Our lean is toward the closing costs and away from the 2-1 buydown, but this is a personal call with real trade-offs both ways. First, remember whose money the $15,000 is. A builder credit is given in lieu of a lower price, so you're financing it in the loan either way; the question is where those dollars do the most good. A 2-1 buydown uses them to subsidize your payment for the first two years (a lower rate in year one, a bit higher in year two) before you settle at the 7.875% note rate. It pre-pays part of your own payment rather than buying a permanently lower rate. Putting the credit toward closing costs, or a price reduction if the builder will do it, keeps the money useful no matter what rates do. One point in the buydown's favor: if you refinance before the buydown funds are used up, most programs apply the leftover balance to reduce your payoff, so those dollars aren't necessarily lost. The buydown only wins if you're still in this exact loan at this rate two years from now, and nobody can promise where rates go, up or down. So you're choosing between certain value today and a bet on staying put. If it were us, we'd take the closing costs, but reasonable buyers land both ways, and the buydown comparison is something some people want to see. We'll run that side-by-side for you on a Roadmap conversation.