Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Statement of Operations [Abstract]
Revenue	$ 263,159us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet	$ 234,841us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet
Costs and Expenses [Abstract]
Land and housing	206,183mho_LandAndHousingCosts	183,964mho_LandAndHousingCosts
General and administrative	19,334us-gaap_GeneralAndAdministrativeExpense	18,315us-gaap_GeneralAndAdministrativeExpense
Selling	17,686us-gaap_SellingExpense	15,969us-gaap_SellingExpense
Equity in loss (income) of unconsolidated joint ventures	(198)	(62)
Interest	4,462us-gaap_InterestExpense	4,170us-gaap_InterestExpense
Total costs and expenses	247,467us-gaap_CostsAndExpenses	222,356us-gaap_CostsAndExpenses
Income (loss) before income taxes	15,692	12,485
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	6,124us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	(147)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Net income (loss)	9,568us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss	12,632us-gaap_NetIncomeLoss
Preferred Dividends	1,219	1,219
Net income to common shareholders	$ 8,349	$ 11,413
Earnings (loss) per common share:
Basic	$ 0.34us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic	$ 0.47us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasic
Diluted	$ 0.31us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted	$ 0.41us-gaap_EarningsPerShareDiluted
Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding [Abstract]
Basic	24,514	24,417
Diluted	29,975	29,870

The aggregate costs related to design, development, and general contracting for residential buildings, including single-family houses, multifamily housing, townhomes, apartments, and modular housing, as well as the aggregate costs of real estate land sales.

No definition available.