Insurance Reserves

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Insurance Reserves

11. Insurance Reserves

The following table summarizes the insurance reserve activity for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010. The insurance reserve is included as a component of accounts payable and accrued liabilities in the Financial Services section of the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

	Year Ended December 31,
	2012			2011			2010
	(Dollars in thousands)
Balance at beginning of period	$	49,376		$	51,576		$	49,631
Expense provisions		4,565			2,506			3,688
Cash payments		(8,020	)		(7,115	)		(5,959	)
Adjustments		1,931			2,409			4,216
Balance at end of period	$	47,852		$	49,376		$	51,576

The $1.9 million, $2.4 million and $4.2 million of adjustments to increase our insurance reserves during the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, primarily resulted from increases in the severity and frequency of insurance claim experience relative to prior period estimates.

In the ordinary course of business, we make payments from our insurance reserves to settle litigation claims arising primarily from our homebuilding activities. These payments are unpredictable in both their timing and their magnitude. As a result, the cash payments shown for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011, and 2010 are not necessarily indicative of what future cash payments will be for subsequent periods.