Fair Value Disclosures (Level 4 inventory fv) (Details 3) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended							9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2021 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2021 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2021 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2020 USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2021 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2020 USD ($)
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down	$ 13,150				$ 6,690			$ 15,997	$ 21,934
Equity Method Investment, Nonconsolidated Investee or Group of Investees
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 89,304				$ 78,897			268,257	291,179
Operating communities [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down								1,100		$ 675
Fair Value, Nonrecurring [Member] | Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Operating communities [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Number of Operating Communities Tested (in ones)	18	27	53	53	66	80	65
Number of Communities Impaired (in ones)	0	0	1	1	0	1	0
Fair Value Of Communities Net Of Impairment Charges	$ 0	$ 0	$ 419	$ 1,113	$ 0	$ 2,754	$ 0	0	0	$ 1,113
Inventory Write-down	0	$ 0	$ 1,100	$ 375	0	$ 300	$ 0
City Living [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down	0				0			1,100	0
North [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down	2,492				1,106			2,557	1,478
South [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down	28				630			472	2,619
Mid-Atlantic [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down	10,488				4,783			10,578	15,449
Pacific [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Inventory Write-down	$ 74				$ 4			$ 1,202	$ 1,961