TOL
#Sure.
I think about that nuance you mentioned about paying down the line is influenced a bit by the fact that we had a debt raise in the last week of the last fiscal year.
So our balance sheet was a bit grossed up at 10/31.
We took $300 million of that debt raise and paid down the line to essentially zero, other than the line of credit.
As we look at balance sheet management and leverage and liquidity, I think it's safe to say that with nearly $1 billion in capacity on our line, we are comfortable that we have flexibility to buy land and buy back stock, both meaningfully.
With the landholdings we have out there, I think you could expect California growth to be in the top third of our markets over the next couple of years based on the communities we see coming online.
It's definitely strategic.
Tapping the brakes I'm not sure I would agree with that definition.
We've sold really well.
Our backlogs have grown, which means it takes longer to build the houses.
We're sitting on spectacular land, so we don't want to give it away.
We don't want to still houses 12, 13, 14 months out.
We raised the price.
We don't just do that in California.
We do that in many places in good markets.
California has been a great market lately, so you are seeing more of that there.
If the backlogs were to come down, then maybe we wouldn't be as aggressive with pricing, but right now we're in a situation in California that we believe we are making the right strategic decisions to manage the business by raising the price, which may reduce the sales but we think increases the returns.
Sure, tax rate.
I think we said guidance at the end of our last fiscal year to expect 38% for FY16.
I think that still a good expectation.
As it relates to the impairments, about half of it was associated with exploring new land opportunities and incurring some cost that you write off when you choose not to go forward with those deals.
And the balance of it was actually sales of some model homes that we expected to sell a little bit less than our embedded cost in them.
Not much to talk about on impairments, right now.
The pricing, the margins, the business of New York City Living, this quarter is as we expected when we set our full-year guidance.
We're happy.
As we mentioned, there's a building in Hoboken which is really part of New York that has done really well over the last three to six months, but our buildings in Manhattan are also doing very well.
I think we found the right price.
As I mentioned earlier, we're comfortable with our pricing.
We haven't had to cut pricing, and we're happy with the business.
Stable.
We are hungry with the sharper pencil.
We still have capacity in most communities where we are delivering less houses than we have at other points in housing cycles.
Labor is tight, but it appears to be easing.
As I mentioned, we are controlling costs better, and that seems to be much better for us.
So, there is the capability in most of our communities to increase velocity.
Good morning, <UNK>.
Okay.
As you know we are not in Miami.
4% of our total contracts nationwide are to foreign buyers.
The biggest concentration is California at 15% to 20%, New York City Living at 15% and Seattle at 10%.
Those numbers have not moved in any material way in the last two to three years.
We are managing it.
We don't have issues.
It's not going up, it's not going down.
We are great at obtaining mortgages for that clientele.
We take big deposits to protect ourselves, big down payments, and it's business as usual with no issues.
Certainly in California and Seattle, these foreign buyers are occupiers of the homes.
These are suburban homes where they move their family to get an education, so the motivation is different than a speculative investor who's trying to put money in the United States.
<UNK>, I don't think it is going to motivate us to increase turns.
We're always working hard to be a more efficient builder while giving our client that luxury experience with many upgrades, and that's of course always the balancing act.
But remember, when we had many optioned lots, we had over 90,000 total lots.
So, today we are in the mid-40,000 lots, and while a greater percentage of those are owned, when you compare it to the top of the roll back in 2005 of over 90,000 lots, the number of owned lots hasn't changed that dramatically ---+ the percentage has.
We're focused always on the corner of Main and Main.
We're not buying land in B&C locations.
So if we see the right opportunity at Main and Main, like Shapell or like New York City or like what we see in Seattle and other markets, and we must buy that land, because the only way the seller works with us is if we write a check, we will step up and write that check.
I am very comfortable with the quality of the land.
As I said, we are focused more and more on optioning land, but when the right opportunity comes at the right location and we must buy it, we will.
<UNK>, on your first question, I can't comment on what others are doing, but I refer you to my last answer about owning land at the corner of Main and Main, and that appears to be paying off in our mid-Atlantic markets.
There is no new strategy except we love our land positions and our community locations and our brand, and the business is good.
Absolute increased demand.
The mid-Atlantic continues to do well in the beginning of the second quarter.
Thank you.
Hold on one second.
Back half of 2016 event.
One second.
So, on agreements for Q1, the South was flat on a per-community basis.
But the highlights or the highlight of that area, would be Dallas and the <UNK>sonville market of Florida, and it looks like Charlotte is up and Raleigh is up, but they are small markets for us.
But for where the most action is, Dallas sold 4.9 homes per community which is up from last year and the Company average, of course, is 4.3.
Does that help.
You are welcome
We still are refining that, and that will be in our 10-Q, which will be filed in the next 10 days or so.
Not with us at this time.
You are welcome.
Thanks, very much, Amy.
Thanks everyone for joining us today, and we look forward to seeing you next quarter.
