Inventory - Recoverability Schedule of Inventory assets Held for Development, by Reportable Segment (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013 Community	Mar. 31, 2012 Community
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	1	20
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	0	9
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	$ 0	$ 23,675
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	0.00%	103.40%
West Segment
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	0	6
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	0	4
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	0	8,550
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV		103.70%
East Segment
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	1	12
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	0	4
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	0	12,920
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	0.00%	101.20%
Southeast Segment
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	0	2
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	0	1
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	0	1,027
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Aggregate Undiscounted Cash Flow as a % of BV	0.00%
Unallocated & Other
Real Estate Properties [Line Items]
Number of Communities on Watch List	0	0
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Number of Communities	0	0
Undiscounted Cash Flow Analysis - Pre-analysis Book Value (BV)	$ 0	$ 1,178