Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013
Statement of Operations [Abstract]
Revenue	$ 234,841	$ 190,727
Costs and Expenses [Abstract]
Land and housing	183,964	151,513
Impairment of inventory and investment in unconsolidated joint ventures	0	900
General and administrative	18,315	15,979
Selling	15,969	13,109
Interest	4,170	4,340
Equity in income of unconsolidated joint ventures	(62)	0
Total costs and expenses	222,356	185,841
Income (loss) before income taxes	12,485	4,886
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	(147)	299
Net income (loss)	12,632	4,587
Preferred Dividends	1,219	0
Excess of fair value over book value of preferred shares redeemed	0	2,190
Net income to common shareholders	$ 11,413	$ 2,397
Earnings (loss) per common share:
Basic	$ 0.47	$ 0.11
Diluted	$ 0.41	$ 0.11
Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding [Abstract]
Basic	24,417	22,273
Diluted	29,870	22,688