Business Segments Business Segments (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 481,109	$ 437,857
Operating Income	30,392	31,141
Interest	6,792	5,878
Equity in loss (income) from joint venture arrangements	121	(310)
Acquisition and integration costs	0	1,700
Income before income taxes	23,479	23,873
Purchase Accounting Adjustments	428	896
Midwest Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	200,362	158,620
Operating Income	16,535	12,217
Interest	2,481	2,066
Southern Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	208,544	190,388
Operating Income	15,392	14,850
Interest	2,629	2,287
Mid-Atlantic Homebuilding [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	60,420	73,823
Operating Income	2,202	2,592
Interest	939	756
Financial Services [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	11,783	15,026
Operating Income	5,695	9,540
Interest	743	769
Corporate and Other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Selling, general and administrative expenses	$ (9,432)	$ (8,058)

Purchase Accounting Adjustments related to an acquisition

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- Definition

This element represents acquisition-related costs incurred to effect a business combination which costs have been expensed during the period. Such costs include finder's fees; advisory, legal, accounting, valuation, and other professional or consulting fees; general administrative costs, including the costs of maintaining an internal acquisitions department; and may include costs of registering and issuing debt and equity securities.

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- Definition

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

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- Definition

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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- Definition

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

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- Definition

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

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- Definition

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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- Definition

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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- Definition

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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