Business Segments Business Segments (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2016
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 406,980	$ 324,370
Operating Income	31,656	19,673
Interest	5,338	5,265
Equity in income of joint venture arrangements	(17)	(307)
Income before income taxes	26,335	14,715
Charges related to stucco-related claims	0	2,155
Midwest Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	146,422	118,170
Operating Income	14,859	10,328
Interest	1,377	1,279
Southern Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	149,365	122,694
Operating Income	8,712	6,430
Interest	2,377	2,194
Mid-Atlantic Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Homebuilding revenue	96,886	73,453
Operating Income	7,253	3,884
Interest	916	1,408
Financial Services [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Financial services revenue	14,307	10,053
Operating Income	9,230	6,275
Interest	668	384
Corporate and Other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Selling, general and administrative expenses	$ (8,398)	$ (7,244)

The aggregate financial services revenue and operating interest income earned during the reporting period.

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Revenue related to the sale of homes and home building activities including design, development, general contracting, and renovation services for residential buildings, including single-family houses, multifamily housing, townhouses, apartments, and modular housing.

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The portion of earnings or loss from continuing operations before income taxes that is attributable to domestic operations.

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This item represents the entity's proportionate share for the period of the net income (loss) of its investee (such as unconsolidated subsidiaries and joint ventures) to which the equity method of accounting is applied. This item includes income or expense related to stock-based compensation based on the investor's grant of stock to employees of an equity method investee.

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Amount of the cost of borrowed funds accounted for as interest expense.

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The net result for the period of deducting operating expenses from operating revenues.

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Amount of increase (decrease) in the standard and extended product warranty liability.

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Amount of revenue recognized from goods sold, services rendered, insurance premiums, or other activities that constitute an earning process. Includes, but is not limited to, investment and interest income before deduction of interest expense when recognized as a component of revenue, and sales and trading gain (loss).

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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The aggregate total costs related to selling a firm's product and services, as well as all other general and administrative expenses. Direct selling expenses (for example, credit, warranty, and advertising) are expenses that can be directly linked to the sale of specific products. Indirect selling expenses are expenses that cannot be directly linked to the sale of specific products, for example telephone expenses, Internet, and postal charges. General and administrative expenses include salaries of non-sales personnel, rent, utilities, communication, etc.

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