Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies

Operations

William Lyon Homes, a Delaware corporation (“Parent” and together with its subsidiaries, the “Company”), is primarily engaged in designing, constructing, marketing and selling single-family detached and attached homes in California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Washington (under the Polygon Northwest brand) and Oregon (under the Polygon Northwest brand).

Basis of Presentation

The preparation of the Company’s financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of the assets and liabilities as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016 and revenues and expenses for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2017 and 2016. Accordingly, actual results could differ from those estimates. The significant accounting policies using estimates include real estate inventories and cost of sales, impairment of real estate inventories, warranty reserves, loss contingencies, accounting for variable interest entities, business combinations, and valuation of deferred tax assets. The current economic environment increases the uncertainty inherent in these estimates and assumptions.

The condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and all majority-owned and controlled subsidiaries and joint ventures, and certain joint ventures and other entities which have been determined to be variable interest entities ("VIEs") in which the Company is considered the primary beneficiary (see Note 2). The accounting policies of the joint ventures are substantially the same as those of the Company. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

The condensed consolidated financial statements were prepared from our books and records without audit and include all adjustments (consisting of only normal recurring accruals) necessary to present a fair statement of results for the interim periods presented. Readers of this quarterly report should refer to our audited consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2016, which are included in our 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K, as certain disclosures that would substantially duplicate those contained in the audited financial statements have not been included in this report. Also, refer to the discussion under Change in Accounting Principle below regarding the adoption of the new standard for leases.

Real Estate Inventories

Real estate inventories are carried at cost net of impairment losses, if any. Real estate inventories consist primarily of land deposits, land and land under development, homes completed and under construction, and model homes. All direct and indirect land costs, offsite and onsite improvements and applicable interest and other carrying charges are capitalized to real estate projects during periods when the project is under development. Land, offsite costs and all other common costs are allocated to land parcels benefited based upon relative fair values before construction. Onsite construction costs and related carrying charges (principally interest and property taxes) are allocated to the individual homes within a phase based upon the relative sales value of the homes. The Company relieves its real estate inventories through cost of sales for the estimated cost of homes sold. Selling expenses and other marketing costs are expensed in the period incurred. From time to time the Company sells land to third parties. The Company does not consider these sales to be core to its homebuilding business, and any gain or loss recognized on these transactions is recorded in other non-operating income. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, the Company had one and two land parcel sales, respectively, that resulted in a negligible loss for both periods then ended. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, the Company had two and five land parcel sales, respectively, that resulted in a $2.7 million gain for both periods then ended.

A provision for warranty costs relating to the Company’s limited warranty plans is included in cost of sales and accrued expenses at the time the sale of a home is recorded. The Company generally reserves a percent of the sales price of its homes, or a set amount per home closed depending on the operating division, against the possibility of future charges relating to its warranty programs and similar potential claims. Factors that affect the Company’s warranty liability include the number of homes under warranty, historical and anticipated rates of warranty claims, and cost per claim. The Company continually assesses the adequacy of its recorded warranty liability and adjusts the amounts as necessary. Changes in the Company’s warranty liability for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, are as follows (in thousands):



	Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017			Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016
Warranty liability, beginning of period	$	14,174		$	18,117
Warranty provision during period	7,695			7,086
Warranty payments during period	(9,419		)	(10,579		)
Warranty charges related to construction services projects	120			128
Warranty liability, end of period	$	12,570		$	14,752

Interest incurred under the Company’s debt obligations, as more fully discussed in Note 6, is capitalized to qualifying real estate projects under development. Interest activity for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 are as follows (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended September 30, 2017		Three Months Ended September 30, 2016		Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017		Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016
Interest incurred	$	18,112	$	21,293	$	56,359	$	62,112
Less: Interest capitalized	18,112		21,293		56,359		62,112
Interest expense, net of amounts capitalized	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—
Cash paid for interest	$	28,374	$	14,898	$	55,532	$	54,576

Construction Services

The Company accounts for construction management agreements using the Percentage of Completion Method in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 605 Revenue Recognition (“ASC 605”). Under ASC 605, the Company records revenues and expenses as a contracted project progresses, and based on the percentage of costs incurred to date compared to the total estimated costs of the contract.

The Company entered into construction management agreements to build, sell and market homes in certain communities. For such services, the Company will receive fees (generally 3 to 5 percent of the sales price, as defined) and may, under certain circumstances, receive additional compensation if certain financial thresholds are achieved.

Financial Instruments

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk are primarily cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, receivables, and deposits. The Company typically places its cash and cash equivalents in investment grade short-term instruments. Deposits, included in other assets, are due from municipalities or utility companies and are generally collected from such entities through fees assessed to other developers. The Company is an issuer of, or subject to, financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of business which exposes it to credit risks. These financial instruments include letters of credit and obligations in connection with assessment district bonds. These off-balance sheet financial instruments are described in more detail in Note 12.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Short-term investments with a maturity of three months or less when purchased are considered cash equivalents. The Company’s cash and cash equivalents balance exceeds federally insurable limits as of September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016. The Company monitors the cash balances in its operating accounts, however, these cash balances could be negatively impacted if the underlying financial institutions fail or are subject to other adverse conditions in the financial markets. To date, the Company has experienced no loss or lack of access to cash in its operating accounts.

Deferred Loan Costs

Deferred loan costs represent debt issuance costs and are primarily amortized to interest incurred using the straight line method which approximates the effective interest method.

Goodwill

In accordance with the provisions of ASC 350, Intangibles, Goodwill and Other, goodwill amounts are not amortized, but rather are analyzed for impairment at the reporting segment level. Goodwill is analyzed on an annual basis, or when indicators of impairment exist. We have determined that we have six reporting segments, as discussed in Note 4, and we perform an annual goodwill impairment analysis during the fourth quarter of each fiscal year.

Intangibles

Recorded intangible assets primarily relate to brand names of acquired entities, construction management contracts, homes in backlog, and joint venture management fee contracts recorded in conjunction with FASB ASC Topic 852, Reorganizations ("ASC 852"), or FASB ASC Topic 805, Business Combinations ("ASC 805"). All intangible assets with the exception of those relating to brand names were valued based on expected cash flows related to home closings, and the asset is amortized on a per unit basis, as homes under the contracts close. Our brand name intangible assets are deemed to have an indefinite useful life.

Income per common share

The Company computes income per common share in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 260, Earnings per Share, which requires income per common share for each class of stock to be calculated using the two-class method. The two-class method is an allocation of income between the holders of common stock and a company’s participating security holders.

Basic income per common share is computed by dividing income or loss available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding. For purposes of determining diluted income per common share, basic income per common share is further adjusted to include the effect of potential dilutive common shares.

Income Taxes

Income taxes are accounted for under the provisions of Financial Accounting Standards Board ASC 740, Income Taxes, using an asset and liability approach. Deferred income taxes reflect the net effects of temporary differences between the carrying amount of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income tax purposes, and operating loss and tax credit carryforwards measured by applying currently enacted tax laws. A valuation allowance is provided to reduce net deferred tax assets to an amount that is more likely than not to be realized. ASC 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement criteria for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be considered “more-likely-than-not” to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. In addition, the Company has elected to recognize interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions in the income tax provision.

Impact of Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Effective January 1, 2017, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-09, “Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2016-09”), which simplified several aspects for the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences and classification on the statement of cash flows. The Company did not have any previously unrecognized excess tax benefits. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements or notes to its consolidated financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASU 2014-09”), which clarifies existing accounting literature relating to how and when revenue is recognized by an entity. ASU 2014-09 affects any entity that either enters into contracts with customers to transfer goods or services or enters into contracts for the transfer of nonfinancial assets and supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in Topic 605, Revenue Recognition, and most industry-specific guidance. ASU 2014-09 requires an entity to recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. In doing so, an entity will need to exercise a greater degree of judgment and make more estimates than under the current guidance. These may include identifying performance obligations in the contract, estimating the amount of variable consideration to include in the transaction price, and allocating the transaction price to each separate performance obligation. ASU 2014-09 also supersedes some cost guidance included in Subtopic 605-35, Revenue Recognition-Construction-Type and Production-Type Contracts. ASU 2014-09 is effective for public companies for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and is to be applied either retrospectively or using the cumulative effect transition method, with early adoption not permitted.

The Company is currently evaluating the potential impact of ASU 2014-09 on its consolidated financial statements, but does not anticipate that the adoption will have a material impact on the amount or timing of its revenues. ASU 2014-09 may impact the classification and timing of recognition of certain marketing costs and costs associated with obtaining a customer sales contract that the Company incurs in the course of its business. The Company has not concluded its analysis of these costs, but does not anticipate that adoption of the ASU will result in a material change to the Company's financial statements or related disclosures. The Company has not finalized its implementation plan for ASU 2014-09, but expects to employ the cumulative effect transition method.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-15, “Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments” (“ASU 2016-15”). ASU 2016-15 provides guidance on how certain cash receipts and cash payments are to be presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. ASU 2016-15 is effective for annual and interim periods in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the potential impact the adoption of ASU 2016-15 will have on its consolidated financial statements.

Change in Accounting Principle

During the second quarter ended June 30, 2017, the Company adopted the provisions of Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-02, "Leases (Topic 842)" ("ASU 2016-02"), which amends the existing standards for lease accounting, requiring lessees to recognize most leases on their balance sheets and disclose key information about leasing arrangements. The new standard establishes a right-of-use ("ROU") model that requires a lessee to recognize a ROU asset and lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases with a term longer than 12 months. Leases will be classified as finance or operating, with classification affecting the pattern and classification of expense recognition in the income statement.

The Company adopted the new standard with a modified retrospective transition approach for leases existing at, or entered into after, the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented in the financial statements. The adoption is accounted for as a change in accounting principle in conformity with Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 250, “Accounting Changes and Error Corrections”.

As a result of the adoption, the most significant changes related to (1) the recognition of new ROU assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet for office, real estate and equipment operating leases; and (2) the derecognition of previous assets and liabilities for a sale-leaseback transaction that did not qualify for sale accounting under the previous standards.

The Company elected all of the standard's available practical expedients on adoption, including the package of practical expedients and use of hindsight expedient. Consequently, the Company:

–Recognized lease related liabilities within Accrued expenses of $15.6 million as of June 30, 2017, with corresponding ROU assets of the same amount based on the present value of the remaining minimum rental payments under current leasing standards for existing operating leases.

The balance sheet as of December 31, 2016 was adjusted using the modified retrospective transition approach which resulted in the following adjusted balances (in thousands):



	December 31, 2016	Lease adoption adjustments		December 31, 2016
				(as adjusted)
Lease right-of-use assets	—	$	13,129	$	13,129
Total assets	1,998,151	13,129		2,011,280

Accrued expenses	79,790	13,129		92,919
Total liabilities and equity	1,998,151	13,129		2,011,280

The Company's existing material leases were all considered operating leases under the new leasing standard and as a result, no adjustment to previously reported lease expense was incurred for prior periods presented.

–Derecognized obligations of $19.8 million relating to cash received from a sale-leaseback transaction that was previously classified within Accrued expenses.

Refer to Note 12 for more details regarding leases as of September 30, 2017 and its comparative period.