment can sit next to a higher total cost when fees are large.

When the assumption is wrong

If one lender’s quote requires a different loan amount, a different term, or a policy you would not buy otherwise, the “same costs” line is no longer the whole story. Adjust the shared inputs and run it again, or decide outside the tool.

Do not type one offer’s points into the HOA field to force them into the month. Points belong in the APR gap.

This explains how WiseCalculator treats the numbers you type. It is not a lender’s offer and it is not advice for your loan.