HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES INC - Quarter Report: 2013 July (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

[ X ]           Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

For the quarterly period ended JULY 31, 2013

OR

[    ]           Transition report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Commission file number: 1-8551

Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Delaware (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)

22-1851059 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

110 West Front Street, P.O. Box 500, Red Bank, NJ  07701 (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

732-747-7800 (Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

N/A  (Former Name, Former Address and Former Fiscal Year, if Changed Since Last Report)

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 file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes [ X ]    No [   ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted 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 and post such files).  Yes [ X ]  No [    ]

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

Large Accelerated Filer [   ]  Accelerated Filer  [ X ]

Non-Accelerated Filer  [   ]  (Do not check if smaller reporting company)   Smaller Reporting Company [   ]

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

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer's classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date. 124,544,460 shares of Class A Common Stock and 14,656,867 shares of Class B Common Stock were outstanding as of September 3, 2013.  

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC.  

FORM 10-Q  

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In Thousands)

(1)  Derived from the audited balance sheet as of October 31, 2012.

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited).

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In Thousands Except Share and Per Share Amounts)

(1) Derived from the audited balance sheet as of October 31, 2012.

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited).

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(In Thousands Except Per Share Data)

(Unaudited)

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited).

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF EQUITY

(In Thousands Except Share Amounts)

(Unaudited)

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements (unaudited).

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In Thousands)

(Unaudited)

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(In Thousands - Unaudited)

(Continued)

Supplemental disclosure of noncash financing activities:

In the second quarter of fiscal 2013, a property that we previously acquired when our partner in a land development joint venture transferred its interest in the venture to us, was foreclosed on by the note holder. As a result, the inventory with a book value of $9.5 million and corresponding non-recourse liability of equal amount were taken off of our balance sheet in that quarter.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2013, 18,305 of our senior exchangeable notes were exchanged for 3,396,102 shares of Class A Common Stock.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2013, we entered into a new unconsolidated homebuilding joint venture which resulted in the transfer of an existing receivable from our joint venture partners of $0.6 million at October 31, 2012, to an investment in the joint venture at January 31, 2013.

During the third quarter of fiscal 2012, we purchased our partners’ interest in one of our unconsolidated homebuilding joint ventures. The consolidation of this entity resulted in increases in inventory, other assets, non-recourse land mortgages and accounts payables and other liabilities of $34.3 million, $5.0 million, $20.6 million and $15.8 million, respectively.

In the second and third quarters of fiscal 2012, we completed several debt for equity exchanges.  See Notes 11, 12 and 16 for further information.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2012, we completed a debt for debt exchange. See Note 9 in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2012 for further information.

See notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited).

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - UNAUDITED

1.  Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the "Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”) has reportable segments consisting of six Homebuilding segments (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest and West) and the Financial Services segment (see Note 18).

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include our accounts and those of all wholly-owned subsidiaries after elimination of all significant intercompany balances and transactions. Certain immaterial prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation.

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2012. In the opinion of management, all adjustments for interim periods presented have been made, which include normal recurring accruals and deferrals necessary for a fair presentation of our consolidated financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from those estimates, and these differences could have a significant impact on the financial statements. Results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results which might be expected for a full year. The balance sheet at October 31, 2012 has been derived from the audited Consolidated Financial Statements at that date but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements.

2.  For the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013, the Company’s total stock-based compensation expense was $2.7 million ($2.2 million net of tax) and $5.2 million (pre and post tax), respectively, and $0.8 million (pre and post tax) and $3.7 million (pre and post tax) for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2012, respectively. Included in this total stock-based compensation expense was the vesting of stock options of $1.6 million and $3.0 million for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013, respectively, and $0.7 million and $3.3 million for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2012, respectively.

3.  Interest costs incurred, expensed and capitalized were:

4.  Accumulated depreciation at July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012 amounted to $78.4 million and $75.7 million, respectively, for our homebuilding property, plant and equipment.

5.  We record impairment losses on inventories related to communities under development and held for future development when events and circumstances indicate that they may be impaired and the undiscounted cash flows estimated to be generated by those assets are less than their related carrying amounts. If the expected undiscounted cash flows are less than the carrying amount, then the community is written down to its fair value. We estimate the fair value of each impaired community by determining the present value of the estimated future cash flows at a discount rate commensurate with the risk of the respective community. For the nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, our discount rates used for the impairments recorded ranged from 18.0% to 18.8% and from 16.8% to 18.5%, respectively. Should the estimates or expectations used in determining cash flows or fair value decrease or differ from current estimates in the future, we may need to recognize additional impairments. During the nine months ended July 31, 2013, we evaluated inventories of all 374 communities under development and held for future development for impairment indicators through preparation and review of detailed budgets or other market indicators of impairment. We performed detailed impairment calculations for 30 of those communities (i.e., those with a projected operating loss or other impairment indicators) with an aggregate carrying value of $82.5 million. As impairment indicators are assessed on a quarterly basis, some of the communities evaluated during the nine months ended July 31, 2013 were evaluated in more than one quarterly period. Of those communities tested for impairment, one community with an aggregate carrying value of $2.7 million had undiscounted future cash flow that only exceeded the carrying amount by less than 20%. As a result of our impairment analysis, we recorded impairment losses, which are included in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations and deducted from inventory, of $0.1 million and $0.2 million for the three months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $1.6 million and $5.4 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

The following tables represent inventory impairments by homebuilding segment for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012:

The Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations line item entitled “Homebuilding: Inventory impairment loss and land option write-offs” also includes write-offs of options, and approval, engineering and capitalized interest costs that we record when we redesign communities and/or abandon certain engineering costs and we do not exercise options in various locations because the communities' pro forma profitability is not projected to produce adequate returns on investment commensurate with the risk. Total aggregate write-offs related to these items were $0.5 million for both three months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, and $1.9 million and $1.8 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. Occasionally, these write-offs are offset by recovered deposits (sometimes through legal action) that had been written off in a prior period as walk-away costs. Historically, these recoveries have not been significant in comparison to the total cost written off.

      The following tables represent write-offs of such costs (after giving effect to any recovered deposits in the applicable period) and the number of lots walked away from by homebuilding segment for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012:

We can incur costs while investigating land options, whereby we decide not to pursue the opportunity before we control the lots. These costs are expensed in the period we decide to no longer pursue the opportunity. For the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013, such costs were not significant and are therefore not shown in the tables above. In addition, we sometimes walk-away from a lot option when we have only incurred costs of less than $50,000; such costs are not shown in the tables above.

We have decided to mothball (or stop development on) certain communities when we have determined the current performance does not justify further investment at the time. When we decide to mothball a community, the inventory is reclassified from “Sold and unsold homes and lots under development” to “Land and land options held for future development or sale”. During the first nine months of fiscal 2013, we mothballed one community and we re-activated three previously mothballed communities. As of July 31, 2013, the net book value associated with our 51 total mothballed communities was $124.9 million, net of impairment charges recorded in prior periods of $442.9 million.

 From time to time we enter into option agreements that include specific performance requirements, whereby we are required to purchase a minimum number of lots. Because of our obligation to purchase these lots, for accounting purposes in accordance with ASC 360-20-40-38, we are required to record this inventory on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. As of July 31, 2013, we had $0.8 million of specific performance options recorded on our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets to consolidated inventory not owned, with a corresponding amount recorded to liabilities from inventory not owned. Consolidated inventory not owned also consists of other options that were included on our balance sheet in accordance with GAAP.

During fiscal 2012 and 2013, we sold and leased back certain of our model homes with the right to participate in the potential profit when each home is sold to a third party at the end of the respective lease. As a result of our continued involvement, for accounting purposes in accordance with ASC 360-20-40-38, these sale and leaseback transactions are considered a financing rather than a sale. Therefore, for purposes of our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet, at July 31, 2013, inventory of $48.3 million was recorded to consolidated inventory not owned, with a corresponding amount of $46.1 million recorded to liabilities from inventory not owned.

In addition, we entered into a land banking arrangement in fiscal 2012 with GSO Capital Partners LP ("GSO"), that continued in fiscal 2013, whereby we sold a portfolio of our land parcels to GSO, and GSO provided us an option to purchase back finished lots on a quarterly basis. Because of our option to repurchase these parcels, for accounting purposes, in accordance with ASC 360-20-40-38, this transaction is considered a financing rather than a sale. For purposes of our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet, at July 31, 2013, inventory of $60.6 million was recorded as consolidated inventory not owned, with a corresponding amount of $47.6 million recorded to “Liabilities from inventory not owned” for the amount of net cash received from the transactions.

6.   Over the past several years, general liability insurance for homebuilding companies and their suppliers and subcontractors has become very difficult to obtain. The availability of general liability insurance has been limited due to a decreased number of insurance companies willing to underwrite for the industry. In addition, those few insurers willing to underwrite liability insurance have significantly increased the premium costs. We have been able to obtain general liability insurance but at higher premium costs with higher deductibles. We have been advised that a significant number of our subcontractors and suppliers have also had difficulty obtaining insurance that also provides us coverage. As a result, we introduced an owner controlled insurance program for certain of our subcontractors, whereby the subcontractors pay us an insurance premium (through a reduction of amounts we would otherwise owe such subcontractors for their work on our homes) based on the value of their services. We absorb the liability associated with their work on our homes as part of our overall general liability insurance at no additional cost to us because our existing general liability and construction defect insurance policy and related reserves for amounts under our deductible covers construction defects regardless of whether we or our subcontractors are responsible for the defect. For the nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012 we received $1.6 million and $1.3 million, respectively, from subcontractors related to the owner controlled insurance program, which we accounted for as a reduction to inventory.

We accrue for warranty costs that are covered under our existing general liability and construction defect policy as part of our general liability insurance deductible. This accrual is expensed as selling, general, and administrative costs.  For homes delivered in fiscal 2013 and 2012, our deductible under our general liability insurance is $20 million per occurrence for construction defects and warranty claims. For bodily injury claims, our deductible per occurrence in fiscal 2013 and 2012 is $0.25 million and $0.1 million, respectively, up to a $5 million limit. Our aggregate retention in fiscal 2013 and 2012 is $21 million for construction defects, warranty and bodily injury claims. In addition, we establish a warranty accrual for lower cost-related issues to cover home repairs, community amenities, and land development infrastructure that are not covered under our general liability and construction defect policy. We accrue an estimate for these warranty costs as part of cost of sales at the time each home is closed and title and possession have been transferred to the homebuyer. Additions and charges in the warranty reserve and general liability reserve for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012 were as follows:

Warranty accruals are based upon historical experience. We engage a third-party actuary that uses our historical warranty and construction defect data, worker’s compensation data, and other industry data to assist us in estimating our reserves for unpaid claims, claim adjustment expenses and incurred but not reported claims reserves for the risks that we are assuming under the general liability and workers compensation programs. The estimates include provisions for inflation, claims handling, and legal fees.

Insurance claims paid by our insurance carriers, excluding insurance deductibles paid, were $0.1 million and $13.8 million for the three months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $8.6 million and $16.4 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, for prior year deliveries.

7.  We are involved in litigation arising in the ordinary course of business, none of which is expected to have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations, and we are subject to extensive and complex regulations that affect the development and home building, sales and customer financing processes, including zoning, density, building standards and mortgage financing. These regulations often provide broad discretion to the administering governmental authorities. This can delay or increase the cost of development or homebuilding.

We also are subject to a variety of local, state, federal and foreign laws and regulations concerning protection of health and the environment. The particular environmental laws that apply to any given community vary greatly according to the community site, the site’s environmental conditions and the present and former uses of the site. These environmental laws may result in delays, may cause us to incur substantial compliance, remediation and/or other costs, and can prohibit or severely restrict development and homebuilding activity. 

 We received in October 2012 a notice from Region III of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) concerning stipulated penalties, totaling approximately $120,000, based on the extent to which we reportedly did not meet certain compliance performance specified in the previously reported consent decree entered into in August 2010; we have since paid the stipulated penalties as assessed, and more recently have paid approximately $8,000 in response to an EPA demand received in June 2013 for stipulated penalties based on information about our performance under the consent decree for 2012. Until terminated by court order, which can occur no sooner than three years from the date of its entry, the consent decree remains in effect and could give rise to additional assessments of stipulated penalties. In October 2012, we also received notices from Region III of the EPA concerning alleged violations of stormwater discharge permits, issued in 2010 pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act, at two projects in Maryland. We negotiated with the EPA two orders, which the EPA issued in February 2013, to resolve the violations. One requires us to pay a penalty of $130,000, which we have done, while the other obligates us to take certain measures to comply with those permits and detail the specific compliance measures we take, among other things. Our obligations under the orders will not materially affect us.  

 In March 2013, we received a letter from the EPA requesting information about our involvement in a housing redevelopment project in Newark, New Jersey that a Company entity undertook during the 1990s. We understand that the development is in the vicinity of a former lead smelter and that recent tests on soil samples from properties within the development conducted by the EPA show elevated levels of lead. We also understand that the smelter operated before the City of Newark acquired properties, demolished structures existing on them, and sold the properties to the Company entity in connection with the redevelopment project. We responded to the EPA’s request. In August 2013, we were notified that the EPA considers us a potentially responsible party (or "PRP") with respect to the site, that the EPA believes the site requires cleanup, and that the EPA is proposing that we address contamination at the site. We do not know the scope or extent of the Company's obligations, if any, that may arise from the site and therefore cannot provide any assurance that this matter will not have a material impact on the Company.

We anticipate that increasingly stringent requirements will be imposed on developers and homebuilders in the future. Although we cannot predict the effect of these requirements, they could result in time-consuming and expensive compliance programs and in substantial expenditures, which could cause delays and increase our cost of operations. In addition, the continued effectiveness of permits already granted or approvals already obtained is dependent upon many factors, some of which are beyond our control, such as changes in policies, rules, and regulations and their interpretations and application. 

The Company is also involved in the following litigation:

Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. and K. Hovnanian Venture I, L.L.C. have been named as defendants in a class action suit. The action was filed by Mike D’Andrea and Tracy D’Andrea, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Gloucester County. The action was initially filed on May 8, 2006 alleging that the HVAC systems installed in certain of the Company’s homes are in violation of applicable New Jersey building codes and are a potential safety issue. On December 14, 2011, the Superior Court granted class certification; the potential class is 1,065 homes. We filed a request to take an interlocutory appeal regarding the class certification decision. The Appellate Division denied the request, and we filed a request for interlocutory review by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which remanded the case back to the Appellate Division for a review on the merits of the appeal on May 8, 2012. The Appellate Division, on remand, heard oral arguments on December 4, 2012 reviewing the Superior Court’s original finding of class certification. On June 18, 2013, the Appellate Division affirmed class certification. On July 3, 2013, the Company appealed the June 2013 Appellate Division’s decision to the New Jersey Supreme Court and we are awaiting their decision. The plaintiff seeks unspecified damages as well as treble damages pursuant to the NJ Consumer Fraud Act. The Company believes there is insurance coverage available to it for this action. While we have determined that a loss related to this case is not probable, it is not possible to estimate a loss or range of loss related to this matter at this time given the class certification appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court. On December 19, 2011, certain subsidiaries of the Company filed a separate action seeking indemnification against the various manufacturers and subcontractors implicated by the class action.

8.  Cash represents cash deposited in checking accounts. Cash equivalents includes certificates of deposit, Treasury Bills and government money market funds with maturities of 90 days or less when purchased. Our cash balances are held at a few financial institutions and may, at times, exceed insurable amounts. We believe we help to mitigate this risk by depositing our cash in major financial institutions.  

Restricted cash and cash equivalents on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, totaled to $24.0 million and $64.2 million as of July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, respectively, which includes cash collateralizing our letter of credit agreements and facilities and is discussed in Note 10. Also included in this balance are homebuilding and financial services customers’ deposits of $5.9 million and $12.9 million at July 31, 2013, respectively, and $4.8 million and $22.5 million as of October 31, 2012, respectively, which are restricted from use by us. In addition, we previously collateralized our surety bonds with cash, but as of April 30, 2013 are no longer required to do so. The balance of this surety bond collateral was $6.2 million at October 31, 2012, which was in cash equivalents, the book value of which approximates fair value.  

Total Homebuilding Customers’ deposits are shown as a liability on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. These liabilities are significantly more than the applicable periods’ escrow cash balances because, in some states, the deposits are not restricted from use and, in other states, we are able to release the majority of this escrow cash by pledging letters of credit and surety bonds.

9.   Our mortgage banking subsidiary originates mortgage loans, primarily from the sale of our homes. Such mortgage loans are sold in the secondary mortgage market within a short period of time of origination. Mortgage loans held for sale consist primarily of single-family residential loans collateralized by the underlying property. We have elected the fair value option to record loans held for sale and therefore these loans are recorded at fair value with the changes in the value recognized in the Statements of Operations in “Revenues: Financial services.” We currently use forward sales of mortgage-backed securities, interest rate commitments from borrowers and mandatory and/or best efforts forward commitments to sell loans to investors to protect us from interest rate fluctuations. These short-term instruments, which do not require any payments to be made to the counterparty or investor in connection with the execution of the commitments, are recorded at fair value. Gains and losses on changes in the fair value are recognized in the Statements of Operations in “Revenues: Financial services.”

At July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, respectively, $60.8 million and $104.6 million of mortgages held for sale were pledged against our mortgage warehouse lines of credit (see Note 10). We may incur losses with respect to mortgages that were previously sold that are delinquent and which had underwriting defects, but only to the extent the losses are not covered by mortgage insurance or resale value of the home. The reserves for these estimated losses are included in the “Financial services – Accounts payable and other liabilities” balances on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. We received 6 and 30 repurchase or make-whole inquiries during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013, respectively. We received 15 and 49 repurchase or make-whole inquiries during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2012, respectively.

The activity in our loan origination reserves during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012 was as follows:

 10.  We have nonrecourse mortgages for a small number of our communities totaling $55.3 million at July 31, 2013, as well as our Corporate Headquarters totaling $18.0 million at July 31, 2013, which are secured by the related real property and any improvements. These loans have installment obligations with annual principal maturities in the years ending October 31 of approximately: $55.5 million in 2013, $1.1 million in 2014, $1.2 million in 2015, $1.3 million in 2016, $1.4 million in 2017 and $12.8 million after 2017. The interest rates on these obligations ranged from 4.0% to 8.75% at July 31, 2013.

 In June 2013, K. Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (“K. Hovnanian”), as borrower, and we and certain of our subsidiaries, as guarantors, entered into a five-year $75 million unsecured revolving credit facility (the “Credit Facility”) with Citicorp USA, Inc., as administrative agent and issuing bank, and Citibank, N.A., as a lender. The Credit Facility is available for both letters of credit and general corporate purposes. The Credit Facility does not contain any financial maintenance covenants, but does contain certain restrictive covenants that track those contained in our indenture governing the First Lien Notes (as defined below in Note 11), which are described in Note 11. The Credit Facility also contains certain customary events of default which would permit the administrative agent at the request of the required lenders to, among other things, declare all loans then outstanding to be immediately due and payable if not cured within applicable grace periods, including the failure to make timely payments of amounts payable under the Credit Facility or other material indebtedness or the acceleration of other material indebtedness, the failure to comply with agreements and covenants or for representations or warranties to be correct in all material respects when made, specified events of bankruptcy and insolvency, and the entry of a material judgment against a loan party. Outstanding borrowings under the Credit Facility accrue interest at an annual rate equal to either, as selected by K. Hovnanian, (i) the alternate base rate plus the applicable spread determined on the date of such borrowing or (ii) an adjusted LIBOR rate plus the applicable spread determined as of the date two business days prior to the first day of the interest period for such borrowing. As of July 31, 2013, there were no borrowings and $22.8 million of letters of credit outstanding under the Credit Facility and as of such date, we believe we were in compliance with the covenants under the Credit Facility.

In addition to the Credit Facility, we have certain stand alone cash collateralized letter of credit agreements and facilities under which there were a total of $5.1 million and $29.5 million of letters of credit outstanding as of July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, respectively. These agreements and facilities require us to maintain specified amounts of cash as collateral in segregated accounts to support the letters of credit issued thereunder, which will affect the amount of cash we have available for other uses. As of July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, the amount of cash collateral in these segregated accounts was $5.2 million and $30.7 million, respectively, which is reflected in “Restricted cash and cash equivalents” on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Our wholly owned mortgage banking subsidiary, K. Hovnanian American Mortgage, LLC (“K. Hovnanian Mortgage”), originates mortgage loans primarily from the sale of our homes. Such mortgage loans and related servicing rights are sold in the secondary mortgage market within a short period of time. In certain instances, we retain the servicing rights for a small amount of loans. Our secured Master Repurchase Agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“Chase Master Repurchase Agreement”), which was amended on June 28, 2013 to extend the maturity date to June 27, 2014, is a short-term borrowing facility that provides up to $50.0 million through maturity. The loan is secured by the mortgages held for sale and is repaid when we sell the underlying mortgage loans to permanent investors. Interest is payable monthly on outstanding advances at an adjusted LIBOR rate, which was 0.18673% at July 31, 2013, subject to a floor of 1%, plus the applicable margin of 2.5%. Therefore, at July 31, 2013, the interest rate was 3.5%. As of July 31, 2013, the aggregate principal amount of all borrowings outstanding under the Chase Master Repurchase Agreement was $22.9 million.

K. Hovnanian Mortgage has another secured Master Repurchase Agreement with Customers Bank (“Customers Master Repurchase Agreement”), which was amended on May 28, 2013 to extend the maturity date to May 27, 2014, that is a short-term borrowing facility that provides up to $37.5 million through maturity. The loan is secured by the mortgages held for sale and is repaid when we sell the underlying mortgage loans to permanent investors. Interest is payable daily or as loans are sold to permanent investors on outstanding advances at the current LIBOR subject to a floor of 0.5% plus the applicable margin ranging from 3.0% to 5.5% based on the takeout investor and type of loan. As of July 31, 2013, the aggregate principal amount of all borrowings outstanding under the Customers Master Repurchase Agreement was $15.1 million.

K. Hovnanian Mortgage has a third secured Master Repurchase Agreement with Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Capital LLC (“Credit Suisse Master Repurchase Agreement”), which was amended on January 2, 2013, that is a short-term borrowing facility that provides up to $50.0 million through June 20, 2014. The loan is secured by the mortgages held for sale and is repaid when we sell the underlying mortgage loans to permanent investors. Interest is payable monthly on outstanding advances at the Credit Suisse Cost of Funds, which was 0.48% at July 31, 2013, plus the applicable margin ranging from 3.75% to 4.0% based on the takeout investor and type of loan. As of July 31, 2013, the aggregate principal amount of all borrowings outstanding under the Credit Suisse Master Repurchase Agreement was $19.5 million.

The Chase Master Repurchase Agreement, Customers Master Repurchase Agreement and Credit Suisse Master Repurchase Agreement (together, the “Master Repurchase Agreements”) require K. Hovnanian Mortgage to satisfy and maintain specified financial ratios and other financial condition tests. Because of the extremely short period of time mortgages are held by K. Hovnanian Mortgage before the mortgages are sold to investors (generally a period of a few weeks), the immateriality to us on a consolidated basis of the size of the Master Repurchase Agreements, the levels required by these financial covenants, our ability based on our immediately available resources to contribute sufficient capital to cure any default, were such conditions to occur, and our right to cure any conditions of default based on the terms of the agreement, we do not consider any of these covenants to be substantive or material. As of July 31, 2013, we believe we were in compliance with the covenants under the Master Repurchase Agreements.

11. As of July 31, 2013, we had $992.0 million of outstanding senior secured notes ($978.3 million, net of discount), comprised of $577.0 million 7.25% Senior Secured First Lien Notes due 2020 (the “First Lien Notes”), $220.0 million 9.125% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2020 (the “Second Lien Notes” and, together with the First Lien Notes, the “2020 Secured Notes”), $53.2 million 2.0% Senior Secured Notes due 2021 (the “2.0% 2021 Notes”) and $141.8 million 5.0% Senior Secured Notes due 2021 (the “5.0% 2021 Notes” and together with the 2.0% 2021 Notes, the “2021 Notes”). As of July 31, 2013, we also had $460.6 million of outstanding senior notes ($459.1 million, net of discount), comprised of $36.7 million 6.5% Senior Notes due 2014, $3.0 million 6.375% Senior Notes due 2014, $21.4 million 6.25% Senior Notes due 2015, $131.2 million 6.25% Senior Notes due 2016, $86.5 million 7.5% Senior Notes due 2016, $121.0 million 8.625% Senior Notes due 2017 and $60.8 million 11.875% Senior Notes due 2015. In addition, as of July 31, 2013, we had outstanding $20.9 million 11.0% Senior Amortizing Notes due 2017 (issued as a component of our 6.0% Exchangeable Note Units and discussed below in Note 13), $65.8 million Senior Exchangeable Notes due 2017 (issued as a component of our 6.0% Exchangeable Note Units and discussed below in Note 13) and $3.2 million 7.25% Senior Subordinated Amortizing Notes (issued as part of our 7.25% Tangible Equity Units and discussed below in Note 12). Except for K. Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (“K. Hovnanian”), the issuer of the notes, our home mortgage subsidiaries, joint ventures and subsidiaries holding interests in our joint ventures, certain of our title insurance subsidiaries and our foreign subsidiary, we and each of our subsidiaries are guarantors of the senior secured, senior, senior amortizing, senior exchangeable and senior subordinated amortizing notes outstanding at July 31, 2013 (see Note 23). In addition, the 2021 Notes are guaranteed by K. Hovnanian JV Holdings, L.L.C. and its subsidiaries except for certain joint ventures and joint venture holding companies (collectively, the “Secured Group”). Members of the Secured Group do not guarantee K. Hovnanian's other indebtedness.

 The First Lien Notes are secured by a first-priority lien and the Second Lien Notes are secured by a second-priority lien, in each case, subject to permitted liens and other exceptions, on substantially all the assets owned by Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc., K. Hovnanian and the guarantors of such notes. At July 31, 2013, the aggregate book value of the real property that constituted collateral securing the 2020 Secured Notes was approximately $549.0 million, which does not include the impact of inventory investments, home deliveries, or impairments thereafter and which may differ from the value if it were appraised. In addition, cash collateral that secured the 2020 Secured Notes was $169.3 million as of July 31, 2013, which included $5.2 million of restricted cash collateralizing certain letters of credit. Subsequent to such date, cash uses include general business operations and real estate and other investments.

 The guarantees with respect to the 2021 Notes of the Secured Group are secured, subject to permitted liens and other exceptions, by a first-priority lien on substantially all of the assets of the members of the Secured Group. As of July 31, 2013, the collateral securing the guarantees included (1) $56.3 million of cash and cash equivalents (subsequent to such date, cash uses include general business operations and real estate and other investments); (2) approximately $85.0 million aggregate book value of real property of the Secured Group, which does not include the impact of inventory investments, home deliveries, or impairments thereafter and which may differ from the value if it were appraised, and (3) equity interests in guarantors that are members of the Secured Group. Members of the Secured Group also own equity in joint ventures, either directly or indirectly through ownership of joint venture holding companies, with a book value of $46.3 million as of July 31, 2013; this equity is not pledged to secure, and is not collateral for, the 2021 Notes. Members of the Secured Group are “unrestricted subsidiaries” under K. Hovnanian's other senior notes, senior secured notes and senior subordinated amortizing notes, and thus have not guaranteed such indebtedness. 

The indentures governing our notes do not contain any financial maintenance covenants, but do contain restrictive covenants that limit, among other things, the Company’s ability and that of certain of its subsidiaries, including K. Hovnanian, to incur additional indebtedness (other than certain permitted indebtedness, refinancing indebtedness and non-recourse indebtedness), pay dividends and make distributions on common and preferred stock, repurchase subordinated indebtedness (with respect to certain of the senior secured notes), make other restricted payments, make investments, sell certain assets, incur liens, consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all assets and enter into certain transactions with affiliates. The indentures also contain events of default which would permit the holders of the notes to declare the notes to be immediately due and payable if not cured within applicable grace periods, including the failure to make timely payments on the notes or other material indebtedness, the failure to comply with agreements and covenants and specified events of bankruptcy and insolvency and, with respect to the indentures governing the senior secured notes, the failure of the documents granting security for the senior secured notes to be in full force and effect and the failure of the liens on any material portion of the collateral securing the senior secured notes to be valid and perfected. As of July 31, 2013, we believe we were in compliance with the covenants of the indentures governing our outstanding notes.

 Under the terms of the indentures, we have the right to make certain redemptions and, depending on market conditions and covenant restrictions, may do so from time to time. We also continue to evaluate our capital structure and may also continue to make debt purchases and/or exchanges for debt or equity from time to time through tender offers, open market purchases, private transactions, or otherwise seek to raise additional debt or equity capital, depending on market conditions and covenant restrictions.

 If our consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio, as defined in the indentures governing our senior secured and senior notes (other than the Senior Exchangeable Notes discussed in Note 13 below), is less than 2.0 to 1.0, we are restricted from making certain payments, including dividends, and from incurring indebtedness other than certain permitted indebtedness, refinancing indebtedness, and non-recourse indebtedness. As a result of this restriction, we are currently restricted from paying dividends, which are not cumulative, on our 7.625% Series A Preferred Stock. We anticipate we will continue to be restricted from paying dividends for the foreseeable future. Our inability to pay dividends is in accordance with covenant restrictions and will not result in a default under our bond indentures or otherwise affect compliance with any of the covenants contained in the bond indentures.

During the three months ended July 31, 2012, we repurchased for cash in the open market $2.0 million principal amount of our 11.875% Senior Notes due 2015. During the nine months ended July 31, 2012, we repurchased for cash in the open market and privately negotiated transactions $21.0 million principal amount of our 6.25% Senior Notes due 2016, $61.1 million principal amount of our 7.5% Senior Notes due 2016, $37.4 million principal amount of our 8.625% Senior Notes due 2017 and $2.0 million principal amount of our 11.875% Senior Notes due 2015. The aggregate purchase price for these repurchases was $1.5 million and $72.2 million, respectively, for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2012, plus accrued and unpaid interest. These repurchases resulted in a gain on extinguishment of debt of $0.4 million and $48.4 million, respectively, for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2012, net of the write-off of unamortized discounts and fees. The gain is included in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations as “Gain on extinguishment of debt.” Certain of these repurchases were funded with the proceeds from our April 11, 2012 issuance of 25,000,000 shares of our Class A Common Stock (see Note 16).

In addition, during the three months ended July 31, 2012, we exchanged pursuant to agreements with bondholders, $7.8 million principal amount of our 6.25% Senior Notes due 2016, $4.0 million principal amount of our 7.5% Senior Notes due 2016 and $9.2 million principal amount of our 8.625% Senior Notes due 2017, for shares of our Class A Common Stock, as discussed in Note 16. During the nine months ended July 31, 2012, we exchanged pursuant to agreements with bondholders $7.8 million principal amount of our 6.25% Senior Notes due 2016, $4.0 million principal amount of our 7.5% Senior Notes due 2016 and $18.3 million of our outstanding 8.625% Senior Notes due 2017 for shares of our Class A Common Stock, as discussed in Note 16. These transactions resulted in a gain on extinguishment of debt of $5.8 million and $9.3 million, respectively, for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2012. The gain is included in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations as “Gain on extinguishment of debt”.

 12. On February 9, 2011, we issued an aggregate of 3,000,000 7.25% Tangible Equity Units (the “TEUs”), and on February 14, 2011, we issued an additional 450,000 TEUs pursuant to the over-allotment option granted to the underwriters. Each TEU initially consists of (i) a prepaid stock purchase contract (each a “Purchase Contract”) and (ii) a senior subordinated amortizing note due February 15, 2014 (each, a “Senior Subordinated Amortizing Note”). As of July 31, 2013, we had an aggregate principal amount of $3.2 million Senior Subordinated Amortizing Notes outstanding. On each February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15, K. Hovnanian will pay holders of the Senior Subordinated Amortizing Notes equal quarterly cash installments of $0.453125 per Senior Subordinated Amortizing Note, which cash payments in the aggregate will be equivalent to 7.25% per year with respect to each $25 stated amount of TEUs. Each installment constitutes a payment of interest (at a rate of 12.072% per annum) and a partial repayment of principal on the Senior Subordinated Amortizing Note, allocated as set forth in the amortization schedule provided in the indenture under which the Amortizing Notes were issued. The Senior Subordinated Amortizing Notes have a scheduled final installment payment date of February 15, 2014. If we elect to settle the Purchase Contracts early, holders of the Senior Subordinated Amortizing Notes will have the right to require K. Hovnanian to repurchase such holders’ Senior Subordinated Amortizing Notes, except in certain circumstances as described in the indenture governing Senior Subordinated Amortizing Notes.

Unless settled earlier, on February 15, 2014 (subject to postponement under certain circumstances), each Purchase Contract will automatically settle and we will deliver a number of shares of Class A Common Stock based on the applicable market value, as defined in the purchase contract agreement, which will be between 4.7655 shares and 5.8140 shares per Purchase Contract (subject to adjustment). Each TEU may be separated into its constituent Purchase Contract and Senior Subordinated Amortizing Note after the initial issuance date of the TEUs, and the separate components may be combined to create a TEU. The Senior Subordinated Amortizing Note component of the TEUs is recorded as debt, and the Purchase Contract component of the TEUs is recorded in equity as additional paid in capital. We have recorded $68.1 million, the initial fair value of the Purchase Contracts, as additional paid in capital. As of July 31, 2013, 2.2 million Purchase Contracts had been converted into 10.4 million shares of our Class A Common Stock. There were no Purchase Contracts converted into common stock during the three months ended July 31, 2013 and 0.6 million Purchase Contracts converted into 2.7 million shares of our Class A Common Stock during the nine months ended July 31, 2013.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2012, we purchased pursuant to agreements with bondholders $3.1 million aggregate principal amount of our Senior Subordinated Amortizing Notes in exchange for Class A Common Stock, as discussed in Note 16. These transactions resulted in a gain on extinguishment of debt of $0.2 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2012. The gain is included in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations as “Gain on extinguishment of debt.”

13. On October 2, 2012, the Company and K. Hovnanian issued $100,000,000 aggregate stated amount of 6.0% Exchangeable Note Units (the “Units”) (equivalent to 100,000 Units). Each $1,000 stated amount of Units initially consists of (1) a zero coupon senior exchangeable note due December 1, 2017 (a “Senior Exchangeable Note”) issued by K. Hovnanian, which bears no cash interest and has an initial principal amount of $768.51 per Exchangeable Note, and that will accrete to $1,000 at maturity and (2) a senior amortizing note due December 1, 2017 (the “Senior Amortizing Note”) issued by K. Hovnanian, which has an initial principal amount of $231.49 per Senior Amortizing Note, bears interest at a rate of 11.0% per annum, and has a final installment payment date of December 1, 2017. Each Unit may be separated into its constituent Senior Exchangeable Note and Senior Amortizing Note after the initial issuance date of the Units, and the separate components may be combined to create a Unit.

Each Senior Exchangeable Note had an initial principal amount of $768.51 (which will accrete to $1,000 over the term of the Senior Exchangeable Note at an annual rate of 5.17% from the date of issuance, calculated on a semi-annual bond equivalent yield basis). Holders may exchange their Senior Exchangeable Notes at their option at any time prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the business day immediately preceding December 1, 2017. Each Senior Exchangeable Note will be exchangeable for shares of Class A Common Stock at an initial exchange rate of 185.5288 shares of Class A Common Stock per Senior Exchangeable Note (equivalent to an initial exchange price, based on $1,000 principal amount at maturity, of approximately $5.39 per share of Class A Common Stock). The exchange rate will be subject to adjustment in certain events. Following certain corporate events that occur prior to the maturity date, the Company will increase the applicable exchange rate for any holder who elects to exchange its Senior Exchangeable Notes in connection with such corporate event.  In addition, holders of Senior Exchangeable Notes will also have the right to require K. Hovnanian to repurchase such holders’ Senior Exchangeable Notes upon the occurrence of certain of these corporate events.

On each June 1 and December 1 (each, an “installment payment date”), K. Hovnanian will pay holders of Senior Amortizing Notes equal semi-annual cash installments of $30.00 per Senior Amortizing Note (except for the June 1, 2013 installment payment, which was $39.83 per Senior Amortizing Note), which cash payment in the aggregate will be equivalent to 6.0% per year with respect to each $1,000 stated amount of Units. Each installment will constitute a payment of interest (at a rate of 11.0% per annum) and a partial repayment of principal on the Senior Amortizing Note. Following certain corporate events that occur prior to the maturity date, holders of the Senior Amortizing Notes will have the right to require K. Hovnanian to repurchase such holders’ Senior Amortizing Notes. As of July 31, 2013, 18,305 Senior Exchangeable Notes have been converted into 3.4 million shares of our Class A Common Stock, all of which were converted during the first quarter of fiscal 2013. There were no Senior Exchangeable Notes converted to common stock during the three months ended July 31, 2013.

14. Basic earnings per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) (the “numerator”) by the weighted-average number of common shares, adjusted for non-vested shares of restricted stock (the “denominator”) for the period.  The basic weighted-average number of shares for the three months ended July 31, 2013 includes 6.1 million shares related to Purchase Contracts (issued as part of our 7.25% Tangible Equity Units) which are issuable in the future with no additional cash required to be paid by the holders thereof. This number of shares represents the minimum number of shares that will, under all circumstances, be issuable upon settlement of the Purchase Contracts. As discussed previously in Note 12, the actual number of shares of Class A Common stock we may issue upon settlement of the Purchase Contracts will be between 4.7655 shares (which is the minimum settlement rate) and 5.8140 shares (which is the maximum settlement rate) per Purchase Contract (in each case, subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments) based on the applicable market value, as defined in the purchase contract agreement governing the Purchase Contracts, of our Class A Common Stock. Computing diluted earnings per share is similar to computing basic earnings per share, except that the denominator is increased to include the dilutive effects of options and non-vested shares of restricted stock, as well as common shares that would be issuable upon exchange of our Senior Exchangeable Notes issued as part of our 6.0% Exchangeable Note Units.  Any options that have an exercise price greater than the average market price are considered to be anti-dilutive and are excluded from the diluted earnings per share calculation.  

 All outstanding nonvested shares that contain non-forfeitable rights to dividends or dividend equivalents that participate in undistributed earnings with common stock are considered participating securities and are included in computing earnings per share pursuant to the two-class method. The two class method is an earnings allocation formula that determines earnings per share for each class of common stock and participating securities according to dividends or dividend equivalents and participation rights in undistributed earnings. The Company’s restricted common stock (“nonvested shares”) are considered participating securities.

Incremental shares attributed to non-vested stock and outstanding options to purchase common stock of 1.6 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2013 were excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share because we had a net loss for the period, and any incremental shares would not be dilutive. Also, for the nine months ended July 31, 2013, 16.1 million shares of common stock issuable upon the exchange of our senior exchangeable notes were excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share because we had a net loss for the period.

In addition, shares related to out-of-the money stock options that could potentially dilute basic earnings per share in the future that were not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share were 2.2 million for both the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013 and were 4.9 million for both the three and nine months ended July 31, 2012 because to do so would have been anti-dilutive for the periods presented.

15.  On July 12, 2005, we issued 5,600 shares of 7.625% Series A Preferred Stock, with a liquidation preference of $25,000. Dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock are not cumulative and are payable at an annual rate of 7.625%. The Series A Preferred Stock is not convertible into the Company’s common stock and is redeemable in whole or in part at our option at the liquidation preference of the shares. The Series A Preferred Stock is traded as depositary shares, with each depositary share representing 1/1000th of a share of Series A Preferred Stock. The depositary shares are listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “HOVNP”. During the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, we did not make any dividend payments on the Series A Preferred Stock as a result of covenant restrictions in certain of our indentures.

 16. Each share of Class A Common Stock entitles its holder to one vote per share, and each share of Class B Common Stock generally entitles its holder to ten votes per share. The amount of any regular cash dividend payable on a share of Class A Common Stock will be an amount equal to 110% of the corresponding regular cash dividend payable on a share of Class B Common Stock. If a shareholder desires to sell shares of Class B Common Stock, such stock must be converted into shares of Class A Common Stock.

On March 12, 2013, the Company held its Annual Meeting of Shareholders at which the Company’s shareholders approved an increase in the Company’s authorized common stock from 200,000,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share (“Class A Common Stock”), to 400,000,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share, and from 30,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share (“Class B Common Stock”), to 60,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share.

On April 11, 2012, we issued 25,000,000 shares of our Class A Common Stock at a price of $2.00 per share, resulting in net proceeds of $47.3 million. The net proceeds of the issuance, along with cash on hand, were used to purchase $75.4 million principal amount of our senior notes, as discussed in Note 11.

Pursuant to agreements with bondholders, during the second quarter of fiscal 2012, we also issued an aggregate of 3,064,330 shares of our Class A Common Stock in exchange for approximately $12.2 million of our outstanding indebtedness, consisting of $9.1 million aggregate principal amount of our outstanding 8.625% Senior Notes due 2017 and approximately $3.1 million aggregate principal amount of our 12.072% senior subordinated amortizing notes (the “exchanges”). The exchanges were effected with existing bondholders, without any underwriters, and no commission or other remuneration was paid or given directly or indirectly for soliciting such exchanges. The exchanges resulted in a gain on extinguishment of debt of $3.7 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2012. The gain is included in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations as “Gain on extinguishment of debt”.

On August 4, 2008, our Board of Directors adopted a shareholder rights plan (the “Rights Plan”) designed to preserve shareholder value and the value of certain tax assets primarily associated with net operating loss carryforwards (NOL) and built-in losses under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. Our ability to use NOLs and built-in losses would be limited if there was an “ownership change” under Section 382. This would occur if shareholders owning (or deemed under Section 382 to own) 5% or more of our stock increase their collective ownership of the aggregate amount of our outstanding shares by more than 50 percentage points over a defined period of time. The Rights Plan was adopted to reduce the likelihood of an “ownership change” occurring as defined by Section 382. Under the Rights Plan, one right was distributed for each share of Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock outstanding as of the close of business on August 15, 2008. Effective August 15, 2008, if any person or group acquires 4.9% or more of the outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock without the approval of the Board of Directors, there would be a triggering event causing significant dilution in the voting power of such person or group. However, existing stockholders who owned, at the time of the Rights Plan’s adoption, 4.9% or more of the outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock will trigger a dilutive event only if they acquire additional shares. The approval of the Board of Directors’ decision to adopt the Rights Plan may be terminated by the Board at any time, prior to the Rights being triggered. The Rights Plan will continue in effect until August 15, 2018, unless it expires earlier in accordance with its terms. The approval of the Board of Directors’ decision to adopt the Rights Plan was submitted to a stockholder vote and approved at a special meeting of stockholders held on December 5, 2008. Also at the Special Meeting on December 5, 2008, our stockholders approved an amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation to restrict certain transfers of Class A Common Stock in order to preserve the tax treatment of our NOLs and built-in losses under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. Subject to certain exceptions pertaining to pre-existing 5% stockholders and Class B stockholders, the transfer restrictions in the amended Certificate of Incorporation generally restrict any direct or indirect transfer (such as transfers of our stock that result from the transfer of interests in other entities that own our stock) if the effect would be to (i) increase the direct or indirect ownership of our stock by any person (or public group) from less than 5% to 5% or more of our common stock; (ii) increase the percentage of our common stock owned directly or indirectly by a person (or public group) owning or deemed to own 5% or more of our common stock; or (iii) create a new public group. Transfers included under the transfer restrictions include sales to persons (or public groups) whose resulting percentage ownership (direct or indirect) of common stock would exceed the 5% thresholds discussed above, or to persons whose direct or indirect ownership of common stock would by attribution cause another person (or public group) to exceed such threshold.

On July 3, 2001, our Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program to purchase up to 4 million shares of Class A Common Stock. There were no shares purchased during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013. As of July 31, 2013, the maximum number of shares of Class A Common Stock that may yet be purchased under this program is 0.5 million.

17. The total income tax expense of $1.9 million recognized for the three months ended July 31, 2013 was primarily due to state tax expenses and state tax reserves for uncertain state tax positions. The total income tax benefit of $10.2 million recognized for the nine months ended July 31, 2013 was primarily due to the release of reserves for a federal tax position that was settled with the Internal Revenue Service and a favorable state tax audit settlement. The total income tax benefit of $36.5 million and $35.3 million for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2012, respectively, was primarily due to the reversal of reserves for uncertain state tax positions that have been determined to be effectively settled.  

      Deferred federal and state income tax assets primarily represent the deferred tax benefits arising from temporary differences between book and tax income which will be recognized in future years as an offset against future taxable income. If the combination of future years’ income (or loss) and the reversal of the timing differences results in a loss, such losses can be carried forward to future years. In accordance with ASC 740, we evaluate our deferred tax assets quarterly to determine if valuation allowances are required. ASC 740 requires that companies assess whether valuation allowances should be established based on the consideration of all available evidence using a “more likely than not” standard. Because of the downturn in the homebuilding industry, resulting in significant inventory and intangible impairments in prior years, we are in a three-year cumulative loss position as of July 31, 2013. According to ASC 740, a three-year cumulative loss is significant negative evidence in considering whether deferred tax assets are realizable. Our valuation allowance for deferred taxes amounted to $941.1 million and $937.9 million at July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, respectively. The valuation allowance increased during the nine months ended July 31, 2013 primarily due to additional valuation allowance recorded for the federal and state tax benefits related to the losses incurred during the period.

18.  Our operating segments are components of our business for which discrete financial information is available and reviewed regularly by the chief operating decision-maker, our Chief Executive Officer, to evaluate performance and make operating decisions.  Based on this criteria, each of our communities qualifies as an operating segment, and therefore, it is impractical to provide segment disclosures for this many segments.  As such, we have aggregated the homebuilding operating segments into six reportable segments.

 Our homebuilding operating segments are aggregated into reportable segments based primarily upon geographic proximity, similar regulatory environments, land acquisition characteristics and similar methods used to construct and sell homes.  The Company’s reportable segments consist of the following six homebuilding segments and a financial services segment:

Homebuilding:

 (1) Northeast (New Jersey and Pennsylvania)

 (2) Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C.)

 (3) Midwest (Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio)

 (4) Southeast (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina)

 (5) Southwest (Arizona and Texas)

 (6) West (California)

Financial Services

Operations of the Company’s Homebuilding segments primarily include the sale and construction of single-family attached and detached homes, attached townhomes and condominiums, urban infill and active adult homes in planned residential developments.  In addition, from time to time, operations of the homebuilding segments include sales of land.  Operations of the Company’s Financial Services segment include mortgage banking and title services provided to the homebuilding operations’ customers.  We do not retain or service mortgages that we originate but rather sell the mortgages and related servicing rights to investors.

Corporate and unallocated primarily represents operations at our headquarters in Red Bank, New Jersey.  This includes our executive offices, information services, human resources, corporate accounting, training, treasury, process redesign, internal audit, construction services, and administration of insurance, quality, and safety.  It also includes interest income and interest expense resulting from interest incurred that cannot be capitalized in inventory in the Homebuilding segments, as well as the gains or losses on extinguishment of debt from debt repurchases.

Evaluation of segment performance is based primarily on operating earnings from continuing operations before provision for income taxes (“Income (loss) before income taxes”).  Income (loss) before income taxes for the Homebuilding segments consists of revenues generated from the sales of homes and land, income (loss) from unconsolidated entities, management fees and other income, less the cost of homes and land sold, selling, general and administrative expenses, interest expense and non-controlling interest expense.  Income before income taxes for the Financial Services segment consists of revenues generated from mortgage financing, title insurance and closing services, less the cost of such services and certain selling, general and administrative expenses incurred by the Financial Services segment.

Operational results of each segment are not necessarily indicative of the results that would have occurred had the segment been an independent stand-alone entity during the periods presented.

Financial information relating to the Company’s segment operations was as follows:

19.  The Company enters into land and lot option purchase contracts to procure land or lots for the construction of homes. Under these contracts, the Company will fund a stated deposit in consideration for the right, but not the obligation, to purchase land or lots at a future point in time with predetermined terms. Under the terms of the option purchase contracts, many of the option deposits are not refundable at the Company's discretion. Under the requirements of ASC 810, certain option purchase contracts may result in the creation of a variable interest in the entity (“VIE”) that owns the land parcel under option.

In compliance with ASC 810, the Company analyzes its option purchase contracts to determine whether the corresponding land sellers are VIEs and, if so, whether the Company is the primary beneficiary. Although the Company does not have legal title to the underlying land, ASC 810 requires the Company to consolidate a VIE if the Company is determined to be the primary beneficiary. In determining whether it is the primary beneficiary, the Company considers, among other things, whether it has the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance. Such activities would include, among other things, determining or limiting the scope or purpose of the VIE, selling or transferring property owned or controlled by the VIE, or arranging financing for the VIE. The Company also considers whether it has the obligation to absorb losses of the VIE or the right to receive benefits from the VIE. As a result of its analyses, the Company determined that, as of July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, it was not the primary beneficiary of any VIEs from which it is purchasing land under option purchase contracts.

We will continue to secure land and lots using options, some of which are with VIEs. Including deposits on our unconsolidated VIEs, at July 31, 2013, we had total cash and letters of credit deposits amounting to approximately $63.1 million to purchase land and lots with a total purchase price of $907.0 million. The maximum exposure to loss with respect to our land and lot options is limited to the deposits, although some deposits are refundable at our request or refundable if certain conditions are not met.

20.  We enter into homebuilding and land development joint ventures from time to time as a means of accessing lot positions, expanding our market opportunities, establishing strategic alliances, managing our risk profile, leveraging our capital base and enhancing returns on capital.  Our homebuilding joint ventures are generally entered into with third-party investors to develop land and construct homes that are sold directly to third-party homebuyers.  Our land development joint ventures include those entered into with developers and other homebuilders as well as financial investors to develop finished lots for sale to the joint venture’s members or other third parties.

The tables set forth below summarize the combined financial information related to our unconsolidated homebuilding and land development joint ventures that are accounted for under the equity method.

As of July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, we had advances outstanding of approximately $5.6 million and $15.0 million, respectively, to these unconsolidated joint ventures, which were included in the “Accounts payable and accrued liabilities” balances in the tables above. On our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets our “Investments in and advances to unconsolidated joint ventures” amounted to $54.3 million and $61.1 million at July 31, 2013 and October 31, 2012, respectively. In some cases, our net investment in these joint ventures is less than our proportionate share of the equity reflected in the tables above because of the differences between asset impairments recorded against our joint venture investments and any impairments recorded in the applicable joint venture. Impairments of our joint venture equity investments are recorded when we deem a decline in fair value to be other than temporary while impairments recorded in the joint ventures are recorded when undiscounted cash flows of the community indicate that the carrying amount is not recoverable. During fiscal 2012 and the first nine months of fiscal 2013, we did not write down any joint venture investments based on our determination that none of the investments in our joint ventures sustained an other than temporary impairment during those periods.

“Income from unconsolidated joint ventures” is reflected as a separate line item in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and reflects our proportionate share of the income or loss of these unconsolidated homebuilding and land development joint ventures. The difference between our share of the loss or income from these unconsolidated joint ventures disclosed in the tables above compared to the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three and nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, is due to the reclassification of the intercompany portion of management fee income from certain joint ventures and the deferral of income for lots purchased by us from certain joint ventures. To compensate us for the administrative services we provide as the manager of certain joint ventures, we receive a management fee based on a percentage of the applicable joint venture’s revenues. These management fees, which totaled $3.4 million and $4.4 million, for the three months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $9.0 million and $10.4 million for the nine months ended July 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, are recorded in “Homebuilding-Selling, general and administrative” on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

In determining whether or not we must consolidate joint ventures where we are the manager of the joint venture, we assess whether the other partners have specific rights to overcome the presumption of control by us as the manager of the joint venture. In most cases, the presumption is overcome because the joint venture agreements require that both partners agree on establishing the operations and capital decisions of the partnership, including budgets in the ordinary course of business.

Typically, our unconsolidated joint ventures obtain separate project-specific mortgage financing. The amount of financing is generally targeted to be no more than 50% of the joint venture’s total assets. For our more recent joint ventures, obtaining financing has become challenging, therefore, some of our joint ventures are capitalized only with equity. Including the impact of impairments recorded by the joint ventures, the average debt to capitalization ratio of all our joint ventures is currently 28%. Any joint venture financing is on a nonrecourse basis, with guarantees from us limited only to performance and completion of development, environmental warranties and indemnification, standard indemnification for fraud, misrepresentation and other similar actions, including a voluntary bankruptcy filing. In some instances, the joint venture entity is considered a VIE under ASC 810-10 "Consolidation – Overall" due to the returns being capped to the equity holders; however, in these instances, we are not the primary beneficiary, and therefore we do not consolidate these entities.

21.  As of July 31, 2013, there were no pending accounting pronouncements applicable to the Company.

22.  ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures”, provides a framework for measuring fair value, expands disclosures about fair-value measurements and establishes a fair-value hierarchy which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value summarized as follows:

Level 1                     Fair value determined based on quoted prices in active markets for identical assets.

Level 2                     Fair value determined using significant other observable inputs.