20.

Investments in Unconsolidated Homebuilding and Land Development Joint Ventures

We enter into homebuilding and land development joint ventures from time to time as a means of accessing lot positions, expanding our market opportunities, establishing strategic alliances, managing our risk profile, leveraging our capital base and enhancing returns on capital. Our homebuilding joint ventures are generally entered into with

third

-party investors to develop land and construct homes that are sold directly to

third

-party home buyers. Our land development joint ventures include those entered into with developers and other homebuilders as well as financial investors to develop finished lots for sale to the joint venture

’s members or other

third

parties.

November 2015,

the Company entered into a new joint venture to which the Company contributed a land parcel that had been mothballed by the Company, but on which construction by the joint venture has now begun. Upon formation of the joint venture, the Company received $

25.7

million of cash proceeds for the contributed land. In addition, during the

third

quarter of fiscal

2016,

we entered into a new joint venture by contributing

eight

communities we owned and our option to buy

one

community to the joint venture. As a result of the formation of the joint venture, the Company received $

29.8

million of cash in return for the land and option contributions.

During the

first

quarter of fiscal

2017,

we expanded this joint venture by transferring

one

community we owned and our option to buy

three

communities to the joint venture, resulting in our receiving

$11.2

million of net cash.

The tables set forth below summarize the combined financial information related to our unconsolidated homebuilding and land development joint ventures that are accounted for under the equity method.

	October 31, 2017
(Dollars in thousands)	Homebuilding			Land Development			Total
Assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	60,580		$	194		$	60,774
Inventories		666,017			9,162			675,179
Other assets		36,026			-			36,026
Total assets	$	762,623		$	9,356		$	771,979
Liabilities and equity:
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	$	121,646		$	429		$	122,075
Notes payable		330,642			-			330,642
Total liabilities		452,288			429			452,717
Equity of:
Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.		88,884			3,746			92,630
Others		221,451			5,181			226,632
Total equity		310,335			8,927			319,262
Total liabilities and equity	$	762,623		$	9,356		$	771,979
Debt to capitalization ratio		52	%		0	%		51	%

	October 31, 2016
(Dollars in thousands)	Homebuilding			Land Development			Total
Assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	48,542		$	1,478		$	50,020
Inventories		516,947			11,010			527,957
Other assets		25,865			-			25,865
Total assets	$	591,354		$	12,488		$	603,842
Liabilities and equity:
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	$	72,302		$	1,812		$	74,114
Notes payable		214,911			2,261			217,172
Total liabilities		287,213			4,073			291,286
Equity of:
Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.		88,379			3,220			91,599
Others		215,762			5,195			220,957
Total equity		304,141			8,415			312,556
Total liabilities and equity	$	591,354		$	12,488		$	603,842
Debt to capitalization ratio		41	%		21	%		41	%

As of

October 31, 2017

and

2016,

we had advances and a note receivable outstanding of

$22.4

million and

$8.9

million, respectively, to these unconsolidated joint ventures. These amounts were included in the “Accounts payable and accrued liabilities” balances in the tables above.

On our Consolidated Balance Sheets, our “Investments in and advances to unconsolidated joint ventures” amounted to

$115.1

million and

$100.5

million at

October 31, 2017

and

2016,

respectively. In some cases our net investment in these joint ventures is less than our proportionate share of the equity reflected in the table above because of the differences between asset impairments recorded against our joint venture investments and any impairments recorded in the applicable joint venture. Impairments of joint venture investments are recorded at fair value while impairments recorded in the joint venture are recorded when undiscounted cash flows trigger the impairment. During fiscal

2017,

we wrote-down certain joint venture investments by

$2.8

million based on our determination that the investment in these joint ventures has sustained an other than temporary impairment.

	For The Year Ended October 31, 2017
(Dollars in thousands)	Homebuilding			Land Development			Total
Revenues	$	312,164		$	5,685		$	317,849
Cost of sales and expenses		(324,514	)		(4,633	)		(329,147	)
Joint venture net (loss) income	$	(12,350	)	$	1,052		$	(11,298	)
Our share of net (loss) income	$	(7,189	)	$	526		$	(6,663	)

	For The Year Ended October 31, 2016
(Dollars in thousands)	Homebuilding			Land Development			Total
Revenues	$	141,418		$	6,299		$	147,717
Cost of sales and expenses		(159,431	)		(6,103	)		(165,534	)
Joint venture net (loss) income	$	(18,013	)	$	196		$	(17,817	)
Our share of net (loss) income	$	(4,424	)	$	98		$	(4,326	)

	For The Year Ended October 31, 2015
(Dollars in thousands)	Homebuilding			Land Development			Total
Revenues	$	122,192		$	6,782		$	128,974
Cost of sales and expenses		(125,652	)		(6,518	)		(132,170	)
Joint venture net (loss) income	$	(3,460	)	$	264		$	(3,196	)
Our share of net income	$	4,087		$	132		$	4,219

“(Loss) income from unconsolidated joint ventures” is reflected as a separate line in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations and reflects our proportionate share of the income or loss of these unconsolidated homebuilding and land development joint ventures.

The difference between our share of the income or loss from these unconsolidated joint ventures in the tables above compared to the Consolidated Statements of Operations is due primarily to the reclassification of the intercompany portion of management fee income from certain joint ventures and the deferral of income for lots purchased by us from certain joint ventures. To compensate us for the administrative services we provide as the manager of certain joint ventures we receive a management fee based on a percentage of the applicable joint venture’s revenues. These management fees, which totaled

$11.3

million,

$5.8

million and

$5.2

million for the years ended

October 31, 2017,

2016

and

2015,

respectively, are recorded in “Homebuilding: Selling, general and administrative” on the Consolidated Statement of Operations.

In determining whether or

not

we must consolidate joint ventures that we manage, we assess whether the other partners have specific rights to overcome the presumption of control by us as the manager of the joint venture.

In most cases, the presumption is overcome because the joint venture agreements require that both partners agree on establishing the operations and capital decisions of the partnership, including budgets in the ordinary course of business.

Typically, our unconsolidated joint ventures obtain separate project specific mortgage financing.

The amount of financing is generally targeted to be

more than

50%

of the joint venture’s total assets. For some of our joint ventures, obtaining financing was challenging, therefore, some of our joint ventures are capitalized only with equity. The total debt to capitalization ratio of all our joint ventures is currently

51%.

Any joint venture financing is on a nonrecourse basis, with guarantees from us limited only to performance and completion of development, environmental warranties and indemnification, standard indemnification for fraud, misrepresentation and other similar actions, including a voluntary bankruptcy filing. In some instances, the joint venture entity is considered a VIE under ASC

810

“Consolidation – Overall” due to the returns being capped to the equity holders; however, in these instances, we have determined that we are

not

the primary beneficiary, and therefore we do

not

consolidate these entities.