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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Oct. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Legal Proceedings We are involved in various claims and litigation arising principally in the ordinary course of business. We believe that adequate provision for resolution of all current claims and pending litigation has been made and that the disposition of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and liquidity or on our financial condition. In March 2018, the Pennsylvania Attorney General informed the Company that it was conducting a review of our construction of stucco homes in Pennsylvania after January 1, 2005 and requested that we voluntarily produce documents and information. The Company has produced documents and information in response to this request and, in addition, has produced requested information and documents in response to a subpoena issued in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Management cannot at this time predict the eventual scope or outcome of this matter. Land Purchase Commitments Generally, our agreements to acquire land parcels do not require us to purchase those land parcels, although we, in some cases, forfeit any deposit balance outstanding if and when we terminate an agreement. If market conditions are weak, approvals needed to develop the land are uncertain, or other factors exist that make the purchase undesirable, we may choose not to acquire the land. Whether a purchase agreement is legally terminated or not, we review the amount recorded for the land parcel subject to the purchase agreement to determine whether the amount is recoverable. While we may not have formally terminated the purchase agreements for those land parcels that we do not expect to acquire, we write off any nonrefundable deposits and costs previously capitalized to such land parcels in the periods that we determine such costs are not recoverable. Information regarding our land purchase commitments at October 31, 2020 and 2019, is provided in the table below (amounts in thousands):
| 2020 |  | 2019
Aggregate purchase commitments: |  |  |
Unrelated parties | $ | 2,630,128 |  |  | $ | 2,349,900 |
Unconsolidated entities that the Company has investments in | 10,097 |  |  | 10,826 |
Total | $ | 2,640,225 |  |  | $ | 2,360,726 |
Deposits against aggregate purchase commitments | $ | 223,571 |  |  | $ | 168,778 |
Additional cash required to acquire land | 2,416,654 |  |  | 2,191,948 |
Total | $ | 2,640,225 |  |  | $ | 2,360,726 |
Amount of additional cash required to acquire land included in accrued expenses | $ | 19,590 |  |  | $ | 14,620 |
In addition, we expect to purchase approximately 2,100 additional home sites over a number of years from several joint ventures in which we have investments; the purchase prices of these home sites will be determined at a future date. At October 31, 2020, we also had purchase commitments to acquire land for apartment developments of approximately $111.3 million, of which we had outstanding deposits in the amount of $6.5 million. We have additional land parcels under option that have been excluded from the aforementioned aggregate purchase amounts since we do not believe that we will complete the purchase of these land parcels and no additional funds will be required from us to terminate these contracts. Investments in Unconsolidated Entities At October 31, 2020, we had investments in a number of unconsolidated entities, were committed to invest or advance additional funds, and had guaranteed a portion of the indebtedness and/or loan commitments of these entities. See Note 4, “Investments in Unconsolidated Entities,” for more information regarding our commitments to these entities. Surety Bonds and Letters of Credit At October 31, 2020, we had outstanding surety bonds amounting to $742.9 million, primarily related to our obligations to governmental entities to construct improvements in our communities. We estimate that $356.9 million of work remains on these improvements. We have an additional $182.1 million of surety bonds outstanding that guarantee other obligations. We do not believe it is probable that any outstanding bonds will be drawn upon. At October 31, 2020, we had outstanding letters of credit of $119.0 million under our Revolving Credit Facility. These letters of credit were issued to secure our various financial obligations, including insurance policy deductibles and other claims, land deposits, and security to complete improvements in communities in which we are operating. We do not believe that it is probable that any outstanding letters of credit will be drawn upon. Backlog At October 31, 2020, we had agreements of sale outstanding to deliver 7,791 homes with an aggregate sales value of $6.37 billion. Mortgage Commitments Our mortgage subsidiary provides mortgage financing for a portion of our home closings. For those home buyers to whom our mortgage subsidiary provides mortgages, we determine whether the home buyer qualifies for the mortgage based upon information provided by the home buyer and other sources. For those home buyers who qualify, our mortgage subsidiary provides the home buyer with a mortgage commitment that specifies the terms and conditions of a proposed mortgage loan based upon then-current market conditions. Prior to the actual closing of the home and funding of the mortgage, the home buyer will lock in an interest rate based upon the terms of the commitment. At the time of rate lock, our mortgage subsidiary agrees to sell the proposed mortgage loan to one of several outside recognized mortgage financing institutions (“investors”) that is willing to honor the terms and conditions, including interest rate, committed to the home buyer. We believe that these investors have adequate financial resources to honor their commitments to our mortgage subsidiary. Mortgage loans are sold to investors with limited recourse provisions derived from industry-standard representations and warranties in the relevant agreements. These representations and warranties primarily involve the absence of misrepresentations by the borrower or other parties, the appropriate underwriting of the loan and in some cases, a required minimum number of payments to be made by the borrower. The Company generally does not retain any other continuing interest related to mortgage loans sold in the secondary market. Information regarding our mortgage commitments at October 31, 2020 and 2019, is provided in the table below (amounts in thousands):
| 2020 |  | 2019
Aggregate mortgage loan commitments: |  |  |
IRLCs | $ | 381,116 |  |  | $ | 565,634 |
Non-IRLCs | 1,688,801 |  |  | 1,364,972 |
Total | $ | 2,069,917 |  |  | $ | 1,930,606 |
Investor commitments to purchase: |  |  |
IRLCs | $ | 381,116 |  |  | $ | 565,634 |
Mortgage loans receivable | 217,876 |  |  | 208,591 |
Total | $ | 598,992 |  |  | $ | 774,225 |
Lease Commitments We lease certain facilities, equipment, and properties held for rental apartment operation or development under non-cancelable operating leases which, in the case of certain rental properties, have an initial term of 99 years. We recognize lease expense for these leases on a straight-line basis over the lease term. ROU assets and lease liabilities are recorded on the balance sheet for all leases with an expected term over one year. A majority of our facility lease agreements include rental payments based on a pro-rata share of the lessor’s operating costs which are variable in nature. Our lease agreements do not contain any residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants. ROU assets are classified within “Receivables, prepaid expenses, and other assets” and the corresponding lease liability is included in “Accrued expenses” in our Consolidated Balance Sheet. We elected the short-term lease recognition exemption for all leases that, at the commencement date, have a lease term of 12 months or less and do not include an option to purchase the underlying asset that we are reasonably certain to exercise. For such leases, we do not recognize ROU assets or lease liabilities and instead recognize lease payments in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income on a straight-line basis. At October 31, 2020, ROU assets and lease liabilities were $105.0 million and $124.8 million, respectively. Payments on lease liabilities totaled $16.6 million for the year ending October 31, 2020. Lease expense includes costs for leases with terms in excess of one year as well as short-term leases with terms of one year or less. For the fiscal years ending October 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, our total lease expense was $21.6 million, $20.2 million, and $15.8 million, respectively, inclusive of variable lease costs of approximately $3.1 million and short-term lease costs of approxima tel y $3.5 million in fiscal 2020. S ublease income was de minimis. Information regarding our remaining lease payments as of October 31, 2020 is provided in the table below (amounts in thousands):
Year ended October 31,
2021 |  | $ | 19,942 |
2022 |  | 18,093 |
2023 |  | 15,621 |
2024 |  | 13,018 |
2025 |  | 9,475 |
Thereafter |  | 204,509 |
Total lease payments (a) |  | $ | 280,658 |
Less: Interest (b) |  | 155,902 |
Present value of lease liabilities |  | $ | 124,756 |
(a) Lease payments include options to extend lease terms that are reasonably certain of being exercised (b) Our leases do not provide a readily determinable implicit rate. Therefore, we must estimate our discount rate for such leases to determine the present value of lease payments at the lease commencement date. The majority of our facility leases give us the option to extend the lease term. The exercise of lease renewal options is at our discretion. For several of our facility leases we are reasonably certain the option will be exercised and thus the renewal term has been included in our calculation of the ROU asset and lease liability. The weighted average remaining lease term and weighted average discount rate used in calculating these facility lease liabilities, excluding our land leases, were 8.81 years and 4.1%, respectively, at October 31, 2020. We have a small number of land leases with initial terms of 99 years. We are not reasonably certain that, if given the option, we would extend these leases. We have therefore excluded the renewal terms from our ROU asset and lease liability for these leases. The weighted average remaining lease term and weighted average discount rate used in calculating these land lease liabilities were 93.9 years and 4.5%, respectively, at October 31, 2020.

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