Note 7 - Inventories

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Inventory Disclosure [Abstract]

Inventory Disclosure [Text Block]

7. Inventories

a. Inventories Owned

Inventories owned consisted of the following at:

	March 31, 2015
	California		Southwest		Southeast		Total
	(Dollars in thousands)
Land and land under development	$	1,032,490	$	515,054	$	739,460	$	2,287,004
Homes completed and under construction		405,140		294,396		308,317		1,007,853
Model homes		83,047		43,090		59,783		185,920
Total inventories owned	$	1,520,677	$	852,540	$	1,107,560	$	3,480,777

	December 31, 2014
	California		Southwest		Southeast		Total
	(Dollars in thousands)
Land and land under development	$	1,021,585	$	504,538	$	722,166	$	2,248,289
Homes completed and under construction		318,982		250,498		258,132		827,612
Model homes		81,763		44,437		53,103		179,303
Total inventories owned	$	1,422,330	$	799,473	$	1,033,401	$	3,255,204

In accordance with ASC Topic 360, Property, Plant, and Equipment ("ASC 360"), we record impairment losses on inventories when events and circumstances indicate that they may be impaired, and the future undiscounted cash flows estimated to be generated by those assets are less than their carrying amounts. Inventories that are determined to be impaired are written down to their estimated fair value. We calculate the fair value of a project under a land residual value analysis and in certain cases in conjunction with a discounted cash flow analysis. As of March 31, 2015 and 2014, the total active and future projects that we owned were 367 and 361, respectively.  During the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, we reviewed all projects for indicators of impairment and based on our review we did not record any inventory impairments during these periods.

b. Inventories Not Owned

Inventories not owned consisted of the following at:

	March 31,		December 31,
	2015		2014
	(Dollars in thousands)
Land purchase and lot option deposits	$	46,323	$	47,472
Other lot option contracts, net of deposits		4,533		37,681
Total inventories not owned	$	50,856	$	85,153

Under ASC Topic 810, Consolidation ("ASC 810"), a non-refundable deposit paid to an entity is deemed to be a variable interest that will absorb some or all of the entity’s expected losses if they occur. Our land purchase and lot option deposits generally represent our maximum exposure to the land seller if we elect not to purchase the optioned property. In some instances, we may also expend funds for due diligence, development and construction activities with respect to optioned land prior to takedown. Such costs are classified as inventories owned, which we would have to absorb should we not exercise the option. Therefore, whenever we enter into a land option or purchase contract with an entity and make a non-refundable deposit, a variable interest entity ("VIE") may have been created. In accordance with ASC 810, we perform ongoing reassessments of whether we are the primary beneficiary of a VIE. As of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, we had consolidated $1.4 million and $7.6 million, respectively, within inventories not owned (with a corresponding increase in accrued liabilities) related to land option and purchase contracts where we were deemed to be the primary beneficiary of a VIE.

Other lot option contracts also included $3.1 million, as of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, of purchase price allocated in connection with a business acquisition during the 2013 second quarter, and $27.0 million as of December 31, 2014 related to a land purchase contract where we made a significant deposit and as a result we were deemed to be economically compelled to purchase the land.