Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. RISK FACTORS
Although we have operated through a number of varying economic cycles, there are several risks that could affect our ability to conduct our business, which we discuss below. If any of these risks materialize, they could, among other things, (a) materially and adversely impact our results of operations and consolidated financial statements; and (b) cause our results to differ materially from the forward-looking and other statements we make in our SEC filings; in our news releases and other public reports and communications, including those we post on or make available through our websites or other electronic channels; or orally through our personnel and representatives. These risks, and other factors outside of our control, could also create or increase volatility in our common stock’s market price.
Consumer Demand Risks. The following could negatively affect consumer demand for our products, thereby unfavorably impacting our net orders, homes delivered, average selling prices, revenues and/or profitability:
• Soft or negative economic or housing market conditions . Adverse conditions in our served markets or nationally could be caused or worsened by factors outside of our control, including, for example, due to the imposition and/or continuation of federal, state and/or local orders for individuals to substantially restrict daily activities and for businesses to significantly curtail or cease normal operations to address COVID-19 or other disease outbreaks or civil unrest, or a federal government shutdown or failure to approve additional COVID-19-related relief or stimulus measures, and financial markets’ and businesses’ reactions thereto. Among other impacts, a severe economic contraction may also trigger a rise in home purchase cancellations.
• Reduced employment levels and job and wage growth . While employment levels have improved since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020 second quarter, these trends may weaken or reverse in 2022, particularly if there are sustained or renewed COVID-19 outbreaks. If they do, our core first-time and first move-up homebuyer segments could be particularly affected, impacting us more severely than homebuilders that target a different buyer demographic.
• Lower population growth, household formations or other unfavorable demographic changes . These may be driven by, among other things, birth rate changes, economic factors or U.S. immigration policies.
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• Diminished consumer confidence, whether generally or as to purchasing a home . Consumers may be reluctant to purchase a home compared to housing alternatives (such as renting apartments or homes, or remaining in their existing home) due to location or lifestyle preferences, affordability perceptions (particularly in markets experiencing rapid home price appreciation), employment instability or otherwise. Consumers may also decide not to search for a new home when there are significant public health risks in doing so in their area, which we saw across our served markets in the 2020 second quarter with the outbreak of COVID-19.
• Rising home selling prices . Steady demand for housing since 2013 combined with declining home inventories, in part reflecting a low supply of new homes compared to historical levels, has helped drive above-average home price appreciation across most markets for the past several years, and especially since the 2020 third quarter. If home selling prices, including our homes’ selling prices, increase at a faster rate than consumer incomes, consumers, including and perhaps particularly those in our core first-time and first move-up homebuyer segments, may not be able to afford to purchase a home, including our homes.
• Tightened availability or affordability of mortgage loans and homeowner insurance coverage . Most of our buyers need a mortgage loan to purchase their home. Their ability to obtain a mortgage loan is largely subject to prevailing interest rates, lenders’ credit standards and appraisals, and the availability of government-supported programs, such as those from the Federal Housing Administration, the Veterans Administration, Federal National Mortgage Association (also known as Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (also known as Freddie Mac). If mortgage loan interest rates increase, credit standards are tightened, appraisals for our homes are lowered or mortgage loan programs are curtailed, potential buyers of our homes may not be able to obtain necessary mortgage financing to be able to purchase a home from us.
Insurance companies are increasingly drawing back from issuing, or are measurably raising premiums for, homeowner insurance policies in areas that have experienced, or are thought to be at risk of experiencing, significant wildfires, hurricanes, flooding or other natural disasters. If potential homebuyers are unable to obtain affordable homeowner insurance coverage, they may decide not to pursue purchasing a home or may cancel a home purchase contract with us.
• Poor lender performance . We depend on third-party lenders, including our third-party partner in KBHS, to provide mortgage loans to our homebuyers, unlike homebuilders with a wholly-owned mortgage lender. These lenders may be unable or unwilling to complete, timely or at all, the loan originations they start for our homebuyers. Poorly performing lenders can significantly delay home closings, disrupting our production schedules and delivery forecasts, or cause home purchase contract cancellations. If KBHS performs poorly and our customers use another lender, the income from and value of our KBHS equity interest would decline.
On March 1, 2021, Guaranteed Rate, Inc. (“Guaranteed Rate”) acquired the parent company of Stearns Ventures, LLC (“Stearns”), our KBHS partner prior to that date. In October 2021, Stearns was renamed as GR Alliance Ventures, LLC (“GR Alliance”). While we are not aware of any significant changes with respect to GR Alliance (f/k/a Stearns) or its operations as a result of the transaction being completed, we can offer no assurance that KBHS’ operations will continue in their current form or that KBHS’ performance will not be negatively affected by post-acquisition integration activities and/or related management or other personnel changes, which, in turn, could result in one or more of the impacts described in the foregoing paragraph.
• Adverse tax law changes . If federal or state laws are changed to eliminate or reduce the income tax benefits associated with homeownership, such as personal tax deductions for mortgage loan interest costs and real estate taxes, the after-tax cost of homeownership could measurably increase and diminish consumer interest in buying a home, as could increases in personal income tax rates, which the current presidential administration may consider.
• Competition . We face significant competition for customers from other homebuilders, sellers of resale homes and other housing industry participants, including rental-housing operators. This competitive environment may, among other things, cause us to reduce our home selling prices or offer incentives to attract or retain buyers.
• Seasonality . As discussed above under Item 1 – Business in this report, we historically have experienced fluctuations in our quarterly operating results with measurably more homes delivered and revenues generated in our third and fourth fiscal quarters. However, as was the case in 2021 and 2020, this pattern may not continue in the future at all or to the same degree as in the past.
• Inflation . We and the homebuilding industry in general may be adversely affected during periods of high inflation, primarily because of higher land and construction costs, as we experienced throughout 2021, and with increased intensity. Inflation may also raise our financing costs. In addition, higher mortgage loan interest rates can affect the affordability of mortgage financing to prospective homebuyers. While we attempt to pass on increases in our costs
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through increased sales prices, market forces may limit our ability to do so. If we are unable to raise sales prices enough to compensate for higher costs, or if mortgage loan interest rates increase significantly, our revenues, housing gross profit margin and net income could be adversely affected.
Supply Risks . The following could negatively affect our ability to increase our owned and controlled lot inventory, community count, operational scale and market share, and to grow our business, if at all:
• Lack of available land . Securing sufficient developable land that meets our investment return standards is critical for us to meet our strategic goals and profitably expand our business’ scale. Land availability depends on several factors, including geographical/topographical/governmental constraints, sellers’ business relationships and reputation within the residential real estate community, and competition from other parties, some of which can bid more for land. We expect to continue to face fierce competition for desirable land in our served markets in 2022, pressuring its availability and increasing its cost.
• Supply chain and construction services shortages . Our business relies upon a network of suppliers and trade partners to source materials and services to build homes. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, our industry and the U.S. economy have continued to experience labor shortages, supply chain constraints, and rising and volatile raw material prices and availability, particularly related to building materials and appliances, such as with paint, HVAC systems and water heaters, as well as delays with respect to state and municipal construction permitting, inspections and utilities. Such constraints, cost pressures and delays can increase our costs, reduce our revenues in particular reporting periods, lead to higher order cancellations or result in lower customer satisfaction. In an effort to manage our cycle times and deliver homes to our homebuyers, we, among other things, expanded our supplier base; worked with our national suppliers to get products and materials, or available temporary or permanent substitutes, delivered; paced lot releases to align with our production capacity; and balanced pace, price and construction starts to enhance margins. However, we experienced measurable delays in delivering homes in 2021 because of the above-described issues, and believe these challenging conditions will generally persist into 2022 and potentially throughout the year, as discussed below under “Outlook.” We may also face increased future home warranty and construction defect claims associated with replacing or servicing substitute products or materials used in some instances to address supply shortages in certain served markets or communities.
• Insufficient financial resources . Our business needs considerable cash to, among other things, acquire and develop land, build homes and provide customer service. We expect to meet our needs with existing cash, future operational cash flow, our unsecured revolving credit facility with various banks (“Credit Facility”) and unsecured letter of credit facility with certain financial institutions (“LOC Facility”), or outside sources, including loans that are specifically obtained for, or secured by, particular communities or other inventory assets, which we refer to as project financing. However, outside financing may be unavailable, costly and/or considerably dilute stockholders. For instance:
◦ Tight capital or financial market conditions may hinder our ability to obtain external financing, or use or expand our Credit Facility and LOC Facility, on favorable terms or at all. Also, if a rating agency downgrades our credit rating or outlook, external financing may be difficult and costly for us to obtain.
◦ Noncompliance with our Credit Facility and senior notes’ covenants may restrict our ability to borrow; accelerate repayment of our debt, which may not be feasible for us; or cause our lenders to impose significant fees or cease lending to us.
◦ As described in Note 15 – Notes Payable in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this report, if a change of control or fundamental change occurs before our senior notes mature, we may need to offer to purchase certain of them. This may require us to refinance or restructure our debt, which we may be unable to do at all or on favorable terms.
◦ Our debt and debt-to-capital levels could require us to dedicate substantial cash flow to debt service; inhibit our ability to respond to business changes or adjust our debt maturity schedule; curb execution on our current strategies; and/or make us more vulnerable in a downturn than our less-leveraged competitors. Our next senior note maturity is our $350.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 7.50% senior notes due September 15, 2022 (“7.50% Senior Notes due 2022”).
• Decreased land inventory value . Our land inventory’s value depends on market conditions, including our estimates of applicable future demand and revenue generation. If conditions deteriorate during the typically significant amount of time between our acquiring ownership/control of land and delivering homes on that land; if we cannot sell land held for sale at its estimated fair value; or if we make strategic changes, we may need to record inventory-related charges. We may also record charges if we decide to sell land at a loss or activate or sell land held for future development.
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In addition, our business could be negatively affected if our net orders, homes delivered or backlog-to-homes delivered conversion rate fall; if often-volatile building materials prices or construction services costs increase, which has been the trend over the past few years and was particularly the case with lumber in 2021 and 2020; or if our community openings are delayed due to, among other things, prolonged development from supply chain disruptions, construction services shortages or otherwise, our strategic adjustments, or protracted government approvals or utility service activations from staff or resource cuts or reallocations for public safety priorities ( e.g ., earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, hurricanes or other natural disasters).
• Trade disputes and defective materials . The federal government has imposed, and may in the future impose, new or increased import tariffs, and other countries have implemented retaliatory measures, raising the cost and reducing the supply of several home construction items. In addition, shortages or rising prices of building materials may ensue from manufacturing defects, resulting in recalls of materials. If such disputes continue or recalls occur, our costs and supply chain disruptions could increase further.
• Poor contractor availability and performance . Independent contractors perform essentially all of our land development and home construction work. Though we schedule and oversee such activities at our community sites, we have no control over our independent contractors’ availability or work methods. If qualified contractors are not available (due to general shortages in a tight labor market, as was the case throughout 2021 and is anticipated into 2022, competition from other builders or otherwise), or do not timely perform, we may incur production delays and other inefficiencies, or higher costs for substitute services. Also, if our trade partners’ work or materials quality does not meet our standards, we could face more home warranty and construction defect claims, and they or their insurers may not be able to cover the associated repair costs.
• Potential expansion of employment-related obligations . Governmental agencies or others might assert that we should be subjected to California law and associated regulations that, in certain circumstances, impose responsibility upon direct contractors for certain wages and benefits that subcontractors of the direct contractor have failed to pay to their employees. It might also be alleged that California law and regulations impose other liabilities upon us with respect to the employees of our trade partners. Further efforts in California or elsewhere to impose such external labor-related obligations on us could create substantial exposure for us in situations beyond our control.
Strategy Risks . Our strategies, and any related initiatives or actions, and any changes thereto, may not be successful in achieving our goals or generate any growth, earnings or returns, particularly in a highly volatile business environment precipitated by a health or economic crisis, akin to the outbreak of COVID-19 or the extended supply chain disruptions and construction services shortages that marked 2021, or by social instability or distress. We may not achieve positive operational or financial results, or results equal to or better than we did in any prior period or in comparison to other homebuilders. We may also incur higher costs, or experience due to sourcing or supply chain disruptions extended times, to build our homes than other homebuilders due to our commitment to sustainability, as discussed above under “Environmental, Social and Governance.” Among other strategic risks, our business is presently concentrated in California, Florida, Nevada and Texas. Poor conditions in any of those markets could have a measurable negative impact on our results, and the impact could be larger for us than for other less-concentrated homebuilders. In addition, we may not be successful in generating positive results from our recent expansion into the Boise, Idaho market, our re-entry into the Charlotte, North Carolina market, or if we choose to enter into any other new markets, based on our relative inexperience with the local homebuilding and economic environment and the need to make a significant investment to achieve effective scale and profitable returns, which we may not be able to accomplish.
Adverse conditions in California would have particular significance to our business. We generate the highest proportion of our revenues from and make significant inventory investments in our California operations. However, we may be constrained or delayed in entitling land and selling and delivering homes in California, and incur higher development or construction costs, from water conservation or wildfire protection measures (including precautionary and event-induced electricity blackouts, temporary or extended local or regional evacuations, development moratoriums in high-risk areas, and community resiliency design requirements) that are intended to address severe drought and climatic conditions that have arisen in recent years. In addition, as large-scale wildfires and flooding due to such conditions in California, as well as hurricanes, heavy rains and other climate change-driven natural disasters in other of our served markets, become more frequent and intense, as discussed below under “Climate Risk,” we may experience greater disruption to our land development and homebuilding activities, delaying orders and home deliveries, among other impacts.
Also, California’s highly regulated and litigious business environment has made the state an increasingly challenging and uncertain place for us to operate. This includes implementing regulations under the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32) intended to lower GHG emissions. For instance, we have and will continue to incur higher construction costs because of a state law requirement that effectively requires that all new homes permitted to build in 2020 and beyond have solar
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power systems, and we may be unable to offset (through customer leases) or cover such costs through selling price increases due to competition and consumer affordability concerns. Also, while not yet a statewide mandate, certain local jurisdictions have passed ordinances effectively eliminating natural gas in new homes by 2023 or 2024 as part of a continuing trend in California to mandate electrification of all new homes. In addition, California and certain of its local governments are considering or have implemented restrictions on or disincentives with respect to the creation or size of new suburban and exurban residential communities generally in favor of higher-density, urban developments that can be attractive to some buyers, but in many cases are on smaller parcels with higher building costs and more complicated entitlement requirements and may be subject to affordable housing mandates, prevailing wage requirements, greater local opposition and/or additional site remediation work. Depending on their scope, these efforts could significantly increase our land acquisition and development costs and, along with increasing competition from other homebuilders and investors for available developable land, limit our California operations’ growth, while making new homes less affordable to potential buyers in the state. Partially offsetting these trends, California’s governor and certain legislators have taken positions to promote new housing construction, including the adoption of SB 8, which extends into 2030 the provisions of the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (SB 330) intended to expedite the approval process for housing development in order to address the housing shortage in California.
Climate Risk . GHG emissions are driving global climate change that is expected to have various impacts on our operations, ranging from more frequent extreme weather events to extensive governmental policy developments and shifts in consumer preferences, which have the potential individually or collectively to significantly disrupt our business as well as negatively affect our suppliers, independent contractors and customers. Experiencing or addressing the various physical, regulatory and adaptation/transition risks from climate change may significantly reduce our revenues and profitability, or cause us to generate losses. For instance, incorporating greater resource efficiency into our home designs, whether to comply with upgraded building codes or recommended practices given a region’s particular exposure to climate conditions, or undertaken to satisfy demand from increasingly environmentally conscious customers or to meet our own sustainability goals, often raises our costs to construct homes. In evaluating whether to implement voluntary improvements, we also consider that choosing not to enhance our homes’ resource efficiency can make them less attractive to municipalities, and increase the vulnerability of residents in our communities to rising energy and water expenses and use restrictions. We weigh the impact of the costs associated with offering more resource-efficient products against our priorities of generating higher returns and delivering homes that are affordable to our core first-time and first move-up buyers. In balancing these objectives, we may determine we need to absorb most or all the additional operating costs that come with making our homes more efficient. While our years of experience in sustainable homebuilding, as discussed above under “Environmental Practices,” and ability to leverage economies of scale may give us an advantage over other homebuilders in managing these absorbed costs, they may be substantial for us.
Beyond the commercial pressures implicated by climate change concerns, our operations in any of our served markets may face its potential adverse physical effects. For example, California, our largest market, has historically experienced, and is projected to continue to experience, climate-related events at an increasing frequency including drought, water scarcity, heat waves, wildfires and resultant air quality impacts and power shutoffs associated with wildfire prevention. In addition, severe cold weather in Texas in early 2021 and large hurricanes later in the year contributed to the supply chain disruptions that have significantly affected our business, as discussed above under “Strategy Risks.” While we have safety protocols in place for our construction sites and take steps to safeguard our administrative functions, including our IT resources, as described below under “Information Technology and Information Security Risks,” we can provide no assurance that we or our suppliers or trade partners can successfully operate in areas experiencing a significant weather event or natural disaster, and we or they may be more impacted and take longer, and with higher costs, to resume operations in an affected location than other homebuilders or businesses, depending on the nature of the event or other circumstances.
As discussed above under “Strategy Risks,” and below under “Legal and Compliance Risks,” international, federal, state and local authorities and legislative bodies have issued, implemented or proposed regulations, penalties, standards or guidance intended to restrict, moderate or promote activities consistent with resource conservation, GHG emission reduction, environmental protection or other climate-related objectives. Compliance with those directed at or otherwise affecting our business or our suppliers’ (or their suppliers’) operations, products or services, could increase our costs, such as with California’s requirement that effectively all new homes built in 2020 and beyond have solar power systems; delay or complicate home construction, for example, due to a need to reformulate or redesign building materials or components, or source updated or upgraded items or equipment, or specially trained or certified independent contractors, in limited or restricted supply, which has been a challenge for us in certain cases in 2021, such as with paint, HVAC systems and water heaters that have been out of stock and delayed home construction or required us to install or use temporary or permanent substitutes due to the supply chain disruptions we have experienced; or diminish consumer interest in homes mandated to include or omit certain features, amenities or appliances, particularly if home prices increase as a result.
Adapting to or transitioning from the use of certain items or methods in home construction, or adjusting the products we offer to our buyers, whether due to climate-related governmental rules affecting home construction or our supply chain, market dynamics or consumer preferences, can negatively affect our costs and profitability, production operations in affected markets
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and customer satisfaction during the transition period, which could be prolonged. For instance, in certain local markets in California where natural gas use is banned in new homes, we have faced some disruptions in reorienting our purchase order, independent contractor engagement, design studio and home construction processes to accommodate the restriction and, longer term, have implemented certain architectural design changes for all-electric homes. To the extent other jurisdictions adopt such bans, we will face similar issues.
Though practically available technology and resources allow us only to make certain estimates, and not definitive measurements, of the effectiveness and overall impact of our longstanding and broad-based environmental sustainability initiatives described above under “Environmental Practices,” we feel these initiatives and their evolution over time represent how we can best address climate change risks in the context of our business, industry and the wider, and rapidly changing, economic, social and political environment. However, climate change is an intrinsically complex global phenomenon with inherent residual risks across its physical, regulatory and adaptation/transition dimensions that cannot be mitigated given their wide-ranging, (sometimes unexpectedly) interdependent and largely unpredictable potential scope, nature, timing or duration. Therefore, we cannot provide any assurance that we have or can successfully prepare for, or are or will be able to reduce or manage, any of them to the extent they may arise. In addition, we may experience substantial negative impacts to our business if an unexpectedly severe weather event or natural disaster damages our operations or those of our suppliers or independent contractors in our primary markets, such as in California, Florida, Nevada and Texas, or from the unintended consequences of regulatory changes that directly or indirectly impose substantial restrictions on our activities or adaptation requirements.
Warranty Risks . Our homebuilding business is subject to warranty and construction defect claims. Though we have insurance coverage to partially reduce our exposure, it is limited and costly, in part due to a shrinking provider market, and we have high self-insured retentions that are expected to increase. We self-insure some of our risk through a wholly-owned insurance subsidiary.
Due to our dependence on the performance of independent suppliers and contractors to provide products and materials and carry out our homebuilding activities, and the associated risks described above under “Supply chain and construction services shortages” and “Poor contractor availability and performance,” as well as inherent uncertainties, including obtaining recoveries from responsible parties and/or their or our insurers, our recorded warranty and other liabilities may be inadequate to address future claims, which, among other things, could require us to record charges to increase such liabilities. We may also record charges to reflect our then-current claims experience, including the actual costs incurred. Home warranty and other construction defect issues may also generate negative publicity, including on social media and the Internet, that detracts from our reputation and efforts to sell homes.
Deferred Tax Asset Recovery and Tax Position Risks . Our realization of our deferred tax assets depends on our generating sufficient future taxable income, which may not occur. Also, our deferred tax assets’ value can increase or decrease with: (a) changes in the federal corporate income tax rate; (b) our undergoing a “change of ownership” under federal tax rules, which would significantly reduce and possibly eliminate their value; and (c) adjustments in statutory or taxing authority treatment of such assets. We have filed our tax returns based on certain positions we believe are appropriate, and we may owe additional taxes if taxing authorities disagree with those positions.
Human Capital Risks . Our directors, officers and employees are important resources. If we cannot attract, retain and develop talent at reasonable pay and benefits levels or, alternatively, if we need to implement personnel or compensation reductions, our performance, profitability and ability to achieve our strategic goals could be significantly impaired. In addition, in many of our served markets, we need to have personnel with certain professional licenses, including building contractor and real estate brokerage licenses. Our home selling and construction activities may be severely disrupted or delayed if we do not have sufficient licensed individuals in our workforce.
Information Technology and Information Security Risks . We use IT resources to carry out important operational activities and maintain our business records. Third parties maintain many of our IT resources, including disaster recovery and business continuity services intended to safeguard our access to and use of our IT resources during a general or local network outage, under agreements with evolving security and service level standards.
Our systems have faced a variety of phishing, denial-of-service and other attacks. We have administrative, physical and multi-layered technical controls and processes in place to address and mitigate cybersecurity risks and help protect our IT resources, including employee education and training, as well as third-party assessments. Our technical defense layers are designed to provide multiple, redundant measures to protect against exploitation of a vulnerability that may arise or if a security control fails. We rely on artificial intelligence, machine learning computer network monitoring and antivirus resources, firewall and intrusion detection systems, vendor cloud service defenses, Internet address and content filtering monitoring software that secures against known malicious websites and potential data exfiltration, and a variety of cyber intelligence threat monitoring sources that provide ongoing updates, all provided from third parties that we believe are capable of performing the protective service for which we have engaged them. We also depend on our service providers, GR Alliance and other mortgage lenders
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with whom we share some personal identifying and confidential information to secure our information and the homebuyer information they collect from us. Our IT security costs, including cybersecurity insurance, are significant and will likely rise in tandem with the sophistication and frequency of system attacks.
However, our, GR Alliance’s and our service providers’ measures may be inadequate and possibly have operational or security vulnerabilities that could go undetected for some period of time. If our IT resources are compromised by an intentional attack, natural or man-made disaster, electricity blackout, IT failure or systems misconfiguration, service provider error, mismanaged user access protocols, personnel action, or otherwise, we may be severely limited in conducting our business and achieving our strategic goals for an extended period, experience internal control failures or lose access to operational assets or funds. A substantial disruption, or security breach suffered by GR Alliance/KBHS or a service provider, could damage our reputation and result in the loss of customers or revenues, in sensitive personal information being publicly disclosed or misused and/or legal proceedings against us. We may incur significant expenses to resolve such issues.
We have invested significant resources over the past few years to develop and implement a new custom enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system designed to improve the efficiency of our internal operational and administrative activities. There are inherent risks in undertaking this type of broad-based IT project and we have experienced complications and delays during the implementation process. We expect these will continue as we progress and expand the scope of the system in 2022 and that we will incur appreciable additional costs in doing so. In addition, the testing and use of the new system during this rollout could increase our exposure to the security risks and consequences discussed in the foregoing paragraph.
Legal and Compliance Risks . As discussed above under Item 1 – Business in this report, our operations are subject to myriad legal and regulatory requirements, which can delay our operational activities, raise our costs and/or prohibit or restrict homebuilding in some areas. For example, certain of our Texas operations are subject to rules mandating enhanced flood management practices stemming from recent large hurricanes and rainstorms. These requirements often provide broad discretion to government authorities, and they could be interpreted or revised in ways unfavorable to us. The costs to comply, or associated with any noncompliance, are, or can be, significant and variable from period to period. With respect to environmental laws, in addition to the risks and potential operational costs discussed above, we have been, and we may in the future be, involved in federal, state and local air and water quality agency investigations or proceedings for potential noncompliance with their rules, including rules governing discharges of materials into the air and waterways; stormwater discharges from community sites; and wetlands and listed species habitat protection. We could incur penalties and/or be restricted from developing or building at certain community locations during or as a result of such agencies’ investigations or findings.
Additionally, we are involved in legal, arbitral or regulatory proceedings or investigations incidental to our business, the outcome or settlement of which could result in material claims, losses, monetary damage awards, penalties, or other direct or indirect payments recorded against our earnings, or injunctions, consent decrees or other voluntary or involuntary restrictions or adjustments to our business operations or practices. Any adverse results could be beyond our expectations, insurance coverages and/or accruals at particular points in time. Unfavorable outcomes, as well as unfavorable investor, analyst or news reports related to our industry, company, personnel or operations, may also generate negative publicity, including on social media and the Internet, damaging our reputation and resulting in the loss of customers or revenues.
To reduce the risks and expected significant costs of defending intra-corporate proceedings in multiple venues and to help ensure that such matters are considered within a well-established body of law, our By-laws provide that, subject to certain exceptions, Delaware state courts are the exclusive forum for specified internal corporate affairs actions. This may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in their favored forum. At the same time, if a court were to allow for an alternative forum, or we waive the provision’s application, for a particular matter, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving an otherwise relevant action in another jurisdiction(s).
The European Union and state governments, notably California and Nevada, have enacted or enhanced data privacy regulations, and other governments are considering establishing similar or stronger protections. These regulations impose certain obligations for securing, and potentially removing, specified personal information in our systems, and for apprising individuals of the information we have collected about them. We have incurred costs in an effort to comply with these data privacy risks and requirements, and our costs may increase significantly as risks become increasingly complex or if new or changing requirements are enacted, and based on how individuals exercise their rights. For example, in November 2020, California voters approved Proposition 24 (Consumer Personal Information Law and Agency Initiative), which will increase data privacy requirements for our business when its provisions take effect in 2023. Despite our efforts, any noncompliance could result in our incurring substantial penalties and reputational damage.
KBHS’ operations are heavily regulated. If GR Alliance, which oversees KBHS’ operations, or KBHS is found to have violated regulations, or mortgage investors demand KBHS repurchase mortgage loans it has sold to them, or cover their losses,
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for claimed contract breaches, KBHS could face significant liabilities, which, if they exceed its reserves, could result in our recognizing losses on our KBHS equity interest.
Our financial results may be materially affected by the adoption of new or amended financial accounting standards, and regulatory or outside auditor guidance or interpretations. In addition, to the extent we expand our disclosures on our sustainability initiatives in line with certain private reporting frameworks and investor requests, our failure to report accurately or achieve progress on our metrics on a timely basis, or at all, could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial performance and growth.
Pandemic Risks . An epidemic, pandemic or similar serious public health issue, and the measures undertaken by governmental authorities to address it, could significantly disrupt or prevent us from operating our business in the ordinary course for an extended period, and thereby, and/or along with any associated economic and/or social instability or distress, have a material adverse impact on our consolidated financial statements. We experienced significant impacts to our business during 2020, beginning in mid-March, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the related COVID-19 control responses by international, federal, state and local public health and governmental authorities, including quarantines, “stay-at-home” orders and similar mandates.
In response to the initial COVID-19 control responses in our served markets, we temporarily closed our sales centers, model homes and design studios to the general public, shifted to an appointment-only personalized home sales process and prioritized our warranty service activities to respond to emergency repair requests, and otherwise on a by-exception basis, in each case as and where permitted and following recommended distancing and other health and safety protocols when meeting in person with a customer. We also leveraged our virtual sales tools to give customers the ability to shop for a new KB home from their mobile device or personal computer. In addition, we shifted our corporate and division office functions to work remotely. We limited our construction operations largely to authorized activities with increased safety measures and experienced a reduction in the availability, capacity and efficiency of municipal and private services necessary to the progress of developing land, building homes, completing mortgage loans and delivering homes to varying degrees depending on the scope of the restrictions local authorities established.
Although we gradually resumed nearly all of our operations with the relaxing of the early COVID-19 control responses beginning late in our 2020 second quarter and for the remainder of the fiscal year, the magnitude and duration of the business and economic impacts from the unprecedented public health effort to contain and combat the spread of COVID-19 have produced ongoing uncertainty about the overall operating environment going forward and made it more challenging for our management to estimate the future performance of our business and to develop strategies to generate growth. Moreover, we can provide no assurance as to whether the COVID-19 public health effort will be intensified to such an extent, particularly in response to any resurgence in infections, whether due to the spread of any variants of the virus or otherwise, combined with the seasonal flu, that we will not be able to conduct any business operations in certain of our served markets or at all for an indefinite period, including due to the reduced availability of contractors, employees and other talent, which may result from infections or medically necessary or recommended self-quarantining, which we have experienced in a few locations at various times during 2021. This could result in our recognizing charges in future periods, which may be material, for inventory impairments or land option contract abandonments, or both, related to our inventory assets.
Should the adverse impacts described above (or others that are currently unknown) occur, whether individually or collectively, we would expect to experience, among other things, decreases in our net orders, homes delivered, average selling prices, revenues and profitability, as we did during our 2020 second quarter, and such impacts could be material to our consolidated financial statements. In addition, should the COVID-19 public health effort intensify to such an extent that we cannot operate in most or all of our served markets, we could generate few or no orders and deliver few, if any homes during the applicable period, which could be prolonged. Along with an increase in cancellations of home purchase contracts, if there are prolonged government restrictions on our business and our customers, and/or an extended economic recession, we could be unable to produce revenues and cash flows sufficient to conduct our business; meet the terms of our covenants and other requirements under the Credit Facility, our senior notes and the related indenture, and/or mortgages and land contracts due to land sellers and other loans; service our outstanding debt; or pay any dividends to our stockholders. Such a circumstance could, among other things, exhaust our available liquidity (and ability to access liquidity sources) and/or trigger an acceleration to pay a significant portion or all of our then-outstanding debt obligations, which we may be unable to do.
Other Risks . The risk factors described above are not our only salient risks. Political events, war, terrorism, weather or other natural/environmental disasters, and other risks that are currently unknown or seen as immaterial, could also have a material adverse impact on our business, consolidated financial statements and/or common stock’s market price.
Item 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
22
Item 2. PROPERTIES
None.