IRVING - Fort Worth-based D.R. Horton, the nation's largest homebuilder, released its third quarter earnings today and the results are not good.

The company lost nearly $400 million, most of that due to financial commitments for land the firm is no longer buying.

So what does that mean for home buyers?

If you're a seller, the market's terrible.

If you're a buyer, it's great.

D. R. Horton has 345 finished houses for sale in North Texas, according to its website.

At Graff Farms in Irving, there are a half dozen homes under construction, so not everything has stopped.

But, overall, houses are selling for about 11 percent less company-wide than they were a year ago.

The problem, especially for first time buyers, is getting a loan.

"A lot of my clients now looking at getting a mortgage - whereas they could two years ago, are now having difficulty doing that. The lending institutions are tightening quite a bit and I think they're over tightening," said Marco Lopez, investment adviser.

D R Horton is making about 10 percent less on every new home than it was a year ago.

When the prices for new homes in a neighborhood like this one go down, people who bought them at the old prices just a few months earlier, see the value of their investments suffer.

But to push the new models, builders are putting more perks in their new homes as standard - equipment like granite-topped kitchens.

They're also creating incentives for realtors, offering higher commission, cash bonuses, and in some cases prizes.

The main question remains. Will prices go even lower? That's an answer nobody has yet.

E-mail bharris@wfaa.com.