Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013
Statement of Operations [Abstract]
Revenue	$ 330,767	$ 275,195	$ 847,216	$ 700,475
Costs and Expenses [Abstract]
Land and housing	261,636	218,150	666,817	556,799
Impairment of inventory and investment in unconsolidated joint ventures	622	2,136	1,426	4,237
General and administrative	21,724	18,261	61,320	52,389
Selling	21,955	17,999	58,175	47,383
Interest	2,649	3,449	9,549	12,186
Equity in loss (income) of unconsolidated joint ventures	(22)	(278)	(62)	(278)
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	0	1,726	0	1,726
Total costs and expenses	308,564	261,443	797,225	674,442
Income (loss) before income taxes	22,203	13,752	49,991	26,033
(Benefit) provision for income taxes	8,586	(111,559)	10,188	(111,129)
Net income (loss)	13,617	125,311	39,803	137,162
Preferred Dividends	1,218	1,219	3,656	2,438
Excess of fair value over book value of preferred shares redeemed	0	0	0	2,190
Net income to common shareholders	$ 12,399	$ 124,092	$ 36,147	$ 132,534
Earnings (loss) per common share:
Basic	$ 0.51	$ 5.09	$ 1.48	$ 5.61
Diluted	$ 0.44	$ 4.22	$ 1.30	$ 4.79
Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding [Abstract]
Basic	24,474	24,358	24,454	23,642
Diluted	29,921	29,745	29,900	28,410