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Real Estate and Capitalized Interest (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified | Mar. 31, 2014 | Dec. 31, 2013
--- | --- | ---
Real Estate Properties |  |  |  |
Finished home sites and home sites under development | $ 874,760 |  | $ 813,135 |
Land held for development | 50,811 | [1] | 52,100 | [1]
Land held for sale | 24,548 |  | 19,112 |
Communities in mothball status | 23,786 | [2] | 28,889 | [2]
Real estate | 1,538,218 |  | 1,405,299 |
Homes under contract [Member] |  |  |  |
Homes under contract under construction | 313,527 | [3] | 262,633 | [3]
Speculative homes not under contract [Member] |  |  |  |
Homes under contract under construction | 165,813 | [3] | 147,889 | [3]
Model homes [Member] |  |  |  |
Homes under contract under construction | $ 84,973 | [3] | $ 81,541 | [3]
[1] | Land held for development primarily reflects land and land development costs related to land where development activity is not currently underway but is expected to begin in the future. For these parcels, we may have chosen not to currently develop certain land holdings as they typically represent a portion of a larger land parcel that we plan to build out over several years.
[2] | Represents communities where we have decided to cease operations (mothball) as we have determined that their economic performance would be maximized by deferring development. In the future, some of these communities may be re-opened while others may be sold to third parties. If we deem our carrying value to not be fully recoverable, we adjust our carrying value for these assets to fair value at the time they are placed into mothball status. As of March 31, 2014, we had four mothballed communities with a carrying value of $21.0 million in our West Region and one mothballed community with a carrying value of $2.8 million in our Central Region. We do not capitalize interest for such mothballed assets, and all ongoing costs of land ownership (i.e. property taxes, homeowner association dues, etc.) are also expensed as incurred.
[3] | Includes the allocated land and land development costs associated with each lot for these homes.

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- Definition Carrying amount net of impairment reserves as of the balance sheet date primarily consisting of land which is held for development. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of capitalized construction costs of homes for future sale. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 210 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.6(a)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 02 -Paragraph 6 -Subparagraph a -Article 5 + Details
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- Definition Total of (1) improvements, (2) held-for-sale, (3) land and land under development, (4) construction-in-process, (5) mortgage loans held-in-inventory, and (6) other real estate investments which are considered inventory due to being held for sale or disposition. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Carrying value of land held for sale. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 210 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03.(a),1(d)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 360 -SubTopic 10 -Section 45 -Paragraph 14 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=8077374&loc=d3e2599-110228 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 03 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph d -Article 7 + Details
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