Note 13 - Senior and Senior Subordinated Notes Payable

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Long-term Debt [Text Block]

13.       Senior and Senior Subordinated Notes Payable

Senior notes payable consisted of the following at:

	June 30, 2012		December 31, 2011
	(Dollars in thousands)
6.25% Senior Notes due April 2014	$	4,971	$	4,971
7% Senior Notes due August 2015		29,789		29,789
10.75% Senior Notes due September 2016, net of discount		264,352		262,968
8.375% Senior Notes due May 2018, net of premium		580,184		580,523
8.375% Senior Notes due January 2021, net of discount		396,962		396,842
	$	1,276,258	$	1,275,093

Senior subordinated notes payable consisted of the following at:

		June 30, 2012		December 31, 2011
	(Dollars in thousands)
6% Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes due October 2012, net of discount		$	38,490	$	36,339
9.25% Senior Subordinated Notes due April 2012, net of discount			-		9,985
		$	38,490	$	46,324

The senior notes payable described above are all senior obligations and rank equally with our other existing senior indebtedness and are redeemable at our option, in whole or in part, pursuant to a “make whole” formula. These senior notes contain various restrictive covenants, including, with respect to the 10.75% Senior Notes due 2016, a limitation on additional indebtedness and a limitation on restricted payments.  Under the limitation on additional indebtedness, we are permitted to incur specified categories of indebtedness but are prohibited, aside from those exceptions, from incurring further indebtedness if we do not satisfy either a maximum leverage condition or a minimum interest coverage condition.  Under the limitation on restricted payments, we are also prohibited from making restricted payments (which include dividends, and investments in and advances to our joint ventures and other unrestricted subsidiaries), if we do not satisfy either condition.  Our ability to make restricted payments is also subject to a basket limitation.  As of June 30, 2012, we were able to satisfy the conditions necessary to incur additional indebtedness and to make restricted payments.  In addition, if we were unable to satisfy either the leverage condition or interest coverage condition, restricted payments could be made from our unrestricted subsidiaries.  As of June 30, 2012, we had approximately $274.5 million of cash available in our unrestricted subsidiaries.  Many of our wholly owned direct and indirect subsidiaries (collectively, the “Guarantor Subsidiaries”) guaranty our outstanding senior notes and our senior subordinated notes. The guarantees are full and unconditional, and joint and several.  Please see Note 21 for supplemental financial statement information about our guarantor subsidiaries group and non-guarantor subsidiaries group.

Certain provisions of ASC Topic 470, Debt, require bifurcation of a component of convertible debt instruments, classification of that component in stockholders’ equity, and then accretion of the resulting discount on the debt to result in interest expense equal to the issuer’s nonconvertible debt borrowing rate.  Our Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes due 2012 (the “Convertible Notes”) are being accreted to their redemption value, approximately $39.6 million, over the remaining term of these notes.  The unamortized discount of the Convertible Notes, which was included in additional paid-in capital, was $1.1 million and $3.3 million at June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.  Interest capitalized to inventories owned is included in cost of sales as related homebuilding revenues are recognized (please see Note 8 “Capitalization of Interest”).

We repaid the remaining $10.0 million principal balance of our 9.25% Senior Subordinated Notes upon maturity in April 2012.