Century Communities, Inc. - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES
‎SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

__________________

FORM 10-K

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x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended DECember 31, 2019

OR

o TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ____________to____________

Commission File NUMBER 001-36491

__________________________

Century Communities, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

_______________  _____________________________

Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code: (303) 770-8300

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes o No x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.) Yes o No x

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2019 was approximately $697.2 million based on the closing price of $26.58 per share as reported on the New York Stock Exchange on June 28, 2019.

As of January 31, 2020, the registrant had 33,071,034 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K incorporates by reference certain portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year covered by this report.

CENTURY COMMUNITIES, INC.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2019

Table of Contents

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CAUTIONARY NOTE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some of the statements included in or incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K (which we refer to as this “Form 10-K”) constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, forecasts, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. These statements are only predictions. Actual events and results of operations could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “could,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “continue,” “predict,” “potential” the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology, and the use of future dates. You can also identify forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements due a number of factors.

The forward-looking statements included in this Form 10-K reflect our current views about future events and are subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes in circumstances that may cause our actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking:

economic changes either nationally or in the markets in which we operate, including declines in employment, volatility of mortgage interest rates and inflation;

a downturn in the homebuilding industry, including a reduction in demand or a decline in real estate values or market conditions resulting in impairment of our assets;

changes in assumptions used to make industry forecasts or trends affecting housing demand or prices;

continued volatility and uncertainty in the credit markets and broader financial markets;

our future operating results and financial condition;

our business operations;

changes in our business and investment strategy;

availability of land to acquire, and our ability to acquire such land on favorable terms or at all;

availability, terms and deployment of capital;

availability or cost of mortgage financing or an increase in the number of foreclosures in the market;

shortages of or increased prices for labor, land or raw materials used in housing construction;

delays in land development or home construction resulting from adverse weather conditions or other events outside our control;

impact of construction defect, product liability, and/or home warranty claims, including the adequacy of accruals and the applicability and sufficiency of our insurance coverage;

changes in, or the failure or inability to comply with, governmental laws and regulations;

the timing of receipt of regulatory approvals and the opening of projects;

the impact and cost of compliance with evolving environmental laws and regulations and third-party challenges to required permits and other approvals;

the degree and nature of our competition;

our ability to continue to fund and succeed in our mortgage lending business;

our leverage and debt service obligations;

availability of qualified personnel and our ability to retain our key personnel; and

changes in United States generally accepted accounting principles (which we refer to as “GAAP”).

The forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of future events, taking into account all information currently available to us. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events or of our performance. These beliefs, assumptions and expectations can change as a result of many possible events or factors, not all of which are known to us. Some of these events and factors are described in “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and in “Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors” in this Form 10-K, and other risks and uncertainties detailed in this and our other reports and filings with the SEC. If a change occurs, our business, financial condition, liquidity, cash flows and results of operations may vary materially from those expressed in or implied by our forward-looking statements. New risks and uncertainties arise over time, and it is not possible for us to predict the occurrence of those matters or the manner in which they may affect us. Except as required by law, we are not obligated to, and do not intend to, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Therefore, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as of any date subsequent to the date of this Form 10-K.

PART I

ITEM 1.BUSINESS.

General

Century Communities, Inc., a Delaware corporation (which we refer to as “we,” “us,” “our,” “CCS,” or the “Company”), is engaged in the development, design, construction, marketing and sale of single-family attached and detached homes in 17 states.  In many of our projects, in addition to building homes, we are responsible for the entitlement and development of the underlying land.  We build and sell homes under our Century Communities and Wade Jurney Homes brands.

Our Century Communities brand targets a wide range of buyer profiles including: first time, first and second time move up, and lifestyle homebuyers, and provides our homebuyers with the ability to personalize their homes through certain option and upgrade selections. Our Wade Jurney Homes brand targets first time homebuyers, primarily sells homes through retail studios and over the internet, and provides no option or upgrade selections. Our homebuilding operations are organized into the following five reportable segments: West, Mountain, Texas, Southeast, and Wade Jurney Homes.  Additionally, our indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, Inspire Home Loans, Inc., Parkway Title, LLC, and IHL Home Insurance Agency, LLC, which provide mortgage, title and insurance services, respectively, to our home buyers have been identified as our Financial Services segment.

On February 6, 2020, in order to better align with our Century brand, we announced the rebranding of Wade Jurney Homes to Century Complete. We believe this rebranding will assist in showcasing the value proposition to potential buyers. The newly positioned Century Complete brand will operate similarly to Wade Jurney Homes, adopting its business strategy and continuing to provide comparable offerings.

Since our initial public offering in 2014, we have grown rapidly through the acquisitions of other homebuilders and organic entrance into new markets. We are one of the largest homebuilders in the United States and our common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CCS.” As of December 31, 2019, we operated in the 17 states depicted below.

We operate our homebuilding operations within the following five reportable segments:

West (California and Washington)

Mountain (Colorado, Nevada and Utah)

Texas

Southeast (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee)

Wade Jurney Homes (Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas)

We have also identified our Financial Services operations, which provide mortgage, title, and insurance services to our homebuyers, as a sixth reportable segment. Our Corporate operations are a non-operating segment, as it serves to support our homebuilding, and to a lesser extent our financial services operations, through functions, such as our executive, finance, treasury, human resources, accounting and legal departments. 

Description of Business

Land acquisition process

We acquire land for our homebuilding operations with the primary intent to develop and construct single family detached or attached homes for sale on the acquired land. From time to time we may sell land to other developers and homebuilders where we have excess land positions. We generally acquire land for cash, either through bulk acquisitions of land or through option contracts. Option contracts are generally structured where we have the right, but not the obligation, to buy land at predetermined prices on a defined schedule. Potential land acquisitions are identified by our local management within the markets in which we operate. Our land acquisition process typically includes soil tests, independent environmental studies, other engineering work and financial analysis which include an evaluation of expected returns, projected gross margins, estimated sales paces and pricing. Potential land acquisitions are approved by our Corporate office above established limits to ensure appropriate capital allocations taking into consideration current and projected inventory levels and risk adjusted returns. 

Homebuilding marketing and sales process – Century Communities brand

Our Century Communities brand builds an extensive range of home types across a variety of price points. The core of our business plan is to acquire and develop land strategically, based on our understanding of population growth patterns, local markets, entitlement restrictions and infrastructure development. We focus on locations within our markets that are generally characterized by diverse economic and employment bases and demographics and increasing populations. We believe these conditions create strong demand for new housing, and these locations represent what we believe to be attractive opportunities for long-term growth. We also seek assets that have desirable characteristics, such as good access to major job centers, schools, shopping, recreation and transportation facilities, and we strive to offer a broad spectrum of product types in these locations. Location, product, price point and customer service are key components of the connection we seek to establish with each individual homebuyer. Our construction expertise across an extensive product offering allows us flexibility to pursue a wide array of land acquisition opportunities and appeal to a broad range of potential homebuyers, from entry-level to first- and second-time move-up buyers and lifestyle homebuyers. Additionally, we believe our diversified product strategy enables us to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and to optimize returns while strategically reducing portfolio risk.

Our goal is to provide a positive experience to our homeowners by actively engaging them in the homebuying process. In many of our communities, we provide our customers with customization options to suit their lifestyle needs and have developed a number of home designs with features such as outdoor living spaces, one-story living and first floor master bedroom suites to appeal to broad design needs. We also engineer our homes for energy efficiency, which is aimed at reducing the impact on the environment and lowering energy costs to our homebuyers. As part of these efforts, we often offer homebuyers environmentally friendly alternatives, such as solar power to supplement a home’s energy needs.

We sell our homes through our own sales representatives and through independent real estate brokers. Our in-house sales force typically works from sales offices located in model homes close to or in each community. Sales representatives assist potential buyers by providing them with basic floor plans, price information, development and construction timetables, tours of model homes where available and the selection of available options. Sales personnel are trained by us and generally have had prior experience selling new homes in the local market. Our personnel, along with subcontracted marketing and design consultants, carefully design the exterior and interior of each home to coincide with the needs of targeted homebuyers.

We advertise directly to potential homebuyers through the internet and digital marketing, marketing brochures and to a lesser extent newspapers. We may also use billboards, radio and television advertising, along with our website, to market the location, price range and availability of our homes. We also attempt to operate in conspicuously located areas that permit us to take advantage of local traffic patterns. Model homes play a significant role in our marketing efforts by not only creating an attractive atmosphere, but also by displaying options and upgrades.

Homebuilding marketing and sales process – Wade Jurney brand

Our Wade Jurney Homes brand primarily sells homes through our own sales representatives located in retail locations which we refer to as Studios, as opposed to model homes; however, model and vignetted homes are used in certain instances. We lease our Studios within strip malls or other high traffic retail centers, located centrally to our homes under construction. Our Studios are generally leased

for a period of three years and average approximately 1,500 square feet. We also sell homes directly through our Wade Jurney Homes website, as well as through independent real estate brokers.

Our Wade Jurney Homes brand often competes with resales within the submarkets in which we operate and strives to offer a new home offering to our customers at prices that are significantly lower than other new home offerings. Our philosophy is to be the price leader through providing a limited number of floor plans, with no options or upgrades offered. Our advertising and marketing efforts are focused on cost effective means of reaching potential customers including centralized digital marketing, and direct outreach to independent real estate brokers. Our goal is to leverage our Studios, and advertising and marketing efforts to generate homebuyer leads, which are then actively pursued by our sales associates.

Customer relations and warranty programs

We pay particular attention to the product design process and carefully consider choice of materials in order to attempt to eliminate building deficiencies. We maintain customer service staff whose role includes providing a positive experience for each customer throughout the homebuying process and beyond. This group is also responsible for providing after sales customer service. Our customer service initiatives include using customer survey results to improve our standards of customer satisfaction. Generally, we provide each homeowner with product warranties covering workmanship and materials for one year from the time of closing, and warranties covering structural systems from the time of closing through the statute of repose with the states we operate in, or ten years, whichever is shorter. The subcontractors who perform most of the actual construction also provide to us customary warranties on workmanship.

Financial services

We offer home financing for our customers through our wholly owned subsidiary, Inspire Home Loans, Inc. (which we refer to as “Inspire”). Inspire is authorized to originate Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”), Federal Housing Administration-insured (“FHA”), and Department of Veterans Affairs-guaranteed (“VA”) mortgages (which we refer to collectively as the “government sponsored entities”). We also offer title and home owners insurance services through our wholly owned subsidiaries, Parkway Title, LLC (which we refer to as “Parkway”) and IHL Home Insurance Agency, LLC (which we refer to as “IHL”). These operations along with Inspire collectively comprise our Financial Services operating segment. We believe that our customers’ use of Inspire, Parkway, and IHL provides us with a competitive advantage by enabling more control over the quality of the overall home buying process for our customers, while also helping us align the timing of the house construction process with our customers’ financing, title and insurance needs.

The results of operations of our Financial Services operating segment are primarily driven by the results of Inspire. Because Inspire originates mortgage loans almost exclusively for our homebuilding customers, Inspire is dependent on our homebuilding operations and its results of operations are highly correlated with our homebuilding operations, and to a lesser degree the overall market demand for mortgages.

Inspire finances the origination of these loans primarily with borrowings under its mortgage repurchase facilities. As of December 31, 2019, Inspire had facilities maturing through September 2020, with a total maximum aggregate commitment of $275 million and an outstanding amount of $174.1 million. We expect the facilities to be renewed or replaced with other facilities when they mature.

Inspire sells substantially all of the loans it originates and their related servicing rights in the secondary mortgage market within a short period of time after origination, generally within 30 days. This strategy results in owning the loans and related servicing rights for only a short period of time. After the loans are sold, Inspire may be responsible for potential losses associated with mortgage loans originated and sold in the event of errors or omissions relating to customary industry-standard representations and warranties made by Inspire that the loans met certain requirements, including representations as to underwriting standards, the existence of primary mortgage insurance, and the validity of certain borrower representations in connection with the loans.

The mortgage industry is highly competitive, and Inspire competes with other mortgage bankers, as well as mortgage brokers, credit unions and banks, over speed, efficiency, quality of customer service, the variety and attractiveness of mortgage products offered, interest rates offered, financing availability and costs, in order to provide mortgage financing to our customers. We compete with other title insurance agencies and underwriters for closing services and title insurance. Principal competitive factors include service and price.

Inspire is also subject to various state and federal statutes, rules, and regulations, including those that relate to licensing, lending operations, and other areas of mortgage origination and financing, rules and regulations of the government sponsored entities, and other rules of investors that purchase the mortgages we originate. We are also subject to regulations of those that have oversight over the government sponsored entities, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which contains a number of requirements relating to mortgage lending and securitization. These include, among others, minimum standards for lender practices,

limitations on certain fees and a requirement that the originator of loans that are securitized retain a portion of the risk, either directly or by holding interests in the securitizations. The impact of those statutes, rules, and regulations can be to increase our home buyers’ cost of financing, increase our cost of doing business, and restrict our home buyers’ access to some types of loans.

Design and construction

We engage architects, engineers and other professionals in connection with the home design process who are familiar with local market preferences, constraints, conditions and requirements. We serve as the general contractor, with all construction work typically performed by subcontractors. While we maintain long-standing relationships with many of our subcontractors and design professionals, we typically do not enter into long-term contractual commitments with them and as a result are subject to shortages of qualified and skilled labor.

When constructing homes, we use various construction materials and components including lumber, steel and concrete. It has typically taken us four to eight months or more to construct a home, during which time materials are subject to price fluctuations. Such price fluctuations are caused by several factors, among them seasonal variation in availability and demand for materials. We may experience shortages in the availability of materials and/or labor in each of our markets. These shortages and delays may result in delays in the delivery of homes under construction, and/or reduced gross margins from home sales.

We are dependent upon building material suppliers for a continuous flow of raw materials. Whenever possible, we utilize standard products available from multiple sources. In the past, such raw materials have been generally available to us in adequate supply.

Seasonality

We experience seasonal variations in our quarterly operating results and capital requirements. Historically, new order activity is highest during the spring and summer months. As a result, we typically have more homes under construction, close more homes, and have greater revenues and operating income in the second half of our fiscal year. Historical results are not necessarily indicative of current or future homebuilding activities.

Backlog

Our backlog reflects sales contracts with homebuyers for homes that have not yet been delivered. We have received a deposit from a homebuyer for most homes reflected in our backlog, and generally we have the right to retain the deposit if the homebuyer fails to comply with his or her obligations under the sales contract. As of December 31, 2019, we had backlog of 2,070 homes representing $637.8 million of backlog dollar value, compared to backlog of 2,181 homes, representing $669.5 million of backlog dollar value as of December 31, 2018. We expect that a substantial portion of all homes currently in backlog will be delivered in fiscal year 2020.

Governmental regulation and environmental matters

We are subject to numerous local, state, federal and other statutes, ordinances, rules and regulations concerning zoning, development, building design, construction and similar matters which impose restrictive zoning and density requirements in order to limit the number of homes that can eventually be built within the boundaries of a particular area. Projects that are not entitled may be subjected to periodic delays, changes in use, less intensive development or elimination of development in certain specific areas due to government regulations. We may also be subject to periodic delays or may be precluded entirely from developing in certain communities due to building moratoriums or “slow-growth” or “no-growth” initiatives that could be implemented in the future. Local and state governments also have broad discretion regarding the imposition of development fees for projects in their jurisdiction. Projects for which we have received land use and development entitlements or approvals may still require a variety of other governmental approvals and permits during the development process and can also be impacted adversely by unforeseen municipal, regulatory, health, safety and welfare issues, which can further delay these projects or prevent their development.

We are also subject to a variety of local, state, federal and other statutes, ordinances, rules and regulations concerning the environment. The particular environmental laws which apply to any given homebuilding site vary according to the site’s location, its environmental conditions, and the present and former uses of the site, as well as adjoining properties. Environmental laws and conditions may result in delays, may cause us to incur substantial compliance and other costs, and can prohibit or severely restrict homebuilding activity in environmentally sensitive regions or areas. From time to time, the Environmental Protection Agency and similar federal or state agencies review homebuilders’ compliance with environmental laws and may levy fines and penalties for failure to strictly comply with applicable environmental laws or impose additional requirements for future compliance as a result of past failures. Any such actions taken with

respect to us may increase our costs. Further, we expect that increasingly stringent requirements will be imposed on homebuilders in the future. Environmental regulations can also have an adverse impact on the availability and price of certain raw materials such as lumber.

Under various environmental laws, current or former owners of real estate, as well as certain other categories of parties, may be required to investigate and clean up hazardous or toxic substances or petroleum product releases, and may be held liable to a governmental entity or to third parties for property damage and for investigation and cleanup costs incurred by such parties in connection with the contamination. In addition, in those cases where an endangered species is involved, environmental rules and regulations can result in the elimination of development in identified environmentally sensitive areas.

Our mortgage, title, and insurance subsidiaries must comply with applicable real estate, lending and insurance laws and regulations. The subsidiaries are licensed in the states in which they do business and must comply with laws and regulations in those states. These laws and regulations include provisions regarding capitalization, operating procedures, investments, lending and privacy disclosures, forms of policies and premiums. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains a number of requirements relating to mortgage lending and securitizations. These include, among others, minimum standards for lender practices, limitations on certain fees and a requirement that the originator of loans that are securitized retain a portion of the risk, either directly or by holding interests in the securitizations.

Several federal, state and local laws, rules, regulations and ordinances, including, but not limited to, the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) and the Federal Trade Commission Act and comparable state statutes, regulate consumer debt collection activity. Although, for a variety of reasons, we may not be specifically subject to the FDCPA or to some state statutes that govern debt collectors, it is our policy to comply with applicable laws in our collection activities. To the extent that some or all of these laws apply to our collection activities, our failure to comply with such laws could have a material adverse effect on us. We are also subject to regulations promulgated by the Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding residential mortgage loans.

Segment and geographic area disclosures

We have broken our homebuilding operations into the following reportable segments:

West (California and Washington)

Mountain (Colorado, Nevada and Utah)

Texas

Southeast (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee)

Wade Jurney Homes (Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas)

We have also identified our Financial Services operations, which provides mortgage, title and insurance services to our homebuyers, as a sixth reportable segment.  Our Corporate operations are a non-operating segment, as they serve to support our homebuilding and other operations through functions, such as our executive, finance, treasury, human resources, legal, and accounting departments. 

Note 2 (Reporting Segments) of our consolidated financial statements contains information regarding the operations of our reportable segments.

Competition

We face competition in the homebuilding industry, which is characterized by relatively low barriers to entry. Homebuilders compete for, among other things, home buying customers, desirable land parcels, employees, financing, raw materials and skilled labor. Increased competition may prevent us from acquiring attractive land parcels on which to build homes or make such acquisitions more expensive, hinder our market share expansion or lead to pricing pressures on our homes that may adversely impact our margins and revenues. Our competitors may independently develop land and construct housing units that are superior or substantially similar to our products, or may be significantly larger, have a longer operating history and have greater resources or lower cost of capital than us; accordingly, they may be able to compete more effectively in one or more of the markets in which we operate or plan to operate. We also compete with other homebuilders that have long-standing relationships with subcontractors and suppliers in the markets in which we operate or plan to operate and we compete for sales with individual resales of existing homes and with available rental housing.

Our Financial Services operations compete with other mortgage lenders, including national, regional and local mortgage bankers and brokers, banks, savings and loan associations and other financial institutions, in the origination and sale of residential mortgage loans. Principal competitive factors include interest rates and other features of mortgage loan products available to the consumer. We compete

with other title insurance agencies and underwriters for closing services and title insurance. We also compete with other insurance agencies. Principal competitive factors include service and price.

Employees

The total number of employees as of December 31, 2019 was 1,460. We consider our employee relations to be good. We do not have collective bargaining agreements relating to any of our employees. However, we subcontract many phases of our homebuilding operations and some of the subcontractors we use have employees who are represented by labor unions.

Available Information

We are a Delaware corporation, incorporated in 2013, and a U.S. public reporting company under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (which we refer to as the “Exchange Act”), and file reports, proxy statements, and other information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (which we refer to as the “SEC”). Copies of these reports, proxy statements, and other information can be accessed from the SEC's home page on the Internet at http://www.sec.gov. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K are available free of charge on our website at www.centurycommunities.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The information contained on our website or connected to our website is not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K and should not be considered part of this report.

ITEM 1A.RISK FACTORS.

Our business routinely encounters and attempts to address risks, some of which will cause our future results to differ, sometimes materially, from those originally anticipated. Below, we have described our present view of the most significant risks facing the Company. The risk factors set forth below are not the only risks that we may face or that could adversely affect us. If any of the circumstances described in the risk factors discussed in this Form 10-K actually occur, our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. If this were to occur, the trading price of our securities could decline significantly and stockholders may lose all or part of their investment.

The following discussion of risk factors contains “forward-looking statements,” which may be important to understanding any statement in this Form 10-K or in our other filings and public disclosures. In particular, the following information should be read in conjunction with the sections in this Form 10-K entitled, “Cautionary Note about Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Risks Related to Our Business

We are subject to demand fluctuations in the housing industry. Any reduction in demand for our homes would adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Demand for our homes is subject to fluctuations, often due to factors outside of our control. In a housing market downturn when demand for our homes decreases, our revenues and results of operations may be adversely affected; we may have significant inventory impairments and other write-offs; our gross margins may decline significantly from historical levels; and we may incur substantial losses from operations. At any particular time, we cannot predict whether housing market conditions existing at that time will continue. For example, while rising interest rates and tightening affordability created an industry-wide deceleration in housing growth during the second half of 2018 and into 2019, this deceleration reversed during the remainder of 2019 due in part to reduced mortgage rates. We are unable to predict if this trend will continue or reverse itself again.

Adverse changes in general economic conditions could reduce the demand for our homes and, as a result, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The residential homebuilding industry is cyclical and is highly sensitive to changes in local and general economic conditions that are outside our control, including:

consumer confidence, levels of employment, job growth, spending levels, wage and personal income growth, personal indebtedness levels, and household debt-to-income levels of potential homebuyers;

the availability and cost of financing for homebuyers or restrictive mortgage standards, including private and federal mortgage financing programs and federal, state, and provincial regulation of lending practices;

real estate taxes and federal and state income tax provisions, including provisions for the deduction of mortgage interest payments;

U.S. and global financial system and credit markets, including short- and long-term interest rates and inflation;

housing demand from population growth, household formations, new home buying catalysts (such as marriage and children), second home buying catalysts (such as retirement), home sale catalysts (such as an aging population), demographic changes (including immigration levels and trends in urban and suburban migration), generational shifts, or otherwise, or perceptions regarding the strength of the housing market, and home price appreciation and depreciation resulting therefrom;

competition from other real estate investors with significant capital, including other real estate operating companies and developers, institutional investment funds and companies solely focused on single family rentals; and

the supply of new or existing homes, including foreclosures, and other housing alternatives, such as apartments and other residential rental property, and the aging of existing housing inventory.

In the event these economic and business factors occur, we could experience a decline in the demand and pricing for our homes, an increase in customer cancellations, an increase in selling concessions and downward pressure on the market value of our inventory, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations and increase the risk for asset impairments. A significant or sustained downturn in the homebuilding market would likely have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations for multiple years.

In addition, an important segment of our customer base consists of first- and second-time move-up buyers, who often purchase homes subject to contingencies related to the sale of their existing homes. If these potential buyers face difficulties in selling their homes, whether due to periods of weak economic conditions, oversupply, high interest rates, restrictive mortgage standards or otherwise, our sales may be adversely affected. Moreover, we may need to reduce our sales prices and offer greater incentives to buyers to compete for sales that may result in reduced margins.

Furthermore, deployments of U.S. military personnel to foreign regions, terrorist attacks, other acts of violence or threats to national security and any corresponding response by the United States or others, related domestic or international instability or civil unrest may cause an economic slowdown in the markets where we operate, which could adversely affect our business.

Our future success depends upon our ability to successfully adapt our business strategy to changing home buying patterns and trends.

Future changing home buying patterns and trends could reduce the demand for our homes and, as a result, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Part of our business strategy is to offer homes that appeal to a broad range of entry-level, move-up and, lifestyle homebuyers based on each local market in which we operate. However, given the significant increases in average home sales prices across our markets and the anticipated increased demand for more affordable homes due to generational shifts, changing demographics and other factors, we have increased our focus on offering more affordable housing options in our markets. We believe that due to anticipated generational shifts, changing demographics and other factors, the demand for more affordable homes will increase. Indeed, part of our strategy in acquiring Wade Jurney Homes was to target first time home buyers with an asset light business model. Our Wade Jurney Homes brand solely targets entry level price points, sells homes primarily through retail studios and over the internet, and provides no option or upgrade selections. No assurance can be provided that our current business strategy to focus on more affordable homes will be effective or that we will successfully anticipate and react to future changing home buying patterns and trends.

Our long-term growth depends upon our ability to successfully identify and acquire desirable land parcels for residential build-out.

Our future growth depends upon our ability to successfully identify and acquire attractive land parcels for development of our homes at reasonable prices and with terms that meet our underwriting criteria. Our ability to acquire land parcels for new homes may be adversely affected by changes in the general availability of land parcels, the willingness of land sellers to sell land parcels at reasonable prices, competition for available land parcels, availability of financing to acquire land parcels, zoning, governmental and municipal restrictions, and other market conditions. If the supply of land parcels appropriate for development of homes is limited because of these factors, or for any other reason, our ability to grow could be significantly limited, and the number of homes that we build and sell could decline. Additionally, our ability to begin new projects could be impacted if we elect not to purchase land parcels under option contracts. To the extent we are unable to purchase land parcels on a timely basis or enter into new contracts for the purchase of land parcels at reasonable prices, our home sales revenue and results of operations could be negatively impacted.

Our geographic concentration could materially and adversely affect us if the homebuilding industry in our current markets should decline.

Our business strategy is focused on the design, construction and sale of single-family detached and attached homes in 17 states across the West, Mountain, Texas, Southeast and Midwest U.S. regions. Because our operations are concentrated in these areas, a prolonged economic downturn in one or more of these areas could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations, and a disproportionately greater impact on us than other homebuilders with more diversified operations and geographic footprint.

Any increase in unemployment or underemployment may lead to reduced demand for our homes and an increase in the number of loan delinquencies and property repossessions and have an adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

In the United States, the unemployment rate was 3.5% as of the end of December 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. People who are not employed, are underemployed or are concerned about the loss of their jobs are less likely to purchase new homes, may be forced to try to sell the homes they own and may face difficulties in making required mortgage payments. Therefore, any increase in unemployment or underemployment may lead to an increase in the number of loan delinquencies and property repossessions and have an adverse impact on our business both by reducing the demand for the homes we build and by increasing the supply of homes for sale. This would also likely adversely affect our Financial Services business, which is dependent upon the sale of our homes.

If homebuyers are not able to obtain suitable financing, our results of operations may decline.

The success of homebuilders depends on the ability of potential homebuyers to obtain mortgages for the purchase of homes. If the home financing market is unstable or contracts, our revenues and results of operations could be adversely affected. A substantial majority of our homebuyers finance their home purchases through lenders that provide mortgage financing or through our Financial Services business. First-time homebuyers are generally more affected by the availability of financing than other potential homebuyers. These buyers are an important source of our demand, especially in light of our Wade Jurney Homes segment, which targets first time home buyers. A limited availability of home mortgage financing may adversely affect the volume of our home sales and the sales prices we obtain. This environment would also likely adversely affect our Financial Services business.

During the recent past, the mortgage lending industry in the United States experienced significant instability, beginning with increased defaults on subprime loans and other nonconforming loans and compounded by expectations of increasing interest payment requirements and further defaults. This in turn resulted in a decline in the market value of many mortgage loans and related securities. In response, lenders, regulators and others questioned the adequacy of lending standards and other credit requirements for several loan products and programs offered in recent years. Credit requirements tightened, and investor demand for mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities declined. The deterioration in credit quality during the economic downturn caused almost all lenders to stop offering subprime mortgages and most other loan products that were not eligible for sale to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or loans that did not conform to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Housing Administration (which we refer to as the “FHA”) or Veterans Administration (which we refer to as the “VA”) requirements. Fewer loan products and tighter loan qualifications may continue to make it more difficult for certain buyers to finance the purchase of our homes. Additionally, if the federal government were to reduce or eliminate mortgage loan programs (including due to any failure of lawmakers to agree on a budget or appropriation legislation to fund relevant programs or operations), it may make it more difficult for our customers to finance the purchase of our homes. These factors may reduce the pool of qualified homebuyers and make it more difficult to sell to first-time and move-up buyers, who have historically made up a substantial part of our customers and will likely continue to make up a substantial part of our customers especially in light of our Wade Jurney Homes segment. Reductions in demand adversely affected our business and financial results during that downturn. The liquidity provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the mortgage industry has been very important to the housing market. These entities in the past have required substantial injections of capital from the federal government and may require additional government support in the future. Several federal government officials have proposed changing the nature of the relationship between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the federal government and even nationalizing or eliminating these entities entirely. If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were dissolved or if the federal government determined to stop providing liquidity support to the mortgage market, there would be a reduction in the availability of the financing provided by these institutions. Any such reduction would likely have an adverse effect on interest rates, mortgage availability and our sales of new homes.

The FHA insures mortgage loans that generally have lower loan payment requirements and qualification standards compared to conventional guidelines, and as a result, continue to be a particularly important source for buyers financing the purchase of our homes. The FHA recently tightened its underwriting standards which affects potential home buyers, including in particular first time buyers. In addition, in recent years, lenders have taken a more conservative view of FHA guidelines causing significant tightening of borrower eligibility for approval. Availability of condominium financing and minimum credit score benchmarks have reduced opportunity for those purchasers. In the future, there may be further restrictions on FHA-insured loans, including limitations on seller-paid closing costs and concessions, stricter loan qualification standards, and an increase in minimum down payment requirements. This or any other

restriction may negatively affect the availability or affordability of FHA financing, which could adversely affect our potential homebuyers’ ability to secure adequate financing and, accordingly, our ability to sell homes in the United States. In addition, changes in federal and provincial regulatory and fiscal policies aimed at aiding the home buying market (including repeal or another limitation of the home mortgage interest tax deduction) may also negatively affect potential homebuyers’ ability or desire to purchase homes.

Decreases in the availability of credit and increases in the cost of credit adversely affect the ability of homebuyers to obtain or service mortgage debt. Even if potential buyers of our homes do not themselves need mortgage financing, where our potential buyers must sell their existing homes in order to buy one of our homes, increases in mortgage costs, lack of availability of mortgages and/or regulatory changes could delay or adversely affect such a sale, which would result in our potential customers’ inability to buy a new home. Similar risks apply to those buyers who are awaiting delivery of their homes and are currently in backlog. If our customers (or potential buyers of our customers’ existing homes) cannot obtain suitable financing, our sales and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Interest rate increases or changes in federal lending programs or other regulations could lower demand for our homes, which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Most of the purchasers of our homes finance their acquisitions with mortgage financing and in many cases obtain their mortgage financing through our Financial Services business. Mortgage interest rates have been near historic lows for the past several years. While interest rates rose during 2018 and the beginning of 2019, they decreased substantially during the remainder of 2019. Increases in interest rates increase the costs of owning a home and could adversely affect the purchasing power of consumers and lower demand for the homes we sell, which could result in a decrease in sales, adversely affecting our results of operations. Increased interest rates can also decrease homebuyer confidence and hinder our ability to realize our backlog because our home purchase contracts typically provide customers with a financing contingency. Financing contingencies allow customers to cancel their home purchase contracts in the event that they cannot arrange for adequate financing. As a result, rising interest rates can decrease our home sales and mortgage originations. In addition, monetary policy actions affecting interest rates or fiscal policy actions and new legislation related to taxation, spending levels or borrowing limits, along with the related political debates, conflicts and compromises associated with such actions, may negatively impact the financial markets and consumer confidence. Such events could hurt the U.S. economy and the housing market and in turn, could adversely affect our operating results.

In addition, the federal government plays a significant role in supporting mortgage lending through its conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which purchase home mortgages and mortgage-backed securities originated by mortgage lenders, and its insurance of mortgages originated by lenders through the FHA and the VA. Changes in these programs could materially adversely affect the mortgage market, which would have a negative impact on our business. The FHA may continue to impose stricter loan qualification standards, raise minimum down payment requirements, impose higher mortgage insurance premiums and other costs, and/or limit the number of mortgages it insures. Several bills have been introduced in Congress over the past several years concerning the future status of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the mortgage finance system, including bills which provided for the wind-down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or proposed modifications to the financial relationship between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the federal government. The liquidity provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the mortgage industry has been very important to the housing market. Eliminating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would mean that conventional loans, like the 30-year mortgage, would no longer be guaranteed, which would be likely to result in the elimination of these traditional, long-term, fixed-rate loans, and result in an increase in interest rates for longer term products. If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were dissolved or if the federal government determined to stop providing liquidity support to the mortgage market, there would be a reduction in the availability of the financing provided by these institutions. Any such reduction would likely have an adverse effect on interest rates and mortgage availability, and we would expect our sales of new homes to decline.

Our home purchase contracts typically provide our customers with a financing contingency, which allows our customers to cancel their home purchase contracts in the event that they cannot arrange for adequate financing. Increased interest rates, restrictions or reductions in government backed mortgage financing or the tightening of lenders’ borrowing standards may make it more difficult for our customers to obtain financing, which would decrease our home sales and mortgage originations and have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

Any limitation on, or reduction or elimination of, tax benefits associated with owning a home would have an adverse effect on the demand for our homes, which could be material to our business.

Prior to the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (which we refer to as the “TCJA”), which was enacted into law on December 22, 2017, significant expenses of owning a home, including mortgage loan interest and state and local taxes, generally were deductible expenses for an individual’s U.S. federal income taxes and in some cases, state income taxes, subject to various limitations. The TCJA established new limits on the federal tax deductions individual taxpayers may take on mortgage loan interest payments and on state and local taxes, including property taxes. Under the TCJA, through the end of 2023, the mortgage interest deduction cap on a newly purchased home was decreased to $750,000 a year ($375,000 in the case of a separate return filed by a married individual) from the

prior $1,000,000 threshold, and the annual deduction for real estate property taxes and state and local income or sales taxes has been limited to a combined amount of $10,000 (or $5,000 in the case of a separate return filed by a married individual). These changes have reduced and may continue to reduce the actual or perceived affordability of homeownership, which have adversely affected and could continue to adversely affect demand for and sales prices of new homes, especially in areas with relatively high housing prices or high state and local income taxes and real estate taxes, including in California, Colorado, Nevada and Washington. Any further change in income tax laws by the federal or state government to eliminate or substantially reduce income tax benefits associated with homeownership could adversely affect demand for and sales prices of new homes.

On December 19, 2019, Congress passed the Tax Extender and Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (the “Extender Act”), which the President signed into law on December 20, 2019. The Extender Act extended the availability of the Internal Revenue Code §45L credit for energy-efficient new homes (the “Federal Energy Credits”), which provides a tax credit of $2,000 per qualifying home to eligible builders, retroactively to 2018 and 2019 and made the Federal Energy Credits available for homes delivered through December 31, 2020. Legislation to extend the Federal Energy Credits beyond December 31, 2020 has not been adopted, and it is uncertain whether an extension or similar tax credit will be adopted in the future. The Federal Energy Credits reduced our income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2019 by $17.3 million. If legislation to extend the Federal Energy Credits for periods after December 31, 2020 is not adopted, our effective income tax rates in future periods would increase.

Increases in property and sales taxes could prevent potential customers from buying our homes and adversely affect our business or financial results.

Increases in property tax rates by local governmental authorities, as experienced in response to reduced federal and state funding, can adversely affect the ability of potential customers to obtain financing or their desire to purchase new homes. Fees imposed on developers to fund schools, open spaces or road improvements, and/or to provide low and moderate income housing, could increase our costs and have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, increases in sales taxes could adversely affect our potential customers who may consider those costs in determining whether to make a new home purchase and decide, as a result, not to purchase one of our homes.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The TCJA significantly reformed the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The TCJA, among other things, contains significant changes to corporate taxation, including reduction of the corporate tax rate from a top marginal rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%, limitation of the tax deduction for interest expense to 30% of adjusted earnings (except for certain small businesses), limitation of the deduction for net operating losses to 80% of current year taxable income, elimination of net operating loss carrybacks, one time taxation of offshore earnings at reduced rates regardless of whether they are repatriated, immediate deductions for certain new investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time, and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits. These changes have adversely affected and could continue to adversely affect our business and financial condition.

Changes to the population growth rates in certain of the markets in which we operate or plan to operate could affect the demand for our homes in these regions.

Slower rates of population growth or population declines in the markets where we do business, or other key markets in the United States we plan to enter, especially as compared to the high population growth rates in prior years, could adversely affect the demand for housing, causing home prices in these markets to fall, and adversely affect demand for our homes and our plans for growth, business, financial condition and operating results.

Difficulty in obtaining sufficient capital could result in an inability to acquire land for our developments or increased costs and delays in the completion of our development projects.

The homebuilding industry is capital-intensive and requires significant up-front expenditures to acquire land parcels and begin development. If our internally generated funds are not sufficient, we may seek additional capital in the form of equity or debt financing from a variety of potential sources, including additional bank financings and/or securities offerings. The availability of borrowed funds, especially for land acquisition and construction financing, may be greatly reduced nationally, and the lending community may require increased amounts of equity to be invested in a project by borrowers in connection with both new loans and the extension of existing loans. The credit and capital markets in the past have experienced significant volatility. Continued volatility in these markets may restrict our flexibility to access such financing when needed. If we are not successful in obtaining sufficient capital to fund our planned capital and other expenditures, when needed, we may be unable to acquire land for our housing developments and/or to develop the housing. Additionally, if we cannot obtain additional financing to fund the purchase of land under our option contracts or purchase contracts, we may incur contractual penalties and fees. Any difficulty in obtaining sufficient capital for planned development expenditures could also

cause project delays and any such delay could result in cost increases. Any one or more of the foregoing events could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

We face potentially substantial risk with respect to our land and lot inventory arising from significant changes in economic or market conditions, which could adversely affect our results of operations and result in write-downs of the carrying values of land we own.

We face substantial risk in owning developed and undeveloped land. We acquire undeveloped land, buildable lots and housing inventories in the markets where we build homes. The market value of land, building lots, and housing inventories can fluctuate significantly as a result of changing market conditions, and the measures we employ to manage inventory risk may not be adequate to insulate our operations from a severe drop in inventory values. The risks inherent in purchasing and developing land parcels increase as consumer demand for housing decreases. If housing demand decreases below what we anticipated when we acquired our inventory, our results of operations may be adversely affected and we may not be able to recover our costs when we sell and build houses.

When market conditions are such that land values are not appreciating, previously entered into option agreements may become less desirable, at which time we may elect to forego deposits and pre-acquisition costs and terminate the agreements, which could result in abandonment charges and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. In addition, inventory carrying costs can be significant, particularly if inventory must be held for longer than planned, and can result in losses on poorly performing projects or markets. Factors, such as changes in regulatory requirements and applicable laws (including in relation to building regulations, taxation and planning), political conditions, the condition of financial markets, both local and national economic conditions, the financial condition of customers, potentially adverse tax consequences, and interest and inflation rate fluctuations, subject land valuations to uncertainty.

We regularly review the value of our land holdings and continue to review our holdings on a periodic basis. In the face of adverse market conditions, we may have substantial inventory carrying costs, and may have to write down our inventory to its fair value, and/or sell land or homes at a loss. In the past, we have been required to record significant write-downs of the carrying value of our land inventory, and have elected not to exercise options to purchase land, even though that required us to forfeit deposits and write-off pre-acquisition costs. Although we have taken efforts to reduce our exposure to costs of that type, a certain amount of exposure is inherent in our homebuilding business. If market conditions were to deteriorate in the future, we could again be required to record significant write downs to our land inventory, which would decrease the asset values reflected on our consolidated balance sheet and could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition and result in write-downs of the carrying values of land we own.

If we are unable to develop our communities successfully or within expected timeframes, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

Before a community generates any revenues, significant time and material expenditures are required to acquire land, obtain development approvals and construct significant portions of project infrastructure, amenities, model homes and sales facilities. A decline in our ability to develop and market our communities successfully, especially in our more recent or new markets where it may be more difficult to do so, and to generate positive cash flow from these operations in a timely manner could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations and on our ability to service our debt and to meet our working capital requirements.

Adverse weather and geological conditions may increase costs, cause project delays and reduce consumer demand for housing, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Significant weather conditions and natural disasters in the geographic areas where we operate, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanic activity, wildfires, ice storms, snow storms, landslides and soil subsidence, droughts, floods, and heavy or prolonged precipitation could damage projects, cause delays in completion of projects, or reduce consumer demand for housing. Extreme weather conditions and natural disasters could also disrupt or cause shortages in labor or materials, which could delay project completion or result in increases in the prices for labor or materials, thereby affecting our sales and profitability. The climates of certain of the states in which we operate present increased risks of adverse weather or natural disasters. For example, Colorado has historically experienced seasonal wildfires, snow storms, and soil subsidence; Texas has historically experienced tornadoes, coastal flooding and hurricanes; California and Nevada have historically experienced earthquakes, extreme temperatures, wildfires, and droughts and water shortages; and Florida and the Carolinas have historically experienced a risk of hurricanes and coastal flooding. As an example, during the third quarter of 2018, in the Southeast, we experienced severe weather during September, mainly affecting our Wade Jurney Homes segment, which pushed the portion of deliveries into the fourth quarter of 2018 and constrained our selling activity in the region for a period of time. In addition to directly damaging or delaying our projects, natural disasters and extreme weather events could damage roads and highways providing access to those projects, thereby adversely affecting our ability to market homes in those areas and possibly increasing the costs of completion. Some conditions, such as severe drought or risk of flooding, may cause state and local governments to take restrictive actions, such as placing moratoriums on the issuance of new building permits or issuing new building codes and standards that increase building costs. Our insurance policies may not fully cover losses resulting from these events or any

related business interruption. For example, losses associated with floods, landslides, earthquakes and other geological events may not be insurable and other losses, such as those arising from terrorism, may not be economically insurable. A significant uninsured loss could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in global or regional climate conditions and governmental actions in response to such changes may adversely affect us by increasing the costs of, or restricting, our planned or future growth activities.

Projected climate change, if it occurs, may exacerbate the scarcity or presence of water and other natural resources in affected regions, which could limit, prevent or increase the costs of residential development in certain areas. In addition, there is a variety of new legislation being enacted, or considered for enactment, at the federal, state and local level relating to energy and climate change, and as climate change concerns continue to grow, legislation and regulations of this nature are expected to continue. This legislation relates to items such as carbon dioxide emissions and building codes that impose energy efficiency standards. Government mandates, standards or regulations intended to mitigate or reduce greenhouse gas emissions or projected climate change impacts could result in prohibitions or severe restrictions on land development in certain areas, increased energy and transportation costs, and increased compliance expenses and other financial obligations to meet permitting, land development, or home construction-related requirements that we may be unable to fully recover (due to market conditions or other factors), any of which could cause a reduction in our homebuilding gross margins and materially and adversely affect our results of operations. Energy-related initiatives could similarly affect a wide variety of companies throughout the United States and the world, and because our results of operations are heavily dependent on purchasing significant amounts of raw materials, these initiatives could have an indirect adverse impact on our results of operations and profitability to the extent the manufacturers and suppliers of our materials are burdened with expensive cap and trade, tariffs, or other climate related regulations. As a result, climate change impacts, and the laws and land development and home construction standards implemented to address potential climate change concerns, could result in an increase in our costs and have a long-term adverse impact on our business and results of operations. This is a particular concern in the western United States, which have instituted some of the most extensive and stringent environmental laws and residential building construction standards in the country.

Failure to recruit, retain and develop highly skilled, competent personnel may have a material adverse effect on our standards of service and adversely affect our business.

Key employees, including members of our management team, are fundamental to our ability to obtain, generate and manage business opportunities. Key employees working in the homebuilding and construction industries are highly sought after. Failure to attract and retain such personnel or to ensure that their experience and knowledge is not lost when they leave the business through retirement, redundancy or otherwise may adversely affect the standards of our service and may have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, we do not maintain key person insurance in respect of any member of our senior management team. The loss of any members of our management or key personnel could adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results.

Failure to find suitable contractors may have a material adverse effect on our standards of service.

Substantially all of our construction work is done by third-party subcontractors with us acting as the general contractor. Accordingly, the timing and quality of our construction depend on the availability and skill of our subcontractors. An increase in levels of homebuilding in the markets in which we operate has occasionally led to some difficulty in securing the services of skilled tradesmen who are currently in high demand. While we believe that our existing relationships with subcontractors are good, we do not have long-term contractual commitments with any subcontractors, and there can be no assurance that skilled subcontractors will continue to be available at reasonable rates and in the areas in which we conduct our operations.

In the future, certain of the subcontractors engaged by us may be represented by labor unions or subject to collective bargaining arrangements. A strike or other work stoppage involving any of our subcontractors could also make it difficult for us to retain subcontractors for our construction work. In addition, union activity could result in higher costs to retain subcontractors. The inability to contract with skilled subcontractors at reasonable costs on a timely basis could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

Our reliance on contractors can expose us to various liability risks.

We rely on third-party contractors in order to perform the construction of our homes, and in many cases, to select and obtain raw materials. We are exposed to various risks as a result of our reliance on these contractors and their respective subcontractors and suppliers, including the possibility of defects in our homes due to improper practices or materials used by contractors, which may require us to comply with our warranty obligations and/or bring a claim under an insurance policy. For example, despite our quality control efforts, we may discover that our subcontractors were engaging in improper construction practices or installing defective materials in our homes. When we discover these issues, we repair the homes in accordance with our new home warranty and as required by law. We

establish warranty and other reserves for the homes we sell based on market practices, our historical experiences, and our judgment of the qualitative risks associated with the types of homes built. However, the cost of satisfying our warranty and other legal obligations in these instances may be significantly higher than our warranty reserves, and we may be unable to recover the cost of repair from such subcontractors. Regardless of the steps we take, we can in some instances be subject to fines or other penalties, and our reputation may be injured.

In addition, several other homebuilders have received inquiries from regulatory agencies concerning whether homebuilders using contractors are deemed to be employers of the employees of such contractors under certain circumstances. Although contractors are independent of the homebuilders that contract with them under normal management practices and the terms of trade contracts and subcontracts within the homebuilding industry, if regulatory agencies reclassify the employees of contractors as employees of homebuilders, homebuilders using contractors could be responsible for wage, hour and other employment-related liabilities of their contractors, which could adversely affect our results of operations. Century has not received similar inquiries.

If we experience shortages in labor supply, increased labor costs or labor disruptions, there could be delays or increased costs in developing our communities or building homes, which could adversely affect our margins and other operating results.

We require a qualified labor force to develop our communities. Access to qualified labor and the costs for such labor may be affected by circumstances beyond our control, including:

shortages of qualified trades people, such as carpenters, roofers, electricians and plumbers, especially in our key markets;

work stoppages resulting from labor disputes;

changes in laws relating to union organizing activity;

changes in immigration laws and trends in labor force migration; and

increases in wages and subcontractor and professional services costs.

Any of these circumstances could give rise to delays in the start or completion of, or increase the costs of, developing one or more of our communities and building homes. We may not be able to recover these increased costs by raising our home prices because the price for each home is typically set months prior to its delivery pursuant to sales contracts with our homebuyers and due to affordability concerns. In such circumstances, our operating results, including in particular, our margins, could be adversely affected. Additionally, market and competitive forces may also limit our ability to raise the sales prices of our homes.

Utility and resource shortages or rate fluctuations could have an adverse effect on our operations.

Several of the markets in which we operate or may operate in the future have historically been subject to utility and resource shortages, including significant changes to the availability of electricity and water and seasonal fluctuation in the ability of certain commodities, particularly lumber. Shortages of natural resources in our markets, particularly of water, may make it more difficult for us to obtain regulatory approval of new developments. We have also experienced material fluctuations in utility and resource costs across our markets, and we may incur additional costs and may not be able to complete construction on a timely basis if such fluctuations arise. In particular, as the housing market has improved and the number of new homes being constructed has increased, we have experienced increased construction costs due to additional competition for labor and materials. Furthermore, these shortages and rate fluctuations may adversely affect the regional economies in which we operate, which may reduce demand for our homes and negatively affect our business and results of operations.

Government regulations and legal challenges may delay the start or completion of our communities, increase our expenses or limit our homebuilding or other activities, which could have a negative impact on our results of operations.

Various local, state and federal statutes, ordinances, rules and regulations concerning building, health and safety, environment, zoning, sales and similar matters apply to and/or affect the housing industry, and the approval of numerous governmental authorities must be obtained in connection with our development activities. These governmental authorities often have broad discretion in exercising their approval authority. We incur substantial costs related to compliance with legal and regulatory requirements in the markets in which we operate. Restrictive land use regulation and changes in legal and regulatory requirements may cause us to incur substantial additional costs, or in some cases, cause us to determine that a property we acquired is not feasible for development. This is particularly true in certain of the markets in which operate, including in particular California, Texas and Washington.

Municipalities may restrict or place moratoriums on the availability of utilities, such as water and sewer taps. If municipalities in which we operate take such actions, it could have an adverse effect on our business by causing delays, increasing our costs or limiting our

ability to build in those municipalities. In addition, we may become subject to various state and local “slow growth” or “no growth” initiatives and other restrictions that could negatively impact the availability of land and building opportunities within those localities.

Governmental regulation affects not only construction activities but also sales activities, mortgage lending activities and other dealings with consumers. In addition, it is possible that some form of expanded energy efficiency legislation may be passed by the U.S. Congress or federal agencies and certain state and provincial legislatures, which may, despite being phased in over time, significantly increase our costs of building homes and the sale price to our buyers, and adversely affect our sales volumes. We may be required to apply for additional approvals or modify our existing approvals because of changes in local circumstances or applicable law. Further, we may experience delays and increased expenses as a result of legal challenges to our proposed communities, whether brought by governmental authorities or private parties.

Finally, because of our need to obtain governmental approvals in connection with our development activities, government shutdowns or slowdowns may have an adverse effect on our business.

An inability to obtain additional performance, payment and completion surety bonds and letters of credit could limit our future growth.

We are often required to provide performance, payment and completion surety bonds or letters of credit to secure the completion of our construction contracts, development agreements and other arrangements. We have obtained facilities to provide the required volume of these surety bonds and letters of credit for our expected growth in the medium term; however, unexpected growth may require additional facilities.

We may also be required to renew or amend our existing facilities. Our ability to obtain additional performance, payment and completion surety bonds and letters of credit primarily depends on our credit rating, capitalization, working capital, past performance, management expertise and certain external factors, including the capacity of the markets for such bonds. Surety bond and letter of credit providers consider these factors in addition to our performance and claims record and provider-specific underwriting standards, which may change from time to time.

If our performance record or our providers’ requirements or policies change and we are unable provide performance, payment and completion surety bonds to ensure the completion of our projects, our business operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. If market conditions become unfavorable, we may not be able to obtain new surety bonds, or and some providers might request credit enhancements (such as cash deposits or letters of credit) in order to maintain existing bonds or to issue new bonds. If we are unable to obtain new bonds in the future, or are required to provide credit enhancements with respect to our current or future bonds, our liquidity could be negatively impacted, and our growth and results of operations will be adversely affected.

A major health and safety incident relating to our business could be costly in terms of potential liabilities and reputational damage.

Building sites are inherently dangerous, and operating in the homebuilding industry poses certain inherent health and safety risks. Given the number of projects we work on, health and safety performance is critical to the success of all areas of our business. Any failure in health and safety performance may result in penalties for non-compliance with relevant regulatory requirements, and a failure that results in a major or significant health and safety incident is likely to be costly in terms of potential liabilities incurred as a result. Such a failure could also generate significant negative publicity, which could adversely impact our reputation, sales of our homes, relationships with relevant regulatory agencies and governmental authorities, and our ability to win new business, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We are subject to environmental laws and regulations, which may increase our costs, limit the areas in which we can build homes and delay completion of our projects.

We are subject to a variety of local, state and federal statutes, rules and regulations concerning land use and the protection of health and the environment, including those governing discharge of pollutants to water and air, the handling of hazardous materials, including asbestos, and the cleanup of contaminated sites. We may be liable for the costs of removal, investigation or remediation of hazardous or toxic substances located on, under, from or in a property currently or formerly owned, leased or occupied by us, whether or not we caused or knew of the pollution. The costs of any required removal, investigation or remediation of such substances or the costs of defending against environmental claims may be substantial. The presence of such substances, or the failure to remediate such substances properly, may also adversely affect our ability to sell the land or to borrow using the land as security. Environmental impacts from historical activities have been identified at some of the projects we have developed in the past and additional projects may be located on land that may have been contaminated by previous use. Although we are not aware of any projects requiring material remediation activities by us as a result of historical contamination, no assurances can be given that material claims or liabilities relating to such developments will not arise in the future.

The particular impact and requirements of environmental laws that apply to any given site vary greatly according to the community, the site’s environmental conditions and the present and former use of the site. From time to time, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and other federal or state agencies review homebuilders’ compliance with environmental laws and may levy fines and penalties for failure to comply with applicable environmental laws or impose additional requirements for future compliance as a result of past failures. Any such actions taken with respect to us may increase our costs. We expect that increasingly stringent requirements may be imposed on homebuilders in the future. Compliance with environmental laws that affect our building sites or our business may result in delays, cause us to implement time consuming and expensive compliance programs and prohibit or severely restrict development in certain environmentally sensitive regions or areas, such as wetlands. It may not be obvious during our pre-development review of project sites whether a site has environmental concerns, which could cause us to unnecessarily expend time and resources. Environmental regulations can also have an adverse impact on the availability and price of certain raw materials, such as lumber. Furthermore, we could incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, fines, and penalties, as well as damages from third-parties for property damage or personal injury as a result of our failure to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations.

In addition, we are subject to third-party challenges to the permits and other approvals required for our projects and operations, such as by environmental groups, under environmental laws and regulations. There is a growing concern from advocacy groups and the general public that the emissions of greenhouse gases and other human activities have caused, or will cause, significant changes in weather patterns and temperatures and the frequency and severity of natural disasters. Government mandates, standards and regulations enacted in response to these projected climate changes impacts could result in restrictions on land development in certain areas or increased energy, transportation and raw material costs that may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We may be liable for claims for damages as a result of use of hazardous materials.

As a homebuilding business with a wide variety of historic homebuilding and construction activities, we could be liable for future claims for damages as a result of our past or present use of hazardous materials, including building materials which in the future become known or are suspected to be hazardous. Any such claims may adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Insurance coverage for such claims may be limited or non-existent.

Our properties may contain or develop harmful mold, which could lead to liability for adverse health effects and costs of remediating the problem.

Litigation and concern about indoor exposure to certain types of toxic molds have been increasing as the public becomes increasingly aware that exposure to mold can cause a variety of health effects and symptoms, including allergic reactions. Toxic molds can be found almost anywhere as they can grow on virtually any organic substance as long as moisture and oxygen are present. There are molds that can grow on wood, paper, carpet, foods and insulation. When excessive moisture accumulates in buildings or on building materials, mold growth will often occur, particularly if the moisture problem remains undiscovered or unaddressed. It is impossible to eliminate all mold and mold spores in the indoor environment. If mold or other airborne contaminants exist or appear at our properties, we may have to undertake a costly remediation program to contain or remove the contaminants or increase indoor ventilation. If indoor air quality were impaired, we could be liable to our homebuyers or others for property damage or personal injury and our reputation could be harmed.

We may not be able to compete effectively against competitors in the homebuilding industry, especially in our recent markets and new markets we plan to enter.

Competition in the homebuilding industry is intense, and there are relatively low barriers to entry into our business. We compete with large national and regional homebuilding companies and with smaller local homebuilders for home buying customers, land, financing, raw materials, and skilled management and labor resources. A number of our primary competitors are significantly larger, have a longer operating history, a more diversified geographic footprint and may have greater resources, less leverage or lower cost of capital than ours. Accordingly, these competitors may be able to compete more effectively in one or more of the markets in which we operate. In addition, their increased scale may allow them to endure higher land and labor costs and buy raw materials more cheaply, as well as be less vulnerable to general economic conditions and fluctuations in housing demand. Many of these competitors have long-standing relationships with subcontractors and suppliers in the markets in which we operate and therefore better access to qualified labor and lower raw material costs. As we have expanded our operations into new markets, we have faced and will likely continue to face new competition from many established homebuilders in those markets, and we will not have the benefit of the extensive relationships and strong reputations with subcontractors, suppliers and homebuyers that we have historically enjoyed in our Colorado and other legacy markets. Increased competition could hurt our business, as it could prevent us from acquiring attractive land parcels on which to build homes or make such acquisitions more expensive, increase our labor and raw material costs, hinder our growth plans, lead to pricing pressures on our homes; cause us to increase selling concessions; and cause impairments in the value of our inventory or other assets, all of which may adversely impact our revenues, margins and other operating results.

We also compete with sellers of existing homes, including foreclosed homes, and more recently with rental housing, including in particular single-family rentals. Until 2012, the single-family rental business consisted primarily of private and individual investors in local markets and was managed individually or by small, local property managers. Since then, several large, well-capitalized real estate investment trusts have entered this business resulting in a significant increase in the number of single-family rental homes. Increases in and an oversupply of competitively priced resale, foreclosure or rental homes in our markets could adversely affect our ability to sell homes profitably.

If we are unable to successfully compete in the homebuilding industry, our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Raw materials and building supply shortages and price fluctuations could delay or increase the cost of home construction and adversely affect our operating results.

The homebuilding industry has, from time to time, experienced raw material shortages and been adversely affected by volatility in global commodity prices. In particular, shortages and fluctuations in the price of concrete, drywall, steel, lumber or other important raw materials could result in delays in the start or completion of, or increase the cost of, developing one or more of our residential communities. These shortages can be more severe during periods of strong demand for housing or during periods following natural disasters that have a significant impact on existing residential and commercial structures. The cost of raw materials may also be materially and adversely affected during periods of shortages or high inflation. Shortages or increases in the price of raw materials could cause delays in and increase our costs of home construction. We generally are unable to pass on increases in construction costs to customers who have already entered into home purchase contracts and may not be able to sufficiently increase the price of homes remaining to be sold due to affordability concerns or otherwise. Sustained increases in construction costs may adversely affect our gross margins, which in turn could materially and adversely affect our business, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

The cost of petroleum products, which are used both to deliver our materials and to transport workers to our job sites, fluctuates and may be subject to increased volatility as a result of geopolitical events or accidents. Increases in such costs could also result in higher prices for any product utilizing petrochemicals. These cost increases may have an adverse effect on our operating margins and results of operations and may result in a decline in the price of our common stock. Furthermore, any such cost increase may adversely affect the regional economies in which we operate and reduce demand for our homes.

Changes in U.S. trade policies and retaliatory responses from other countries may significantly increase the costs or limit supplies of building materials and products used in our homes.

The U.S. government has created significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and other countries with respect to trade policies, taxes, government regulations, and tariffs. The current U.S. administration has signaled support for implementing and, in some instances, has already proposed or taken action with respect to major changes to certain trade policies in an effort to encourage U.S. production. The federal government has imposed new or increased tariffs or duties on an array of imported materials and goods that are used in connection with the construction and delivery of our homes, including steel, aluminum, lumber, solar panels and washing machines, raising our costs for these items (or products made with them). Additionally, the federal government has threatened to impose further tariffs, duties and/or trade restrictions on imports. Foreign governments, including China and Canada, and the European Union have responded by imposing or increasing tariffs, duties and/or trade restrictions on U.S. goods, and may consider other measures. These trading conflicts and related escalating governmental actions that result in additional tariffs, duties and/or trade restrictions could increase our construction costs further, cause disruptions or shortages in our supply chains and/or negatively impact the U.S., regional or local economies, and, individually or in the aggregate, materially and adversely affect our business and our operating results.

Increases in our home cancellation rate could have a negative impact on our home sales revenue and homebuilding margins.

Our backlog reflects sales contracts with homebuyers for homes that have not yet been delivered. We have received a deposit from a homebuyer for most homes reflected in our backlog, and generally we have the right to retain the deposit if the homebuyer fails to comply with his or her obligations under the sales contract, subject to certain exceptions, including as a result of state and local law, the homebuyer’s inability to sell his or her current home or, in certain circumstances, the homebuyer’s inability to obtain suitable financing. Home order cancellations negatively impact the number of closed homes, net new home orders, home sales revenue and results of operations, as well as the number of homes in backlog. Home order cancellations can result from a number of factors, including declines or slow appreciation in the market value of homes, increases in the supply of homes available to be purchased, increased competition, higher mortgage interest rates, homebuyers’ inability to sell their existing homes, homebuyers’ inability to obtain suitable financing, including providing sufficient down payments, and adverse changes in economic conditions. An increase in the level of our home order cancellations could have a negative impact on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

Homebuilding is subject to product liability and warranty claims arising in the ordinary course of business that can be significant.

As a homebuilder, we are subject to home warranty and construction defect claims arising in the ordinary course of business. There can be no assurance that any developments we undertake on homes we construct will be free from defects once completed. Construction defects may arise in projects, developments and homes and may arise during a significant period of time after completion. Defects arising on a development or a home attributable to us may lead to significant contractual or other liabilities. As a consequence, we maintain products and completed operations excess liability insurance, obtain indemnities and certificates of insurance from subcontractors generally covering claims related to damages resulting from their faulty workmanship and materials, and create warranty and other reserves for the homes we sell based on historical experience in our markets and our judgment of the risks associated with the types of homes built. Although we actively monitor our insurance reserves and coverage, because of the uncertainties inherent to these matters, we cannot provide assurance that our insurance coverage, our subcontractor arrangements and our reserves will be adequate to address all of our warranty and construction defect claims in the future. In addition, contractual indemnities can be difficult to enforce. We may also be responsible for applicable self-insured retentions, and some types of claims may not be covered by insurance or may exceed applicable coverage limits. Additionally, the coverage offered by and the availability of products and completed operations excess liability insurance for construction defects is becoming increasingly expensive and the scope of coverage is restricted. There is no assurance that adequate insurance coverage will continue to be available with acceptable price and terms. If we cannot recover from our subcontractors or their insurance carriers, we may suffer even greater losses.

Unexpected expenditures attributable to defects or previously unknown sub-surface conditions arising on a development project may also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, severe or widespread incidents of defects giving rise to unexpected levels of expenditures, to the extent not covered by insurance or redress against subcontractors, may adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition and operating results.

We may suffer uninsured losses or suffer material losses in excess of insurance limits.

We could suffer physical damage to property and liabilities resulting in losses that may not be fully compensated by insurance. In addition, certain types of risks, such as personal injury claims, may be, or may become in the future, either uninsurable or not economically insurable, or may not be currently or in the future covered by our insurance policies. Should an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occur, we could sustain financial loss or lose capital invested in the affected property as well as anticipated future income from that property. In addition, we could be responsible for repairing damages or covering liabilities caused by uninsured risks. We may be liable for any debt or other financial obligations related to affected property.

In the United States, the coverage offered and the availability of general liability insurance for construction defects is currently limited and is costly. As a result, an increasing number of our subcontractors in the United States may be unable to obtain insurance. If we cannot effectively recover construction defect liabilities and costs of defense from our subcontractors or their insurers, or if we have self-insured subcontractors who cannot cover the losses they cause, we may suffer losses. Insurance coverage may be further restricted and become even more costly in our industry. Such circumstances could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our operating performance is subject to risks associated with the real estate industry.

Real estate investments are subject to various risks and fluctuations and cycles in value and demand, many of which are beyond our control. Certain events may decrease cash available for operations, as well as the value of our real estate assets. These events include, but are not limited to:

adverse changes in financial conditions of buyers and sellers of properties, particularly residential homes and land suitable for development of residential homes;

adverse changes in international, national or local economic and demographic conditions;

competition from other real estate investors with significant capital, including other real estate operating companies and developers and institutional investment funds;

reductions in the level of demand for and increases in the supply of land suitable for development;

fluctuations in interest rates, which could adversely affect our ability, or the ability of homebuyers, to obtain financing on favorable terms, or at all;

unanticipated increases in expenses, including, without limitation, insurance costs, development costs, real estate assessments and other taxes and costs of compliance with laws, regulations and governmental policies; and

changes in enforcement of laws, regulations and governmental policies, including, without limitation, health, safety, environmental, zoning, tax and disability rights laws.

In addition, periods of economic slowdown or recession, rising interest rates or declining demand for real estate, or the public perception that any of these events may occur, could result in a general decline in the purchase of homes or an increased incidence of home order cancellations. If we cannot successfully implement our business strategy, our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

Because real estate investments are relatively illiquid, our ability to promptly sell one or more properties for reasonable prices in response to changing economic, financial and investment conditions may be limited and we may be forced to hold non-income producing properties for extended periods of time.

Real estate investments are relatively difficult to sell quickly. As a result, our ability to promptly sell one or more properties in response to changing economic, financial and investment conditions is limited. We may be forced to sell an asset at significantly lower margins or at a loss, if we are able to sell them at all, or hold non-income producing assets for an extended period of time, which could have a negative impact on our liquidity or results of operations.

Inflation could adversely affect our business and financial results.

Inflation could adversely affect us by increasing the costs of land, materials and labor needed to operate our business. In the event of an increase in inflation, we may seek to increase the sales prices of homes in order to maintain satisfactory margins. However, an oversupply of homes relative to demand, home prices being set several months before homes are delivered and affordability concerns may make any such increase difficult or impossible. In addition, inflation is often accompanied by higher interest rates, which historically have had a negative impact on housing demand. In such an environment, we may not be able to raise home prices sufficiently to keep up with the rate of inflation and our margins could decrease. Moreover, the cost of capital increases as a result of inflation and the purchasing power of our cash resources declines. Actions by the government to stimulate the economy may increase the risk of significant inflation, which may have an adverse impact on our business or financial results.

Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate because of the seasonal nature of our business and other factors.

Our quarterly operating results generally fluctuate by season. Historically, we have entered into a larger percentage of contracts for the sale of our homes during the spring and summer months. Weather-related problems, typically in the fall, late winter and early spring, may delay starts or closings and increase costs and thus reduce profitability. Seasonal natural disasters such as floods and fires could cause delays in the completion of, or increase the cost of, developing one or more of our communities, causing an adverse effect on our sales and revenues. In many cases, we may not be able to recapture increased costs by raising prices. In addition, deliveries may be staggered over different periods of the year and may be concentrated in particular quarters. Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate because of these and other factors, including without limitation:

the timing of home closings and land sales;

our ability to continue to acquire additional land or secure option contracts to acquire land on acceptable terms;

conditions of the real estate market in areas where we operate and of the general economy;

inventory impairments or other material write-downs;

raw material and labor shortages; and

other changes in operating expenses, including the cost of labor and raw materials, personnel and general economic conditions.

Negative publicity may affect our business performance and could affect the value of our common stock.

Unfavorable media related to the Company, our industry, or Company brands, marketing, personnel, operations, business performance or prospects may affect the value of our common stock and the performance of our business, regardless of its accuracy or inaccuracy. Our success in maintaining, extending and expanding our brand image depends on our ability to adapt to a rapidly changing media environment. Adverse publicity or negative commentary on social media outlets, such as blogs, websites or newsletters, could hurt operating results, as consumers might avoid brands that receive bad press or negative reviews. Negative publicity may result in a decrease in operating results that could lead to a decline in the value of our common stock.

Poor relations with the residents of our communities could negatively impact sales, which could adversely affect our revenues or results of operations.

Residents of communities we develop rely on us to resolve issues or disputes that may arise in connection with the operation or development of their communities. Efforts made by us to resolve these issues or disputes could be deemed unsatisfactory by the affected residents and subsequent actions by these residents could adversely affect sales or our reputation. In addition, we could be required to make material expenditures related to the settlement of such issues or disputes or to modify our community development plans, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Failure to manage land acquisitions and development and construction processes could result in significant cost overruns or errors in valuing sites.

We own and purchase a large number of sites each year and are therefore dependent on our ability to process a very large number of transactions (which include, among other things, evaluating the site purchase, designing the layout of the development, sourcing materials and subcontractors and managing contractual commitments) efficiently and accurately. Errors by employees, failure to comply with regulatory requirements and conduct of business rules, failings or inadequacies in internal control processes, inabilities to obtain desired approvals and entitlements, cost overruns, equipment failures, natural disasters or the failure of external systems, including those of our suppliers or counterparties, could result in operational losses that could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition and our relationships with our customers.

Information technology failures or data security breaches could expose us to liability and materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We rely on accounting, financial and operational management information systems to conduct our operations and maintain critical business records. Many of these resources are provided to us and/or maintained on our behalf by third-party service providers pursuant to agreements that specify to varying degrees certain security and service level standards. Our information technology systems are dependent upon these providers, as well as global communications providers, telephone systems and other aspects of the Internet infrastructure, which have experienced significant systems failures and electrical outages in the past, and are susceptible to damage or interruption from fire, floods, power outages, or telecommunications failures, or cybersecurity threats such as computer viruses, break-ins, security breaches, and similar events. The occurrence of any of these events to us directly or any of our third-party service providers could adversely affect our ability to operate our business, damage our reputation, result in the loss of customers, suppliers, or revenues, or result in the misappropriation or public disclosure of our confidential information. As a result, we may be required to incur significant costs to remediate the damage caused by these disruptions or to prevent security breaches in the future. While, to date, we have not had a significant cybersecurity breach or attack that had a material impact on our business or operating results, there can be no assurance that our efforts to maintain the security and integrity of these types of information technology networks and related systems will be effective or that attempted security breaches or disruptions would not be successful or damaging.

In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store certain confidential information, including personal information of homebuyers/borrowers and information about our employees, contractors, vendors and suppliers. This information is entitled to protection under a number of regulatory regimes. We may share some of this information with vendors who assist us with certain aspects of our business, particularly with respect to our mortgage lending business. If these vendors or we fail to maintain the security of the data which we are required to protect, including via the penetration of network security and the misappropriation of confidential and personal information, we could face business disruption, damage to our reputation, financial obligations to third parties, fines, penalties, regulatory proceedings and private litigation with potentially large costs, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations. We maintain cyber liability insurance; however, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover the financial, legal, business or reputational losses that may result from an interruption or breach of our systems.

Risk Related to Our Financial Services Business

We are subject to various risks relating to our Financial Services business.

We have vertically integrated financial services into our business, which has enabled us to provide mortgage, title and insurance services to our homebuyers. Our home buying customers account for substantially all loan production and substantially all of the loans we originate are sold in the secondary market within a short period of time after origination, generally within 30 days, either as whole loans or pursuant to a securitization. During 2019, we originated and closed 3,497 loans, with an aggregate total principal amount of $1.0 billion. Mortgage loans in process for which interest rates were committed to borrowers totaled approximately $37.6 million at December 31, 2019 and carried a weighted average interest rate of approximately 3.9%. As of December 31, 2019, we had mortgage loans held for sale with an aggregate fair value of $185.2 million and an aggregate outstanding principal balance of $179.3 million. Interest rate risks related to these obligations are mitigated by the preselling of loans to investors or through our interest rate hedging program.

There are numerous risks involved with engaging in our mortgage lending business, which risks may be exacerbated for us in light of the fact that we do not have a long history in this business. Because we have limited experience in originating and underwriting home loans, our underwriting standards may not be as stringent as a more traditional lender, and accordingly, we may experience a higher rate of default than lenders who have engaged in the mortgage lending industry for a longer period of time. Moreover, the loans we originate are limited primarily to buyers of our homes, so our pool of borrowers is generally less diverse than as is the case with a traditional lender, and thus there could be a higher correlation in the default rate with our borrowers. In addition, because we originate loans to buyers of our homes, there is the risk that we may be more incentivized, compared to more traditional lenders, to lower our underwriting standards in order to close home sales. Should we not be able to establish sufficiently stringent underwriting standards, or if our underwriting standards do not adequately screen quality applicants, the default rate on the loans we originate may be higher, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition, either because the borrowers under loans we own are no longer performing, or because we are required to repurchase or otherwise indemnify purchasers, guarantors or insurers of the loans we sold or securitized. Further, if we face a high default rate on the mortgages we originate, we may be unable to sell mortgages or the pricing we receive upon the sale of mortgages may not meet our expectations. Although we have established reserves for potential losses on mortgage loans we originate and sell or securitize, which we believe are adequate, if either actual repurchases or the losses incurred resolving those repurchases exceed our expectations, additional expense may be incurred. There can be no assurance that we will not have significant liabilities in respect of such claims in the future, which could exceed our reserves, or that the impact of such claims on our results of operations will not be material.

Our mortgage lending business requires substantial capital, which may not continue to be available to us in the amounts we require.

On May 4, 2018, September 14, 2018 and August 1, 2019, Inspire entered into mortgage warehouse facilities, with Comerica Bank, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo, respectively. The mortgage warehouse lines of credit (which we refer to as the “Repurchase Facilities”) provide Inspire with uncommitted repurchase facilities of up to $275 million as of December 31, 2019, secured by the mortgage loans financed thereunder. Amounts outstanding under the Repurchase Facilities are not guaranteed by us or any of our subsidiaries and the agreements contain various affirmative and negative covenants applicable to Inspire that are customary for arrangements of this type. The mortgage repurchase facilities must be renewed annually and currently expire in May 2020 and September 2020 for Comerica Bank and J.P. Mortgage, respectively. We expect to renew and extend the term of the Repurchase Facilities with similar terms prior to their maturity. Adverse changes in market conditions could make the renewal of these facilities more difficult or could result in an increase in the cost of these facilities or a decrease in the committed amounts. Such changes affecting our Repurchase Facilities may also make it more difficult or costly to sell the mortgages that we originate. As of December 31, 2019, we had $174.1 million outstanding under these Repurchase Facilities and were in compliance with all covenants thereunder. No assurance can be provided, however, that we will remain in compliance with the covenants or have continued access to these facilities or substitute or replacement facilities in an amount sufficient to fund our mortgage lending business.

Our Financial Services segment can be adversely affected by reduced demand for our homes or by a slowdown in mortgage refinancings.

Approximately 98.3% of the mortgage loans made by our Financial Services segment in 2019 were made to buyers of homes we built. Therefore, a decrease in the demand for our homes would adversely affect the revenues of this segment of our business. In addition, the revenues of our Financial Services segment would be adversely affected by a decrease in refinance transactions if mortgage interest rates rise.

If our ability to sell mortgages into the secondary market is impaired, that could significantly reduce our ability to sell homes unless we are willing to become a long-term investor in the loans we originate.

We sell substantially all of the loans we originate and the related servicing rights in the secondary mortgage market within a short period of time after origination, generally within 30 days, on a servicing released, non-recourse basis. If we became unable to sell loans into the secondary mortgage market or directly to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we would have to either curtail our origination of residential mortgage loans, which among other things, could significantly reduce our ability to sell homes, or commit our own funds to long term investments in mortgage loans, which, in addition to requiring us to deploy substantial amounts of our own funds, could delay the time when we recognize revenues from home sales on our consolidated statements of operations.

We may be liable for certain limited representations and warranties we make in connection with sale of loans.

When we sell the loans we originate, we make customary representations and warranties to purchasers, guarantors and insurers about the mortgage loans and the manner in which they were originated, and offer certain indemnities and guaranties to the purchasers, guarantors and insurers of which we are responsible. In the event of defaults on the loans we originate, we may be required to repurchase

or substitute mortgage loans, or indemnify buyers, guarantors or insurers of our loans. If we have significant liabilities with respect to such claims or future, it could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, and possibly our financial condition.

Our Financial Services business is competitive and we may not be able to compete effectively in this area.

The competitors to our Financial Services business include other insurance agencies, title companies and mortgage lenders, including national, regional and local mortgage banks and other financial institutions. Some of these competitors are subject to fewer governmental regulations and have greater access to capital than we do, and some of them may operate with different criteria than we do. These competitors may offer a broader or more attractive array of financing and other products and services to potential customers than we do. For these reasons, we may not be able to compete effectively in the financial services business.

Governmental regulation of our Financial Services operations could adversely affect our business or financial results.

Our Financial Services operations are subject to extensive state and federal laws and regulations, which are administered by numerous agencies, including but not limited to the CFPB, Federal Housing Finance Agency, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. These laws and regulations include many compliance requirements, including but not limited to licensing, consumer disclosures, fair lending and real estate settlement procedures. As a result, our financial services operations are subject to regular, extensive examinations by the applicable agencies. In addition, the possibility of additional future regulations, changing rule interpretations and examinations by regulatory agencies may result in more stringent compliance standards and could adversely affect the results of our operations.

Our ability to collect upon mortgage loans may be limited by the application of state laws.

Our mortgage loans typically permit us to accelerate the debt upon default by the borrower. The courts of all states will enforce acceleration clauses in the event of a material payment default, subject in some cases to a right of the court to revoke the acceleration and reinstate the mortgage loan if a payment default is cured. The equity courts of a state, however, may refuse to allow the foreclosure of a mortgage or to permit the acceleration of the indebtedness in instances in which they decide that the exercise of those remedies would be inequitable or unjust or the circumstances would render an acceleration unconscionable.

Further, the ability to collect upon mortgage loans may be limited by the application of state and federal laws. For example, Nevada has enacted a law providing that if the amount an assignee of a mortgage note paid to acquire the note is less than the face amount of the note, the assignee cannot recover more through a deficiency action than the amount it paid for the note. If the Nevada law is upheld, or similar laws are enacted in other jurisdictions, it could materially and adversely affect our ability and the ability of funds we manage to profit from purchases of distressed debt.

Any cyber attack or other security breach of or vulnerability in our technology systems, or those of our customers or other third-party vendors we rely on, could have operational impacts, subject us to significant liability and harm our reputation.

Our Financial Services operations rely heavily on the secure processing, storage and transmission of sensitive and confidential financial, personal and other information in our computer systems and networks. There have been several highly publicized cases involving financial services companies reporting the unauthorized disclosure of customer or other confidential information in recent years, as well as cyber attacks involving theft, dissemination and destruction of corporate information or other assets, in some cases as a result of failure to follow procedures by employees or contractors or as a result of actions by third parties. Cyber attacks can originate from a variety of sources, including third parties affiliated with foreign governments, organized crime or terrorist organizations. Third parties may also attempt to place individuals within our company or induce employees, customers or other users of our systems to disclose sensitive information or provide access to our data, and these types of risks may be difficult to detect or prevent. Although cybersecurity incidents among companies in the financial services industry are on the rise, we are not aware of any material losses relating to cyber attacks or other information security breaches. However, the techniques used in these attacks are increasingly sophisticated, change frequently and are often not recognized until launched. Although we seek to maintain a robust suite of authentication and layered information security controls, these controls could fail to detect, mitigate or remediate these risks in a timely manner. Despite our implementation of protective measures and endeavoring to modify them as circumstances warrant, our computer systems, software and networks may be vulnerable to human error, natural disasters, power loss, spam attacks, unauthorized access, distributed denial of service attacks, computer viruses and other malicious code, and other events that could result in significant liability and damage to our reputation, and have an ongoing impact on the security and stability of our operations.

We also rely on numerous third-party service providers to conduct other aspects of our financial services operations, and we face similar risks relating to them. While we regularly conduct security assessments on these third-party vendors, we cannot be certain that their information security protocols are sufficient to withstand a cyber attack or other security breach. In addition, in order to access our services, our customers may use computers and other devices that are beyond our security control systems and processes.

Notwithstanding the precautions we take, if a cyber attack or other information security breach were to occur, especially with respect to our Financial Services business, this could jeopardize the information we confidentially maintain, or otherwise cause interruptions in our operations or those of our customers, exposing us to liability. As attempted attacks continue to evolve in scope and sophistication, we may be required to expend substantial additional resources to modify or enhance our protective measures, to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures or to communicate about cyber attacks to our customers. Though we have insurance against some cyber risks and attacks, we may be subject to litigation and financial losses that exceed our policy limits or are not covered under any of our current insurance policies.

We may also be subject to liability under various data protection laws. In providing Financial Services to customers, we manage, utilize and store sensitive or confidential client or employee data, including personal data. As a result, we are subject to numerous laws and regulations designed to protect this information, such as U.S. federal, state and international laws governing the protection of personally identifiable information. These laws and regulations are increasing in complexity and number. If any person, including any of our employees, negligently disregards or intentionally breaches our established controls with respect to customer or employee data, or otherwise mismanages or misappropriates such data, we could be subject to significant monetary damages, regulatory enforcement actions, fines and/or criminal prosecution. In addition, unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential customer or employee data, whether through system failure, employee negligence, fraud or misappropriation, could damage our reputation and cause us to lose customers and related revenue. Potential liability in the event of a security breach of customer data could be significant. Depending on the circumstances giving rise to the breach, this liability may not be subject to a contractual limit or an exclusion of consequential or indirect damages.

Risk Related to Our Prior and Any Future Acquisitions

Our acquisition of Wade Jurney Homes and other prior acquisitions may result in unexpected costs and the anticipated benefits may not be realized.

As a part of our business strategy, we have made seven acquisitions since 2013 and may continue to make acquisitions, or significant investments in, and/or disposals of businesses. For example, in November 2016, we acquired a 50% ownership of WJH LLC (which we refer to as “WJH”), which is a successor to Wade Jurney Homes, Inc. and Wade Jurney of Florida, Inc., and in June 2018, we acquired the remaining 50% ownership interest in WJH. In October 2017, we acquired Sundquist Homes and in August 2017, we acquired UCP, Inc. While we believe these acquisitions have produced and will continue to produce many benefits, such as in the case of WJH, expanding our investment into a proven and profitable operation, enhancing our geographic and product diversification through additional exposure to new markets and first-time buyers, driving additional growth avenues for ancillary revenue streams, including our mortgage, title and insurance operations, and improving access to capital to accelerate WJH’s expansion efforts into additional markets, these benefits may not come to fruition or materialize to the extent we anticipate and within anticipated time periods. In addition, acquisitions involve integration activities, which can be costly and involve risk. There are many factors beyond our control that could affect the total amount or the timing of the integration expenses. Expenses associated with the integration could, particularly in the near term, exceed the savings that we expect to achieve from the elimination of duplicative expenses and the realization of economies of scale and cost savings, and significantly reduce the expected benefits associated with our acquisitions. Integration costs, as well as other unanticipated costs and expenses, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our prior acquisitions and any future acquisitions, investments and/or disposals involve risks.

Our prior acquisitions and any future acquisitions, investments and/or disposals we may complete involve risks, such as:

difficulties in assimilating the operations and personnel of acquired companies or businesses;

diversion of our management’s attention from ongoing business concerns;

disruption to our existing operations and plans;

inability to effectively manage our expanded operations;

our potential inability to maximize our financial and strategic position through the successful incorporation or disposition of operations;

difficulties or delays in integrating and assimilating operations, including information and financial systems, or in realizing projected efficiencies, growth prospects, cost savings, and synergies;

maintenance of uniform standards, controls, procedures and policies;

impairment of existing relationships with employees, contractors, suppliers and customers as a result of the integration of new management personnel and cost-saving initiatives;

adverse impact on overall profitability if our expanded operations do not achieve the financial results projected in our valuation models and as a result of the effect of any required step-up to the historical basis of an acquired home;

reallocation of amounts of capital from other operating initiatives and/or an increase in our leverage and debt service requirements to pay acquisition purchase prices or other business venture investment costs, which could in turn restrict our ability to access additional capital when needed or pursue other important elements of our business strategy;

inaccurate assessment of additional post-acquisition or business venture investments, undisclosed, contingent or other liabilities or problems, unanticipated costs associated with an acquisition or other business venture, and an inability to recover or manage such liabilities and costs;

incorrect estimates made in the accounting for acquisitions and incurrence of non-recurring charges; and

write-off of significant amounts of goodwill or other assets as a result of deterioration in the performance of an acquired business, adverse market conditions, changes in the competitive landscape, changes in laws or regulations that restrict activities of an acquired business, or as a result of a variety of other circumstances.

We cannot guarantee that we will be able to successfully integrate any company or business that we might acquire in the future, and our failure to do so could harm our current business.

In addition, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of these transactions at all or within a reasonable time period and there may be other unanticipated or unidentified effects. While we would seek protection, for example, through warranties and indemnities in the case of acquisitions, significant liabilities may not be identified in due diligence or come to light after the expiry of warranty or indemnity periods. Additionally, while we would seek to limit our ongoing exposure, for example, through liability caps and period limits on warranties and indemnities in the case of disposals, some warranties and indemnities may give rise to unexpected and significant liabilities. Any claims arising in the future may adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

A significant portion of our historical growth has been due to our prior acquisitions and we may not be able to continue to grow through acquisitions.

A significant portion of our historical growth has been due in part to our prior acquisitions and we intend to continue to grow through future acquisitions of, or significant investments in, businesses that offer complementary products and services or otherwise support our growth objectives. However, we cannot assure you that we will continue to identify attractive acquisition targets and consummate acquisitions. As a result of our prior acquisitions and the incurrence of debt in connection therewith, the amount of our indebtedness is significantly higher than prior to the consummation of such acquisitions. As a result, we cannot assure you that we will be able to arrange financing for future acquisitions on terms acceptable to us. In addition, as a result of our prior acquisitions, our company is substantially larger than we have been in the past, and we may face additional scrutiny in connection with federal and state governmental approvals in connection with any future acquisitions of attractive targets or may not be able to obtain such approvals on a time basis or at all. The realization of any of these risks could adversely affect our business.

Our future results will suffer if we do not effectively manage our expanded operations.

As a result of our prior acquisitions, including WJH, Sundquist Homes and UCP, the size of our business has increased significantly during the past several years. Our future success will depend, in part, upon our ability to manage this expanded business, which will pose substantial challenges for management, including challenges related to the management and monitoring of new operations and associated increased costs and complexity. There can be no assurances that we will be successful or that we will realize the expected operating efficiencies, cost savings, revenue enhancements or other benefits from these acquisitions.

We have intangible assets, including goodwill, primarily as a result of our prior acquisitions. If these assets become impaired, then our results of operations may be adversely affected.

As of December 31, 2019, we had $30.6 million in intangible assets, including $30.4 million in goodwill, related primarily to our prior business combinations and acquisitions. If the carrying value of our intangible assets is deemed impaired, the carrying value is written down to fair value. This would result in a charge to our earnings. If management’s expectations of future results and cash flows decrease significantly, impairments of the remaining intangible assets may occur, which would adversely affect our results of operations.

As a result of the rebranding of our Wade Jurney Homes brand to Century Complete we recorded an impairment charge of $2.8 million associated with the Wade Jurney Homes trade name during the year ended December 31, 2019. The impairment is presented in inventory and other impairments on our consolidated statement of operations.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness and Potential Need for Additional Capital

We have substantial indebtedness and expect to continue to use leverage in executing our business strategy, which could have important consequences on our business and adversely affect the return on our assets.

As of December 31, 2019, we had approximately $1.1 billion in outstanding indebtedness, consisting of $494.3 million outstanding on our 6.750% Senior Notes due 2027 (which we refer to as our “Existing 6.750% Notes”), $396.1 million outstanding on our 5.875% Senior Notes due 2025 (which we refer to as our “Existing 5.875% Notes”), $68.7 million in borrowings outstanding under our revolving line of credit, $174.1 million in borrowings outstanding under our mortgage repurchase facilities, and $6.3 million outstanding under other financing obligations. As of December 31, 2019, we had $571.3 million in availability under our revolving line of credit. Our board of directors will consider a number of factors when evaluating our level of indebtedness and when making decisions regarding the incurrence of new indebtedness, including the purchase price of assets to be acquired with debt financing, the estimated market value of our assets and the ability of particular assets, and the Company as a whole, to generate cash flow to cover the expected debt service. Our charter does not contain a limitation on the amount of debt we may incur and our board of directors may change our target debt levels at any time without the approval of our stockholders.

This substantial indebtedness, as well as any future indebtedness we may incur, could have important consequences for our business and holders of our securities, including:

making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our debt or to our trade or other creditors;

causing us to pay higher interest rates upon refinancing indebtedness if interest rates rise;

increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic or industry conditions;

limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund capital expenditures and acquisitions, particularly when the availability of financing in the capital markets is limited;

requiring a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations for the payment of interest on our debt and reducing our ability to use our cash flows to fund working capital, land purchases, capital expenditures, acquisitions, stock repurchases, and general corporate requirements;

limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the homebuilding industry; and

placing us at a competitive disadvantage to less leveraged competitors.

We cannot assure you that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations or that future borrowings will be available to us through capital markets financings or under our credit facilities or otherwise in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay our indebtedness, or to fund our other liquidity needs. We may need to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness, on or before its maturity. Our revolving line of credit expires in 2023 and a substantial portion of our senior notes mature in 2025. We cannot assure you that we will be able to refinance any of our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. In addition, we may incur additional indebtedness in order to finance our operations, make acquisitions or to repay existing indebtedness. If we cannot service our indebtedness, we may have to take actions such as selling assets, seeking additional debt or equity or reducing or delaying capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions, investments and alliances. We cannot assure you that any such actions, if necessary, could be effected on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, or on terms that would be advantageous to our stockholders or on terms that would not require us to breach the terms and conditions of our existing or future debt agreements.

Access to future financing sources may not be available on favorable terms, or at all, especially in light of current market conditions, which could adversely affect our ability to maximize our returns.

We expect to continue to employ prudent levels of leverage to finance the acquisition and development of our lots and construction of our homes and to operate our Financial Services business. Our access to additional third-party sources of financing will depend, in part, on:

general market conditions;

the market’s perception of our growth potential;

with respect to acquisition and/or development financing, the market’s perception of the value of the land parcels to be acquired and/or developed;

our current debt levels;

our current and expected future earnings;

our cash flows; and

the market price per share of our common stock.

If the capital and credit markets experience increased volatility or weakness, potential lenders may be unwilling or unable to provide us with financing that is attractive to us or may charge us prohibitively high fees in order to obtain financing. In such a situation, investment returns on our assets and our ability to make acquisitions could be adversely affected by our inability to secure additional financing on reasonable terms, if at all.

In addition, while we have not encountered any such issues to date, if the credit rating agencies that rate our debt were to downgrade our credit ratings, it would likely increase our cost of capital and make it more difficult for us to obtain new financing and access the capital and credit markets, which could also have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

Depending on market conditions at the relevant time, we may have to rely more heavily on additional equity financings, which would cause dilution to our existing stockholders, or on less efficient forms of debt financing that require a larger portion of our cash flow from operations, thereby reducing funds available for our operations, future business opportunities and other purposes. We may not have access to such equity or debt capital on favorable terms at the desired times, or at all.

Increased demand for homes could require us to further increase our indebtedness and credit facilities, and our inability to do that could limit our ability to take full advantage of market opportunities.

Our business requires that we be able to continue to finance the development of our residential communities and the extension of mortgage loans by our Financial Services business. One of the ways we do this is with bank borrowings. At December 31, 2019, we had a $640.0 million revolving line of credit, of which $571.3 million was available. If market conditions strengthen to the point that we need additional funding but we are not able to increase this facility or obtain funds from other types of financings, that could prevent us from taking full advantage of the enhanced market opportunities.

Interest expense on our debt limits our cash available to fund our growth strategies.

We pay significant interest expense on our outstanding indebtedness. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we paid approximately $74.9 million in interest expense payments. Borrowings under our revolving line of credit bear interest at a floating rate equal to the adjusted Eurodollar Rate plus an applicable margin between 2.60% and 3.10% per annum, or, in the Administrative Agent’s discretion, a base rate plus an applicable margin between 1.60% and 2.10% per annum. Higher interest rates could increase debt service requirements on our current floating rate debt and on any floating rate debt we subsequently incur, and could reduce funds available for operations, future business opportunities or other purposes. If we need to repay existing debt during periods of rising interest rates, we could be required to refinance our then-existing debt on unfavorable terms or liquidate one or more of our assets to repay such debt at times which may not permit realization of the maximum return on such assets and could result in a loss. The occurrence of either such event or both could materially and adversely affect our cash flows and results of operations.

Interest rate changes may adversely affect us. Although we attempt to mitigate interest rate risk with hedging activities, such activities may not be effective and also involve risk.

In our Financial Services business, we utilize mortgage-backed securities, forward commitments, option contracts and investor commitments to protect the value of rate-locked commitments and loans held-for-sale from fluctuations in mortgage-related interest rates. To mitigate interest risk associated with loans held-for-sale, we use derivative financial instruments to hedge our exposure to risk from the time a borrower locks a loan until the time the loan is securitized. We also hedge our interest rate exposure through entering into interest rate swap futures. We may obtain additional forms of interest rate protection—in the form of swap agreements, interest rate cap contracts or similar agreements—to hedge against the possible negative effects of interest rate fluctuations. However, we cannot assure you that any hedging will adequately relieve the adverse effects of interest rate increases or that counterparties under these agreements will honor their obligations thereunder. In addition, we may be subject to risks of default by hedging counterparties. Adverse economic conditions could also cause the terms on which we borrow to be unfavorable. We could be required to liquidate one or more of our assets at times which may not permit us to receive an attractive return on our assets in order to meet our debt service obligations.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash flows to meet our debt service obligations.

Our ability to generate sufficient cash flows from operations to make scheduled payments on our debt obligations will depend on our current and future financial performance, which is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control. In the future, we may fail to generate sufficient cash flows from the sales of our homes and land to meet our cash requirements. Further, our capital requirements may vary materially from those currently planned if, for example, our revenues do not reach expected levels or we have to incur unforeseen capital expenditures and make investments to maintain our competitive position. If we do not generate sufficient cash flows from operations to satisfy our debt obligations, including interest payments and the payment of principal at maturity, we may have to undertake alternative financing plans, such as refinancing or restructuring our debt, selling assets, reducing or delaying capital investments or seeking to raise additional capital. We cannot provide assurance that any refinancing would be possible, that any assets could be sold, or, if sold, of the timeliness and amount of proceeds realized from those sales, that additional financing could be obtained on acceptable terms, if at all, or that additional financing would be permitted under the terms of our various debt instruments then in effect. Furthermore, our ability to refinance would depend upon the condition of the finance and credit markets. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flows to satisfy our debt obligations, or to refinance our obligations on commercially reasonable terms or on a timely basis, would materially affect our business, financial condition or results of operations and may delay or prevent the expansion of our business.  

The agreements governing our debt include covenants and other provisions that may restrict our financial and business operations. Failure to comply with the covenants and conditions imposed by our debt agreements could restrict future borrowings or cause our debt to become immediately due and payable.

The agreements governing our indebtedness, including our revolving line of credit and the indentures that govern our senior notes, contain negative covenants customary for such financings, such as limiting our ability to sell or dispose of assets, incur additional indebtedness or liens, make certain restricted payments, make certain investments, consummate mergers, consolidations or other business combinations or engage in other lines of business. These restrictions may interfere with our ability to engage in other necessary or desirable business activities, which could materially affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. Our revolving line of credit also requires us to comply with certain financial ratios and covenants, such as maximum consolidated leverage ratios, minimum consolidated interest coverage ratios and minimum tangible net worth. Our ability to comply with these covenants depends on our financial condition and performance and also is subject to events outside our control. Asset write-downs, other non-cash charges and other one-time events also impact our ability to comply with these covenants. In addition, these restrictions may interfere with our ability to obtain financing or to engage in other necessary or desirable business activities, which may have a material effect on our operations. These covenants are subject to important exceptions and qualifications. Moreover, if we fail to comply with these covenants and are unable to obtain a waiver or amendment, an event of default would result. Our revolving line of credit and other debt agreements, including the indentures governing our senior notes, also contain other events of default customary for such financings. In addition, the indentures governing our senior notes and the agreement governing our revolving line of credit contain cross default provisions. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt service obligations, or to refinance or restructure our obligations on commercially reasonable terms or at all, would likely have an adverse effect, which could be material, on our business, financial condition, and operating results. We cannot provide assurance that we would have sufficient liquidity to repay or refinance our debt if such amounts were accelerated upon an event of default. If we are unable to service our debt, this could materially affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We are dependent upon payments from our subsidiaries to fund payments on our indebtedness and our ability to receive funds from our subsidiaries is dependent upon the profitability of our subsidiaries and restrictions imposed by law and contracts.

We are dependent on the cash flow of, and dividends and distributions to us from, our subsidiaries in order to service our existing indebtedness. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any amounts due pursuant to any indebtedness of ours or to make any funds available therefor, except for those subsidiaries that have guaranteed our obligations under our outstanding indebtedness. The ability of our subsidiaries to pay any dividends and distributions will be subject to, among other things, the terms of any debt instruments of our subsidiaries then in effect as well as among other things, the availability of profits or funds and requirements of applicable laws, including surplus, solvency and other limits imposed on the ability of companies to pay dividends. There can be no assurance that our subsidiaries will generate cash flow sufficient to pay dividends or distributions to us that enable us to pay interest or principal on our existing indebtedness.

We may require additional capital in the future and may not be able to secure adequate funds on terms acceptable to us.

Although it is difficult for us to predict our future liquidity requirements, we believe that we will be able to fund our current and foreseeable liquidity needs with our cash on hand, anticipated cash generated from operations, and cash expected to be available from our revolving line of credit or through accessing debt or equity capital, as needed. The expansion and development of our business may require significant additional capital, which we may be unable to obtain, to fund our capital expenditures and operating expenses, including working capital needs. At December 31, 2019, we had a $640.0 million revolving line of credit, of which $571.3 million was available. In addition, in accordance with our growth strategy, we expect to opportunistically raise additional capital to help fund the growth of our business, subject to market and other conditions, but such capital may not be available to us on a timely basis at reasonable rates, or at all. Under our shelf registration statement, which we filed with the SEC in July 2018 and was automatically effective upon filing, we have the ability to access the debt and equity capital markets as needed as part of our ongoing financing strategy and subject to market conditions, including through the use of our at-the-market facility with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BofA Securities, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., and Fifth Third Securities, Inc., as sales agents (which we refer to as our “ATM Facility”). If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities under our ATM Facility or otherwise, our stockholders may experience dilution. Additional debt financing, if available, may involve additional covenants restricting our operations or our ability to incur additional debt, in addition to those under our existing indentures and revolving line of credit. Any additional debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms that are not favorable to us or our stockholders.

Risk Related to Possible Conflicts of Interest

As a result of Dale Francescon’s and Robert Francescon’s relationship with the Company, conflicts of interest may arise with respect to any transactions involving or with Dale Francescon, Robert Francescon, or their affiliates, and their interests may not be aligned with yours.

Dale Francescon and Robert Francescon are our Co-Chief Executive Officers, sit on our board of directors, are brothers, and collectively beneficially own 4,178,389 shares of our common stock, including 253,272 shares issuable upon vesting of RSU awards within 60 days of December 31, 2019, which represents 12.5% of our common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2019. For so long as Dale Francescon and Robert Francescon control such a significant percentage of our common stock, they will have significant influence over the power to:

elect our directors and exercise overall control over the Company;

agree to sell or otherwise transfer a controlling stake in the Company; and

determine the outcome of substantially all actions requiring the majority approval of our stockholders, including transactions with related parties, corporate reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions and dispositions of assets.

The interests of Dale Francescon and Robert Francescon may not be fully aligned with our other stockholders, and this could lead to a strategy that is not in the best interests of our other stockholders. In addition, their significant ownership in us and resulting ability to effectively control us will limit the ability of our other stockholders to influence corporate matters and may discourage someone from making a significant equity investment in our Company, or could discourage transactions involving a change in control.

In addition, there may be transactions between us and Dale Francescon, Robert Francescon, or their affiliates that could present an actual or perceived conflict of interest. These conflicts of interest may lead Dale Francescon and/or Robert Francescon to recuse himself or themselves from actions of our board of directors with respect to any transactions involving or with Dale Francescon or Robert Francescon or their affiliates. For example, we have entered into employment agreements with Dale Francescon and Robert Francescon, our Co-Chief Executive Officers, in their capacities as officers, pursuant to which they are required to devote substantially full-time

attention to our affairs. We may choose not to enforce, or to enforce less vigorously, our rights under these agreements because of our desire to maintain our ongoing relationship with Dale Francescon and Robert Francescon.

Risks Related to Our Organization and Structure

We depend on key personnel, the loss of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our success depends to a significant degree upon the contributions of certain key personnel including, but not limited to, Dale Francescon and Robert Francescon, our Co-Chief Executive Officers, each of whom would be difficult to replace. Although we have entered into employment agreements with Dale Francescon and Robert Francescon, there is no guarantee that these executives will remain employed with us. In addition, we are dependent upon other key personnel, including in particular managerial, technical, sales and marketing, operations, and customer service personnel. Our future success will depend in large part on our ability to identify, attract, engage, train and retain highly qualified personnel. Competition for these individuals is intense, and we may not succeed in identifying, attracting, or retaining qualified personnel. The loss or interruption of the services of any of our executive officers or other key employees, the inability to identify, attract, or retain qualified personnel in the future, the inability to successfully implement executive officer, key employee or other personnel transitions, delays in hiring qualified personnel, or any employee work slowdowns, strikes, or similar actions could make it difficult for us to conduct and manage our business and meet key objectives, which could harm our business, financial condition, and operating results. The loss of services from key personnel or a limitation in their availability could materially and adversely impact our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations. Further, such a loss could be negatively perceived in the capital markets. We have not obtained and do not expect to obtain key person life insurance that would provide us with proceeds in the event of death or disability of any of our key personnel.

Termination of the employment agreements with the members of our executive management team could be costly and prevent a change in control of the Company.

The employment agreements we have entered into with Dale Francescon and Robert Francescon, our Co-Chief Executive Officers, and Dave Messenger, our Chief Financial Officer, each provide that if their employment with us terminates under certain circumstances, we may be required to pay them significant amounts of severance compensation, thereby making it costly to terminate their employment. In addition, under certain circumstances, the termination of employment of one of our Co-Chief Executive Officers could result in the termination of employment of our other Co-Chief Executive Officer which would result in a requirement for us to pay severance compensation to both former executives. Furthermore, these provisions could delay or prevent a transaction or a change in control of the Company that might involve a premium paid for shares of our common stock or otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Certain anti-takeover defenses and applicable law may limit the ability of a third party to acquire control of the Company.

Our charter and bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that may delay or prevent a transaction or a change in control of the Company that might involve a premium paid for shares of our common stock or otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Selected provisions of our charter and bylaws. Our charter and/or bylaws contain anti-takeover provisions that:

authorize our board of directors, without further action by the stockholders, to issue up to 50 million shares of preferred stock in one or more series, and with respect to each series, to fix the number of shares constituting that series, the powers, rights and preferences of the shares of that series, and the qualifications, limitations and restrictions of that series;

require that actions to be taken by our stockholders may be taken only at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders and not by written consent;

specify that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by our board of directors, the chairman of our board of directors, our chief executive officer, or our president;

provide that our bylaws may be amended by our board of directors without stockholder approval;

provide that directors may be removed from office only by the affirmative vote of the holders of 66 2/3% of the voting power of our capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors;

provide that vacancies on our board of directors or newly created directorships resulting from an increase in the number of our directors may be filled only by a vote of a majority of directors then in office, even though less than a quorum;

provide that, subject to the express rights, if any, of the holders of any series of preferred stock, any amendment, modification or repeal of, or the adoption of any new or additional provision, inconsistent with our charter provisions relating to the removal

of directors, exculpation of directors, indemnification, the prohibition against stockholder action by written consent, and the vote of our stockholders required to amend our bylaws requires the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of our capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors;

provide that the stockholders may amend, modify or repeal our bylaws, or adopt new or additional provisions of our bylaws, only with the affirmative vote of 66 2/3% of the voting power of our capital stock entitled to vote generally; and

establish advance notice procedures for stockholders to submit nominations of candidates for election to our board of directors and other proposals to be brought before a stockholders meeting.

Selected provisions of Delaware law. We are a Delaware corporation, and we have elected to be subject to Section 203 of the DGCL by provision of our charter. In general, Section 203 of the DGCL prevents an “interested stockholder” (as defined in the DGCL) from engaging in a “business combination” (as defined in the DGCL) with us for three years following the date that person becomes an interested stockholder unless one or more of the following occurs:

Before that person became an interested stockholder, our board of directors approved the transaction in which the interested stockholder became an interested stockholder or approved the business combination;

Upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the interested stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding (but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) stock held by directors who are also officers of the Company and by employee stock plans that do not provide employees with the right to determine confidentially whether shares held under the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or

Following the transaction in which that person became an interested stockholder, the business combination is approved by our board of directors and authorized at a meeting of stockholders by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of our outstanding voting stock not owned by the interested stockholder.

The DGCL generally defines “interested stockholder” as any person who, together with affiliates and associates, is the owner of 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock or is our affiliate or associate and was the owner of 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock at any time within the three-year period immediately before the date of determination.

We may change our operational policies, investment guidelines and business and growth strategies without stockholder consent, which may subject us to different and more significant risks in the future.

Our board of directors determines our operational policies, investment guidelines and business and growth strategies. Our board of directors may make changes to, or approve transactions that deviate from, those policies, guidelines and strategies without a vote of, or notice to, our stockholders. Under any of these circumstances, we may expose ourselves to different and more significant risks in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately determine our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, our stockholders could lose confidence in our financial results, which could materially and adversely affect us.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and effectively prevent fraud. There is no assurance that material weaknesses or significant deficiencies will not be identified in the future or that we will be successful in adequately remediating any such material weaknesses and significant deficiencies. We may in the future discover areas of our internal controls that need improvement. We cannot be certain that we will be successful in maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting and financial processes. Furthermore, as we grow our business, including through acquisitions, our internal controls will become more complex, and we will require significantly more resources to ensure our internal controls remain effective. The existence of any material weakness or significant deficiency would require management to devote significant time and incur significant expense to remediate any such material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, and management may not be able to remediate any such material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in a timely manner. The existence of any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting could also result in errors in our financial statements that could require us to restate our financial statements, cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations, subject us to investigations from regulatory authorities or cause stockholders to lose confidence in our reported financial information, all of which could materially and adversely affect us.

Changes in accounting rules, assumptions and/or judgments could materially and adversely affect us.

Accounting rules and interpretations for certain aspects of our operations are highly complex and involve significant assumptions and judgment. We refer you to Note 1 to our financial statements for a description of certain changes in accounting rules and interpretations that may affect our future results of operations. These complexities could lead to a delay in the preparation and dissemination of our financial statements. Furthermore, changes in accounting rules and interpretations or in our accounting assumptions and/or judgments, such as asset impairments and contingencies, could significantly impact our financial statements. In some cases, we could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, resulting in restating prior period financial statements. Any of these circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

We may face substantial damages or be enjoined from pursuing important activities as a result of existing or future litigation, arbitration or other claims.

In our homebuilding activities, we are exposed to potentially significant litigation, including, among others, breach of contract, contractual disputes and disputes relating to defective title, property misdescription or construction defects, including use of defective materials. Although we have established warranty, claim and litigation reserves that we believe are adequate, due to the uncertainty inherent in litigation, legal proceedings may result in the award of substantial damages against us that exceed our reserves. Furthermore, plaintiffs may in certain of these legal proceedings seek class action status with potential class sizes that vary from case to case. Class action lawsuits can be costly to defend and settle, and if we were to lose any certified class action suit, it could result in substantial liability for us. In addition, we are subject to potential lawsuits, arbitration proceedings and other claims in connection with our business.

With respect to certain general liability exposures, including construction defect and product liability claims, interpretation of underlying current and future trends, assessment of claims and the related liability and reserve estimation process require us to exercise significant judgment due to the complex nature of these exposures, with each exposure often exhibiting unique circumstances. Furthermore, once claims are asserted for construction defects, it is difficult to determine the extent to which the assertion of these claims will expand geographically. As a result, our insurance policies may not be available or adequate to cover any liability for damages, the cost of repairs, and/or the expense of litigation surrounding current claims, and future claims may arise out of events or circumstances not covered by insurance and not subject to effective indemnification agreements with our subcontractors. Should such a situation arise, it may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Failure by our directors, officers or employees to comply with applicable codes of conduct could materially and adversely affect us.

We have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics for our directors, officers and employees. Our adoption of this code and other standards of conduct is not a representation or warranty that all persons subject to this code or standards are or will be in complete compliance. The failure of a director, officer or employee to comply with the applicable code or standards of conduct may result in termination of the relationship and/or adverse publicity, which could materially and adversely affect us.

Any joint venture investments that we make could be adversely affected by our lack of sole decision-making authority, our reliance on co-venturers’ financial conditions and disputes between us and our co-venturers.

Prior to acquiring Wade Jurney Homes, we first acquired a 50% ownership interest and held this investment as a joint venture. Although it is currently not a focus in our business strategy, we may in the future continue to co-invest with third parties through partnerships, joint ventures or other entities, acquiring non-controlling interests in or sharing responsibility for managing the affairs of a land acquisition and/or a development. In this event, we would make a capital investment and may not be in a position to exercise sole decision-making authority regarding the acquisition and/or development, and our investment may be illiquid due to our lack of control. Investments in partnerships, joint ventures, or other entities may, under certain circumstances, involve risks not present were a third party not involved, including the possibility that partners or co-venturers might become bankrupt, fail to fund their share of required capital contributions, make poor business decisions or block or delay necessary decisions. Partners or co-venturers may have economic or other business interests or goals which are inconsistent with our business interests or goals, and may be in a position to take actions contrary to our policies or objectives. Such investments may also have the potential risk of impasses on decisions, such as a sale, because neither we nor the partner or co-venturer would have full control over the partnership or joint venture. Disputes between us and partners or co-venturers may result in litigation or arbitration that would increase our expenses and prevent our officers and/or directors from focusing their time and effort on our business. In addition, we may in certain circumstances be liable for the actions of our third-party partners or co-venturers.

Risks Related to Ownership of our Common Stock

A trading market for our common stock may not be sustained and our common stock prices could decline.

Although our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, “CCS,” an active trading market for the shares of our common stock may not be sustained. Accordingly, no assurance can be given as to the following:

the likelihood that an active trading market for shares of our common stock will be sustained;

the liquidity of any such market;

the ability of our stockholders to sell their shares of common stock; or

the price that our stockholders may obtain for their common stock.

In addition, our common stock has experienced price and volume volatility over the past year. During 2019, the sale price of our common stock ranged from $16.91 to $34.57 per share and the trading volume ranged from 92,906 shares to 6.4 million shares. The market price and volume of our common stock may continue to experience fluctuations not only due to general stock market conditions but also due to government regulatory action, tax laws, interest rates, the condition of the U.S. economy and a change in sentiment in the market regarding our industry, operations or business prospects. In addition to other factors, the price and volume volatility of our common stock may be affected by:

factors influencing home purchases, such as availability of home mortgage loans, interest rates, credit criteria applicable to prospective borrowers, ability to sell existing residences, and homebuyer sentiment in general;

the operating and securities price performance of companies that investors consider comparable to us;

announcements of strategic developments, acquisitions and other material events by us or our competitors;

changes in global financial markets and global economies and general market conditions, such as interest rates, commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets;

additions or departures of key personnel;

operating results that vary from the expectations of securities analysts and investors;

sales of our equity securities by stockholders or management or sales of additional equity securities by us;

changes in our stock repurchase or dividend policies;

actions by stockholders; and

passage of legislation or other regulatory developments that adversely affect us or the homebuilding industry.

If an active market is not maintained, or if our common stock continues to experience price and volume volatility, the market price of our common stock may decline.

Stockholders of a public company sometimes bring securities class action suits against the company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Furthermore, our ability to raise funds through the issuance of equity or otherwise use our common stock as consideration is impacted by the price of our common stock. A low stock price may adversely impact our ability to reduce our financial leverage, as measured by the ratio of total debt to total capital. Continued high levels of leverage or significant increases may adversely affect our credit ratings and make it more difficult for us to access additional capital. These factors may limit our ability to implement our operating and growth plans.

If securities analysts do not publish, or cease publishing, research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our stock adversely, the price of our common stock and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock could be influenced by any research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business or our market. If one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our common stock or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, our business, industry or markets, the price of our common stock would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our common stock could decrease, which could cause the price of our common stock and trading volume to decline.

Future offerings of debt securities, which would rank senior to our common stock upon a bankruptcy liquidation, and future offerings of equity securities, including those that may be senior to our common stock for the purposes of dividend and liquidating distributions, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

To raise capital resources, we have offered and sold debt and equity securities, including securities that rank senior to our common stock, and may continue to do so in the future. For example, in May 2019, we sold and issued $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Company’s 6.750% Senior Notes due 2027. Upon a bankruptcy or liquidation, holders of our debt securities and lenders with respect to other borrowings will receive a distribution of our available assets prior to the holders of our common stock. Additional equity offerings may dilute the holdings of our existing stockholders or reduce the market price of our common stock, or both. During 2019, we sold and issued an aggregate of 2.7 million shares under our ATM Facility. Our preferred stock, if issued, could have a preference on liquidating distributions or a preference on dividend payments or both that could limit our ability to pay dividends or make liquidating distributions to the holders of our common stock. Our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions at the time and other factors, some of which may be beyond our control. As a result, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings, and holders of our common stock bear the risk of our future offerings reducing the market price of our common stock and diluting their ownership interest in the Company.

We cannot guarantee that our stock repurchase program will be fully consummated or that our stock repurchase program will enhance long-term stockholder value, and stock repurchases could increase the volatility of the price of our stock and diminish our cash reserves.

In November 2018, we authorized a stock repurchase program, under which we may repurchase up to 4,500,000 shares of our outstanding common stock. As of December 31, 2019, the number of shares that remained available for repurchase pursuant to our stock repurchase program is 3,812,939 shares. Under the terms of the program, the shares may be repurchased from time to time in open market transactions at prevailing market prices, in privately negotiated transactions or by other means in accordance with federal securities laws. The actual manner, timing, amount and value of repurchases under the stock repurchase program will be determined by management at its discretion and will depend on a number of factors, including the market price of our common stock, trading volume, other capital management objectives and opportunities, applicable legal requirements, and general market and economic conditions. We intend to finance any stock repurchases through available cash and our revolving line of credit. Repurchases also may be made under a trading plan under Rule 10b5-1, which would permit shares to be repurchased when we might otherwise may be precluded from doing so because of self-imposed trading blackout periods or other regulatory restrictions. There is no guarantee as to the number of shares that will be repurchased, and the stock repurchase program may be extended, suspended or discontinued at any time without notice at our discretion, which may result in a decrease in the trading price of our common stock. The stock repurchase program could increase volatility in and affect the price of our common stock. The existence of our stock repurchase program could also cause the price of our common stock to be higher than it would be in the absence of such a program and could potentially reduce the market liquidity for our common stock. Additionally, repurchases under our stock repurchase program will diminish our cash reserves and could increase our indebtedness. There can be no assurance that any stock repurchases will enhance stockholder value because the market price of our common stock may decline below the levels at which we repurchased such shares. Any failure to repurchase shares after we have announced our intention to do so may negatively impact our reputation and investor confidence in us and may negatively impact our stock price. Although our stock repurchase program is intended to enhance long-term stockholder value, short-term stock price fluctuations could reduce the program’s effectiveness.

Our actual operating results may differ significantly from our guidance, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

From time to time, we release guidance regarding our future performance, such as our anticipated annual revenue and home deliveries, that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. This guidance, which consists of forward-looking statements, is prepared by our management and is qualified by, and subject to, the assumptions and the other information contained or referred to in the release. Our guidance is not prepared with a view toward compliance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and neither any independent registered public accounting firm nor any other independent expert or outside party

compiles, examines or reviews the guidance and, accordingly, no such person expresses any opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto.

Guidance is based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while presented with numerical specificity, is inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control and are based upon specific assumptions with respect to future business decisions, some of which will change. We generally state possible outcomes as high and low ranges which are intended to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but are not intended to represent that actual results could not fall outside of these ranges. The principal reason that we release this data is to provide a basis for our management to discuss our business outlook with analysts and investors. We do not accept any responsibility for any projections or reports published by any such persons.

Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions of the guidance furnished by us will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results, particularly any guidance relating to the results of operations of acquired businesses or companies as our management will, necessarily, be less familiar with their business, procedures and operations. Accordingly, our guidance is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release. Actual results will vary from the guidance and the variations may be material. Investors should also recognize that the reliability of any forecasted financial data will diminish the farther in the future that the data are forecast. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged to put the guidance in context and not to place undue reliance on it.

Any failure to successfully implement our operating strategy or the occurrence of any of the events or circumstances set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K could result in the actual operating results being different than our guidance, and such differences may be adverse and material. The failure to achieve such guidance could disappoint investors and analysts, and cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Non-U.S. holders may be subject to United States federal income tax on gain realized on the sale or disposition of shares of our common stock, which may cause non-US investors not to invest in our Company.

Because of our holdings in United States real property interests, we believe we are and will remain a “United States real property holding corporation” (which we refer to as “USRPHC”) for United States federal income tax purposes. As a USRPHC, our stock may be treated as a United States real property interest (which we refer to as “USRPI”), gains from the sale of which by non-U.S. holders would be subject to U.S. income tax and reporting obligations pursuant to the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (which we refer to as “FIRPTA”). Our common stock will not be treated as a USRPI if it is regularly traded on an established securities market, except in the case of a non-U.S. holder that actually or constructively holds more than five percent of such class of stock at any time during the shorter of the five-year period preceding the date of disposition or the holder’s holding period for such stock. We anticipate that our common stock will continue to be regularly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. However, no assurance can be given that our common stock will remain regularly traded in the future. If our common stock is treated as a USRPI, a non-U.S. holder would be subject to regular United States federal income tax with respect to any gain on such stock in the same manner as a taxable U.S. holder (subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals). In addition, the purchaser of the common stock would be required to withhold and remit to the I.R.S. 10% of the purchase price unless an exception applies. A non-U.S. holder also would be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return for any taxable year in which it realizes a gain from the disposition of our common stock that is subject to U.S. federal income tax. Because of these adverse tax consequences, non-U.S. investors may choose not to invest in our Company.

Non-U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors concerning the consequences of disposing of shares of our common stock.

We do not currently pay dividends on our common stock; and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.

We have not declared or paid dividends on our common stock and no steps have been taken to do so in the near term. We currently intend to invest our future earnings, if any, to fund our growth. Therefore, you are not likely to receive any dividends on your common stock in the near term, and capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.

ITEM 1B.UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

 None.

ITEM 2.PROPERTIES.

We lease our corporate headquarters located at 8390 East Crescent Parkway, Greenwood Village, Colorado. We also lease offices in other markets where we conduct business, although none of these properties are material to the operation of our business. All facilities are in good condition, adequately utilized, and sufficient to meet our present operating needs.

Because of the nature of our homebuilding operations, significant amounts of property are held as inventory in the ordinary course of our homebuilding business. We discuss these properties in the discussion of our homebuilding operations elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

Because of the nature of the homebuilding business, we and certain of our subsidiaries and affiliates have been named as defendants in various claims, complaints and other legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business. In the opinion of our management, the outcome of these ordinary course matters will not have a material adverse effect upon our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

ITEM 4.MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5.MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Market Information

The shares of our common stock are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, “CCS.”

Holders

As of January 31, 2020, there were approximately 47 stockholders of record of our common stock.

Dividends

During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, we did not declare or pay any dividends. The agreements governing our indebtedness, including our revolving line of credit and the indentures that govern our senior notes, limit our ability to pay dividends.

Stock Performance Graph

The graph below compares the cumulative total return of our common stock, the S&P 500 Index, the Dow Jones US Home Construction Index, and peer group companies for the periods from December 31, 2014 to December 31, 2019.

It is assumed in the graph that $100 was invested in each of (1) our common stock; (2) the stocks of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index; (3) the stocks of the Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index; and (4) the stocks of the peer group companies, just prior to the commencement of the period and that all dividends received within a quarter were reinvested in that quarter. The peer group index is composed of the following companies: Beazer Homes USA, Inc., M/I Homes, Inc., M.D.C. Holdings, Inc., Tripointe Homes and William Lyon Homes. AV Homes, Inc. is no longer in our peer group as it was acquired in October 2018 and therefore its results are excluded from all periods.

The stock price performance shown on the following graph is not indicative of future price performance.

Comparison of Cumulative Total Return from December 31, 2014 to December 31, 2019

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Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table summarizes the number of shares of our common stock that were purchased by the Company during each of the three fiscal months in our fourth quarter ended December 31, 2019.

⁽¹⁾On November 6, 2018, the Company's Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program, under which we may repurchase up to 4,500,000 shares of our outstanding common stock. Under the terms of the program, the shares may be repurchased from time to time in open market transactions at prevailing market prices, in privately negotiated transactions or by other means in accordance with federal securities laws. This program has no expiration date but may be terminated by the Board of Directors at any time. The Company repurchased 687,061 shares throughout the duration of this program and 3,812,939 shares remained available to repurchase under this program as of December 31, 2019.

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ITEM 6.SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.

The data in this table should be read in conjunction with “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto, which are included in “Item 8. Consolidated Financial Statements.”

ITEM 7.     MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is intended to help the reader understand our Company, business, operations and present business environment and is provided as a supplement to, and should be read in conjunction with, our consolidated financial statements and the related notes to those statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We use certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are important for purposes of comparison to prior periods. This information is also used by our management to measure the profitability of our ongoing operations and analyze our business performance and trends. Some of the numbers included herein have been rounded for the convenience of presentation.

In July 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (which we refer to as “FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update 2019-07, “Codification Updates to SEC Sections-Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Final Rule Releases No. 33-10532, Disclosure Update and Simplification", which made changes meant to simplify certain disclosures in financial condition and results of operations, particularly by eliminating year-to-year comparisons between prior periods previously disclosed. This section of this Form 10-K generally discusses 2019 and 2018 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2019 and 2018. Discussions of 2017 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2018 and 2017 that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.

Business Overview

We are engaged in the development, design, construction, marketing and sale of single-family attached and detached homes in metropolitan areas in 17 states.  In many of our projects, in addition to building homes, we are responsible for the entitlement and development of the underlying land.  We build and sell homes under our Century Communities and Wade Jurney Homes brands. Our Century Communities brand targets a wide range of buyer profiles including: first time, first and second time move up, and lifestyle homebuyers, and provides our homebuyers with the ability to personalize their homes through certain option and upgrade selections. Our Wade Jurney Homes brand targets first time homebuyers, primarily sells homes through retail studios and the internet, and provides no option or upgrade selections. Our homebuilding operations are organized into the following five reportable segments: West, Mountain, Texas, Southeast, and Wade Jurney Homes.   Additionally, our indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, Inspire Home Loans, Inc., Parkway Title, LLC, and IHL Home Insurance Agency, LLC, which provide mortgage, title and insurance services, respectively, to our home buyers have been identified as our Financial Services segment.

On February 6, 2020, in order to better align with our Century brand we announced the rebranding of our Wade Jurney Homes brand to Century Complete. We believe this rebranding will assist in showcasing the value proposition to potential buyers. The newly positioned Century Complete brand will operate similarly to Wade Jurney Homes, adopting its business strategy and continuing to provide comparable offerings.

We build and sell an extensive range of home types across a variety of price points.

Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2019 and 2018

The year ended December 31, 2019 was characterized by decreasing mortgage rates, low unemployment, and a low supply of inventory in most of our markets. In particular, all of our markets exhibit a low supply of inventory at affordable price points. To that end, during 2019 we continued to invest in our exposure to more affordable price point offerings including through both our Century Communities and Wade Jurney Homes brands. This was evident in the decrease in our average sales price of homes delivered of $310,200 in 2019 as compared to $346,000 during 2018. During 2019 we experienced a 31.2% increase in the number of homes delivered to 8,000 homes. The increase in the number of homes delivered was partly attributable to the acquisition of Wade Jurney Homes in June 2018. The increase in homes delivered, offset by the decrease in our average sales price, resulted in an increase in our home sales revenues of 17.6% to $2.5 billion. For the year ended December 31, 2019, we generated income before income tax of $132.6 million and net income of $113.0 million.

Subject to deteriorating market conditions, we believe our operations are well positioned for future growth as a result of the markets in which we operate, our product offerings which span the home buying segment, our focus on affordable price points, as well as current and future inventories of attractive land positions. As we have grown, we have continued to focus on maintaining prudent leverage, and, as a result, we believe we are well positioned to execute on our growth strategy in order to optimize our stockholder returns.

We anticipate the homebuilding markets in each of our operating segments to continue to be tied to both the local economy and the macro-economic environment. Accordingly, our net sales, home deliveries, and average sales price in future years could be negatively affected by economic conditions such as decreases in employment and median household incomes, as well as decreases in household formations and increasing supply of inventories. Additionally, our results could be impacted by a decrease in home affordability as a result of price appreciation or increases in mortgage interest rates or tightening of mortgage lending standards.

On June 14, 2018, we acquired the remaining 50% ownership interest in WJH, LLC for $37.5 million. Wade Jurney Homes specializes in providing single family homes for first time buyers. On the acquisition date, WJH had operations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The 2018 results of WJH are included in our financial statements from June 14 through December 31, 2018 and consisted of $210.1 million in revenue related to 1,377 home deliveries.

Strategy

Our strategy is focused on increasing the returns on our inventory while generating strong profitability. In general, we are focused on the following initiatives:

Maintaining a strong balance sheet and prudent use of leverage as we grow;

Offering products that appeal to a broad range of entry-level, move-up and, lifestyle homebuyers based on each local market in which we operate. Given the significant increases in average home sales prices across our markets, we have continued to enhance our focus on offering affordable housing options in each of our homebuyer segments;

Maintaining a strong pipeline of future land holdings, including utilizing lot option contracts to manage our risk to land holdings;

Increasing our market share within our existing markets through organic growth and/or acquisitions of other homebuilders already operating in the market;

Expanding into new markets that meet our underwriting criteria either through organic start-up operations or through acquisitions of existing homebuilders; and

Controlling costs, including costs of home sales revenue and selling and general administrative expenses, and generating efficiencies to achieve increased profitability.

Our operating strategy has resulted in growth in revenue and income before income taxes over the last five years, and we believe it will continue to produce positive results. Our operating strategy will continue to evolve to market changes, and we cannot provide any assurances that our strategies will continue to be successful.

The following table summarizes our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.

NM – Not Meaningful

(1)This is a non-GAAP financial measure and should not be used as a substitute for the Company’s operating results prepared in accordance with GAAP. See the reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measure and other information within our Homebuilding Gross Margin section in this Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. An analysis of any non-GAAP financial measure should be used in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP.

(2)Homebuilding gross margin percentage is inclusive of a $2.0 million inventory impairment included within inventory impairment and other on our consolidated statements of operations. See Note 14 – Fair Value Disclosures in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further detail.
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Results of Operations by Segment

West

In our West segment, for the year ended December 31, 2019, our income before income tax increased by $4.6 million to $43.0 million. Our income before income tax included no purchase accounting adjustments during the year ended December 31, 2019 and $14.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2018. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we delivered 1,029 homes with an average sales price of $519.3 thousand and generated $534.4 million in home sales revenue in the West. The decrease in average sales price of homes delivered was primarily due to our shift towards more affordable product offerings.

  

Mountain

In our Mountain segment, for the year ended December 31, 2019, our income before income tax increased by $0.2 million to $89.2 million, as compared to $89.0 million for the same period in 2018, primarily due to nominal increases in number of homes delivered and average sales price of homes delivered.



Texas

In our Texas segment, for the year ended December 31, 2019, our income before income tax increased by $12.2 million to $25.9 million as compared to $13.7 million for the same period in 2018.  This increase is primarily related to a 31% increase in the number of homes delivered in 2019, partially offset by a decrease in the average sales price of homes delivered as we continued our shift towards more affordable product offerings.  

  

Southeast

In our Southeast segment, for the year ended December 31, 2019, our income before income tax decreased by $1.8 million to $31.4 million as compared to $33.3 million for the same period in 2018.  This decrease is primarily related to a nominal decrease in the number of new homes delivered, partially offset by an increase in average home sale price of homes delivered.

Wade Jurney Homes

On June 14, 2018, we acquired the remaining 50% ownership interest in WJH for $37.5 million. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we delivered 2,811 homes with an average price of $152.0 thousand and generated $427.4 million in home sales revenues. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we delivered 1,377 new homes with an average price of $152.5 thousand and generated $210.1 million in home sales revenues. For the year ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, our income before income tax of $22.0 million and $(0.8) million, respectively, is inclusive of $1.7 million and $21.6 million of purchase accounting adjustments, respectively.

  

Financial Services

Our indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, Inspire Home Loans, Inc., Parkway Title, LLC, and IHL Home Insurance Agency, LLC, which provide mortgage, title and insurance services, respectively, to our home buyers have been identified as our Financial Services segment.  We began providing mortgage services to our customers during the second quarter of 2017.  Substantially all of the loans we originate are sold in the secondary market within a short period of time after origination, generally within 30 days.  The increase in our income before income tax of $1.9 million is a result of an increase in the number of mortgages originated of 61% as compared to the same period during 2018. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we originated and closed 3,497 loans with a total principal amount of $1.0 billion, as compared to 2,176 loans for a total principal of $682.8 million during 2018. The results of Parkway Title, LLC and IHL Home Insurance Agency, LLC for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were not material to our Financial Services segment.



Corporate

During the year ended December 31, 2019, our Corporate segment generated losses of $89.6 million, as compared to losses of $53.9 million during 2018.  The increase in losses generated during the year ended December 31, 2019 was primarily attributable to the following: (1) the prior year including $14.8 million of equity in income of unconsolidated subsidiaries, (2) a loss on debt extinguishment of $10.8 million during 2019 (3) costs associated with obtaining energy efficient home tax credits of $4.5 million and (4) an increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses of $3.6 million due to increased scale of our operations.

Homebuilding Gross Margin

Homebuilding gross margin represents home sales revenue less cost of home sales revenues. Our homebuilding gross margin percentage, which represents homebuilding gross margin divided by home sales revenues, increased for the year ended December 31, 2019 to 17.7%, as compared to 17.5% for the year ended December 31, 2018.  The increase is primarily driven by purchase accounting for acquired work in process inventory in the prior period.

In the following table, we calculate our homebuilding gross margin adjusted to exclude interest in cost of home sales and purchase price accounting for acquired work in process inventory. See “Critical Accounting Policies” below and Note 3 (Business Combinations) of our consolidated financial statements for additional discussion regarding our methodology for estimating the fair value of acquired work in process inventory.

(dollars in thousands)  

(1)This non-GAAP financial measure should not be used as a substitute for the Company’s operating results in accordance with GAAP.

An analysis of any non-GAAP financial measure should be used in conjunction with results presented in accordance with GAAP.

Excluding inventory impairments, interest in cost of home sales and purchase price accounting, our adjusted homebuilding gross margin percentage was 20.3% for the year ended December 31, 2019, as compared to 21.6% for the year ended December 31, 2018. We believe the above information is meaningful as it isolates the impact that indebtedness and acquisitions have on homebuilding gross margin and allows for comparability of our gross margins to previous periods and our competitors.

Selling, General and Administrative Expense