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Note 2 - Business | 12 Months Ended
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Oct. 31, 2016
Notes to Financial Statements |
Nature of Operations [Text Block] | 2. Business Our operations consist of homebuilding, financial services and corporate. Our homebuilding operations are made up of six reportable segments defined as Northeast, Mid Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest and West. Homebuilding operations comprise the substantial part of our business, representing approximately 97 % of consolidated revenues for the years ended October 31, 2016, and 2015 and approximately 98% for the year ended October 31, 2014. We are a Delaware corporation, building and selling homes at October 31, 2016 in 167 consolidated new home communities in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. We offer a wide variety of homes that are designed to appeal to first time buyers, first and second time move up buyers, luxury buyers, active lifestyle buyers and empty nesters. Our financial services operations, which are a reportable segment, provide mortgage banking and title services to the homebuilding operations’ customers. We do not typically retain or service the mortgages that we originate but rather sell the mortgages and related servicing rights to investors. Corporate primarily includes the operations of our corporate office whose primary purpose is to provide executive services, accounting, information services, human resources, management reporting, training, cash management, internal audit, risk management, and administration of process redesign, quality, and safety. During fiscal 2016, we decided to exit the Minneapolis, MN and Raleigh, NC markets and in the third quarter of fiscal 2016, we completed the sale of our portfolios in those markets. We have also decided to wind down our operations in the San Francisco Bay area in Northern California and in Tampa, FL by building and delivering homes to sell through our existing land position. See Note 10 “Operating and Reporting Segments” for further disclosure of our reportable segments.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, major products or services, principal markets including location, and the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination, including but not limited to, assets, revenues, or earnings. For an entity that has not commenced principal operations, disclosures about the risks and uncertainties related to the activities in which the entity is currently engaged and an understanding of what those activities are being directed toward. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64851502&loc=d3e6003-108592 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 275 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2A -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64851502&loc=SL51803626-108592 + Details
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