Variable Interest Entities

Lot Purchase Agreements

NVR generally does not engage in the land development business. Instead, the Company typically acquires finished building lots at market prices from various development entities under Lot Purchase Agreements. The Lot Purchase Agreements require deposits that may be forfeited if NVR fails to perform under the Lot Purchase Agreements. The deposits required under the Lot Purchase Agreements are in the form of cash or letters of credit in varying amounts, and typically range up to 10% of the aggregate purchase price of the finished lots.

NVR believes this lot acquisition strategy reduces the financial requirements and risks associated with direct land ownership and land development. NVR may, at its option, choose for any reason and at any time not to perform under these Lot Purchase Agreements by delivering notice of its intent not to acquire the finished lots under contract. NVR’s sole legal obligation and economic loss for failure to perform under these Lot Purchase Agreements is limited to the amount of the deposit pursuant to the liquidated damage provisions contained within the Lot Purchase Agreements. In other words, if NVR does not perform under a Lot Purchase Agreement, NVR loses only its deposit. None of the creditors of any of the development entities with which NVR enters Lot Purchase Agreements have recourse to the general credit of NVR. NVR generally does not have any specific performance obligations to purchase a certain number or any of the lots, nor does NVR guarantee completion of the development by the developer or guarantee any of the developers’ financial or other liabilities.

NVR is not involved in the design or creation of the development entities from which the Company purchases lots under Lot Purchase Agreements. The developer’s equity holders have the power to direct 100% of the operating activities of the development entity. NVR has no voting rights in any of the development entities. The sole purpose of the development entity’s activities is to generate positive cash flow returns for the equity holders. Further, NVR does not share in any of the profit or loss generated by the project’s development. The profits and losses are passed directly to the developer’s equity holders.

The deposit placed by NVR pursuant to the Lot Purchase Agreement is deemed to be a variable interest in the respective development entities. Those development entities are deemed to be variable interest entities (“VIE”). Therefore, the development entities with which NVR enters into Lot Purchase Agreements, including the joint venture limited liability corporations, discussed below, are evaluated for possible consolidation by NVR. An enterprise must consolidate a VIE when that enterprise has a controlling financial interest in the VIE. An enterprise is deemed to have a controlling financial interest if it has i) the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the entity’s economic performance, and ii) the obligation to absorb losses of the VIE that could be significant to the VIE or the rights to receive benefits from the VIE that could be significant to the VIE.

NVR believes the activities that most significantly impact a development entity’s economic performance are the operating activities of the entity. Unless and until a development entity completes finished building lots through the development process to be able to sell, the process of which the development entity’s equity investors bear the full risk, the entity does not earn any revenues. The operating development activities are managed solely by the development entity’s equity investors.

The development entities with which NVR contracts to buy finished lots typically select the respective projects, obtain the necessary zoning approvals, obtain the financing required with no support or guarantees from NVR, select who will purchase the finished lots and at what price, and manage the completion of the infrastructure improvements, all for the purpose of generating a cash flow return to the development entity’s equity holders and all independent of NVR. The Company possesses no more than limited protective legal rights through the Lot Purchase Agreement in the specific finished lots that it is purchasing, and NVR possesses no participative rights in the development entities. Accordingly, NVR does not have the power to direct the activities of a developer that most significantly impact the developer’s economic performance. For this reason, NVR has concluded that it is not the primary beneficiary of the development entities with which the Company enters into Lot Purchase Agreements, and therefore NVR does not consolidate any of these VIEs.

As of December 31, 2017, NVR controlled approximately 84,300 lots under Lot Purchase Agreements with third parties through deposits in cash and letters of credit totaling approximately $393,900 and $1,900, respectively. As noted above, NVR’s sole legal obligation and economic loss for failure to perform under these Lot Purchase Agreements is limited to the amount of the deposit pursuant to the liquidated damage provisions contained in the Lot Purchase Agreements and, in very limited circumstances, specific performance obligations.

In addition, NVR has certain properties under contract with land owners that are expected to yield approximately 10,700 lots, which are not included in the number of total lots controlled. Some of these properties may require rezoning or other approvals to achieve the expected yield. These properties are controlled with deposits in cash and letters of credit totaling approximately $6,600 and $100, respectively, as of December 31, 2017, of which approximately $5,800 is refundable if NVR does not perform under the contract. NVR generally expects to assign the raw land contracts to a land developer and simultaneously enter into a Lot Purchase Agreement with the assignee if the project is determined to be feasible.

NVR’s total risk of loss related to contract land deposits as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 was as follows:



	December 31,
	2017			2016
Contract land deposits	$	400,428		$	411,150
Loss reserve on contract land deposits	(29,999		)	(31,306		)
Contract land deposits, net	370,429			379,844
Contingent obligations in the form of letters of credit	1,996			2,379
Contingent specific performance obligations (1)	1,505			1,505
Total risk of loss	$	373,930		$	383,728


(1)	As of both December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company was committed to purchase 10 finished lots under specific performance obligations.