Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Organization and Basis of Presentation (Details Textual)

v2.4.1.9
Organization and Basis of Presentation (Details Textual) (USD $)
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Dec. 31, 2014
Organization and Presentation [Line Items]    
Entity operations in number of regions 3mth_EntityOperationsInNumberOfRegions  
Number of states in regions 9us-gaap_NumberOfStatesInWhichEntityOperates  
Number of communities in which homes are sold 229mth_NumberofCommunitiesinWhichHomesareSold  
Amounts in transit from title companies for home closings $ 49,600,000mth_AmountsInTransitFromTitleCompaniesForHomeClosings $ 59,200,000mth_AmountsInTransitFromTitleCompaniesForHomeClosings
Money Market Funds, at Carrying Value   200,000us-gaap_MoneyMarketFundsAtCarryingValue
Deposits on real estate under option or contract 91,922,000us-gaap_DepositAssets [1] 94,989,000us-gaap_DepositAssets
Minimum [Member]    
Organization and Presentation [Line Items]    
Base price per house for sale range 130,000mth_BasePricePerHouseForSaleRange
/ us-gaap_RangeAxis
= us-gaap_MinimumMember
 
Community life cycle range (in years) 3 years  
Maximum [Member]    
Organization and Presentation [Line Items]    
Base price per house for sale range $ 1,270,000mth_BasePricePerHouseForSaleRange
/ us-gaap_RangeAxis
= us-gaap_MaximumMember
 
Community life cycle range (in years) 5 years  
Non-Structural Items [Member] | Minimum [Member]    
Organization and Presentation [Line Items]    
Warranty period following home closings 1 year  
Non-Structural Items [Member] | Maximum [Member]    
Organization and Presentation [Line Items]    
Warranty period following home closings 2 years  
Structural [Member] | Maximum [Member]    
Organization and Presentation [Line Items]    
Warranty period following home closings 10 years  
[1] Amount is reflected in our consolidated balance sheet in the line item “Deposits on real estate under option or contract” as of March 31, 2015.