Equity Transactions Narrative (Details)								1 Months Ended				3 Months Ended							12 Months Ended
	Jan. 20, 2017 USD ($)	Jan. 17, 2017 USD ($)	Jun. 09, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Mar. 30, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Apr. 01, 2015 $ / shares Rate shares	Jan. 06, 2015 USD ($) shares	Jan. 06, 2015 $ / shares Rate shares	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Nov. 30, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($) shares	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($) shares	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($) shares	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Aug. 10, 2015 $ / shares	Jul. 20, 2015 shares	Nov. 30, 2004 shares
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common Stock, Shares Authorized												180,000,000							180,000,000	180,000,000			90,000,000
Preferred Stock, Shares Authorized												20,000,000							20,000,000				10,000,000
Preferred Stock, Shares Outstanding												3,400,000							3,400,000	3,400,000
Stock Issued During Period, Value, New Issues | $												$ 1,500	$ 47,100	$ 34,400		$ 40,800	$ 1,700	$ 21,500
New shares issued (in shares)				6,037,500				3,737,500		3,737,500		19,498,000	620,828,000	485,000,000	6,037,500	608,100,000	26,200,000	342,011,000
Share Price | $ / shares				$ 66.50											$ 66.50
Aggregate Value of Shares to be Issued in Accordance to Sales Agreement | $									$ 250,000,000		$ 225,000,000
Commission, Maximum Percentage of Gross Sales Price Per Share According to Sales Agreement											2.00%
Shares Issued, Price Per Share | $ / shares								$ 75.89		$ 65.00			$ 75.89
Proceeds from Issuance or Sale of Equity | $																			$ 750,385,000	$ 310,301,000	$ 572,171,000
Temporary Equity, Redemption Price Per Share | $ / shares												$ 25.00							$ 25.00
Proceeds from issuance of common stock | $				$ 385,400,000				$ 283,600,000		$ 233,100,000					$ 385,400,000
Dividends per common share: | $ / shares																			$ 2.60	$ 2.60	$ 2.60
Distributions | $																			$ 179,400,000
Common Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Dividends per common share: | $ / shares													0.65
Common Stock [Member] | Dividend Paid [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Payments of Ordinary Dividends, Common Stock | $	$ 49,400,000
Series A Preferred Stock
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Dividends, Preferred Stock, Cash | $																			$ 6,000,000
Preferred Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Preferred Stock, Dividends Per Share, Declared | $ / shares													$ 0.45
Preferred Stock [Member] | Dividend Paid [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Payments of Ordinary Dividends, Preferred Stock and Preference Stock | $		$ 1,500,000
Series A-4 preferred OP units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Share Repurchase Price | $ / shares												$ 31.08							$ 31.08
Stock Repurchased During Period, Shares																			4,066,586
Series A-4 preferred stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Share Repurchase Obligation													5,926,322
Share Repurchase Price | $ / shares																						$ 31.08
Share Repurchase Price Stated Value | $ / shares																						30.90
Share Repurchase Price Accrued And Unpaid Distributions | $ / shares																						$ 0.18
Temporary Equity, Liquidation Preference | $												$ 25.00							$ 25.00
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Conversion Ratio																			0.4444
Stock Repurchased During Period, Shares													4,066,586						4,066,586
Preferred Stock, Shares Outstanding																				6,364,770
Preferred Stock Not Subject To Repurchase												438,448							438,448
Payments of Ordinary Dividends, Preferred Stock and Preference Stock | $																			$ 700,000
Preferred Stock, Dividends Per Share, Declared | $ / shares													$ 0.41
Dividends, Preferred Stock, Cash | $																			2,900,000
Series C preferred OP units [Domain]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Equity, Preferred OP unit, conversion price | $ / shares					$ 1.11
Series A-4 preferred stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Equity, preferred return rate | Rate							6.50%
Repurchase of Equity [Member] | Common Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Authorized to be repurchased (in shares)																								1,000,000
Repurchase Agreements [Member] | Common Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Remaining number of shares authorized to be repurchased (in shares)																				400,000
Carefree Communities
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Value Assigned | $			$ 225,000,000
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Number of Shares			3,329,880
Business Acquisition, Share Price | $ / shares			$ 67.57
Berger [Member] | Common OP Units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Weighted average sale price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares					$ 61.00
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Value Assigned | $																				$ 19,650,000
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Number of Shares					371,808											371,808
Berger [Member] | Series C preferred OP units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Weighted average sale price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares					$ 100.00
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Value Assigned | $																				$ 33,154,000
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Number of Shares					340,206											340,206
Green Courte [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Proceeds from Issuance or Sale of Equity | $																			$ 12,500,000
Green Courte [Member] | Common Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
New shares issued (in shares)																			150,000
Weighted average sale price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares											$ 50.00
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Value Assigned | $												$ 1,283,200							$ 1,283,200
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Number of Shares											25,664								25,664
Green Courte [Member] | Series A-4 preferred OP units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
New shares issued (in shares)																			200,000
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Number of Shares																			34,219
Green Courte [Member] | Series A-4 preferred stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Weighted average sale price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares											$ 25.00
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Value Assigned | $												$ 855,475							$ 855,475
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Number of Shares											34,219
Green Courte - Second Closing [Member] | Common Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
New shares issued (in shares)						150,000
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Number of Shares						4,377,073	4,377,073
Green Courte - Second Closing [Member] | Series A-4 preferred OP units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Preferred Units, Issued						200,000	200,000
Green Courte - Second Closing [Member] | Series A-4 preferred stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Business Acquisition, Equity Interest Issued or Issuable, Number of Shares						5,847,234	5,847,234
Green Courte - Second Closing [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Proceeds from Issuance or Sale of Equity | $						$ 12,500,000
Series A-4 preferred OP units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion of Common OP Units to common stock (in shares)																			120,906,000	114,414,000
Series A-4 preferred OP units [Member] | Common OP Units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion of Common OP Units to common stock (in shares)																			53,733,000	50,848,000
Conversion of Stock, Shares Issued																			444.4
Series A-4 preferred stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion of Common OP Units to common stock (in shares)																			385,242,000	231,093,000
Series A-4 preferred stock [Member] | Common OP Units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion of Common OP Units to common stock (in shares)																			171,218,000	102,708,000
Conversion of Stock, Shares Issued																			444.4
Series A-1 Preferred OP Units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion of Common OP Units to common stock (in shares)																			20,691,000	41,116,000
Series A-1 Preferred OP Units [Member] | Common OP Units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion of Common OP Units to common stock (in shares)																			50,458,000	100,277,000
Conversion of Stock, Shares Issued																			2,439
Green Courte [Member] | Common Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Weighted average sale price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares							$ 50.00
Equity Weighted Average Sale Price Fair Value | $ / shares							58.85
Green Courte [Member] | Series A-4 preferred stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Weighted average sale price (in dollars per share) | $ / shares							25.00
Equity Weighted Average Sale Price Fair Value | $ / shares							$ 30.00
Conversion of Common OP Units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion of Common OP Units to common stock (in shares)																			104,106		99,851
Conversion of Common OP Units [Member] | Common OP Units [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion of Common OP Units to common stock (in shares)																			104,106
Conversion of Stock, Shares Issued																			1,000
2015-2017 [Member] | Series C preferred OP units [Domain]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Equity, preferred return rate | Rate					4.00%
2018-2020 [Member] | Series C preferred OP units [Domain]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Equity, preferred return rate | Rate					4.50%
After 5 years [Member] | Series C preferred OP units [Domain]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Equity, preferred return rate | Rate					5.00%