NYSE:MHO M/I Homes Q2 2023 Earnings Report $103.31 -2.83 (-2.67%) As of 03:02 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast M/I Homes EPS ResultsActual EPS$4.12Consensus EPS $2.45Beat/MissBeat by +$1.67One Year Ago EPSN/AM/I Homes Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$1.01 billionExpected Revenue$822.80 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$191.21 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AM/I Homes Announcement DetailsQuarterQ2 2023Date7/26/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, July 26, 2023Conference Call Time10:30AM ETUpcoming EarningsM/I Homes' Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 10:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by M/I Homes Q2 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrJuly 26, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Mi Homes Inc. 2nd Quarter Earnings Webcast Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the conference over to Phil Krieg. Operator00:00:28Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 100:00:31Thank you for joining us today. On the call is Bob Schottenstein, our CEO and President and Derek Klutch, President of our Mortgage Company. First to address Regulation Fair Disclosure, we encourage you to ask any questions regarding issues that you consider material during this call Because we are prohibited from discussing significant non public items with you directly and as to forward looking statements, Want to remind everyone that the cautionary language about forward looking statements contained in today's press release Also, be advised that the company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements made during this call. I'll now turn the call over to Bob. Speaker 200:01:20Thanks, Phil, good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. Speaker 300:01:25We had Speaker 200:01:25a very strong second quarter. Despite higher interest rates and uncertain economic conditions, very pleased with our new contracts, Homes delivered margins and income, and we ended the quarter with our balance sheet in excellent shape. In terms of our new contracts, we sold 2,197 homes during the quarter, 21% better 18 20 homes that we sold during 2022 Q2. Smart Series, which is our most affordable line of homes, Continues to be an important contributor to our sales performance. During the quarter, our Smart Series sales comprised about 55% on average than we were a year ago. Speaker 200:02:25Our sales pace equaled 3.7 homes sold per community per month. We're on track to open a number of new communities this year. We expect to increase our community count for 2023 by 15% Speaker 300:02:44of the 196 communities that Speaker 200:02:44we had open at the end of 2022 Closed 19 90 homes in the quarter and continued to improve our construction cycle time throughout all of our divisions. Gross margins for the quarter were a very solid 26%, considerably better expected going into this year. Our pre tax income for the quarter was $155,000,000 down from last year's record level, still very pleased to produce pre tax results of 15.3 percent of revenue. Now I will provide some additional comments on our markets. Our division income contributions in the 2nd quarter were led by Dallas, Tampa, Columbus, Sarasota, Oli and Orlando. Speaker 200:03:39New contracts for the 2nd quarter in the Northern region increased by 31%. Contracts in our southern region increased by 14%. Our deliveries in the southern region by 7% from last year. Our deliveries in the northern region decreased by 22% from last year. 61% of our deliveries came out of the southern region and the balance of our deliveries 39% out of the northern region. Speaker 200:04:12Our owned and controlled lot position in the southern region decreased by 18% compared to last year, Increased by 4% from last year in the northern region. 36% of our owned and controlled lots are in the northern region, The other 64% are in our southern region. We have a very strong land position. Company wide, we own approximately 23,000 Single family lots, which is roughly a 3 year supply. To our balance sheet, we ended the Q2 of 2023 with an All time record $2,300,000,000 of equity, which equates to a book value per share of $83 We also ended the quarter with a cash balance of nearly $670,000,000 and 0 borrowings Under our $650,000,000 unsecured revolving credit facility. Speaker 200:05:11This resulted in a debt to capital ratio of 23%, Down from 28% a year ago and a net debt to capital ratio of just 1%. I conclude, let me just state that we are in the best financial condition in our company's history, very good about our business And are well positioned to have another year of very strong results. With that, I'll turn it over to Phil. Speaker 100:05:38Thanks, Bob. Our new contracts were up 6% in April, up 21% in May and up 46% in June. And our cancellation rate for the 2nd quarter was 10%. 58% of our 2nd quarter sales were to first time buyers 55% were inventory homes. Our community count was 195 at the end of the second quarter compared to 168 a year ago And the breakdown by region is 100 in the northern region and 95 in the southern region. Speaker 100:06:11During the quarter, we 15 new communities while closing 20. We currently estimate ending 2023 with about 2 25 communities. We delivered 19 90 homes in the 2nd quarter, delivering 60% of our backlog. And at June 30, we had 4,500 homes in the field versus 6,300 homes in the field a year ago. We started 2,400 Homes in the 2nd quarter and 1600 Homes in the 1st quarter. Speaker 100:06:44Revenue decreased 3% in the 2nd quarter And our average closing price for the 2nd quarter was a 2nd quarter record 493,000 Which was a 3% increase compared to last year's closing price of $4.77 Backlog average sale price is $507,000 down from $519,000 a year ago. Our 2nd quarter gross margin was 25.5%, Down 180 basis points year over year and up 200 basis points from our Q1. Our construction costs were flat in the 2nd quarter compared to the Q1 and we are starting to get some improvement in our building cycle time. Our 2nd quarter SG and A expenses were $10,600,000 of revenue compared to $9,700,000 a year ago. Our 2nd quarter SG and A expenses increased 6% versus a year ago, due primarily to higher third party broker cost and expenses related to our higher community count. Speaker 100:07:48Interest income for the quarter was 4,700,000 And our interest incurred was $9,400,000 We are pleased with our returns for the 2nd quarter. Our pre tax income was 15% And our return on equity was 23%. During the quarter, we generated $164,000,000 of EBITDA compared to $195,000,000 last year And our effective tax rate was 24% in the 2nd quarter compared to 25% a year ago. Our earnings per diluted share for the quarter decreased to $4.12 per share from $4.79 last year And our book value per share is now $83 a $17 per share increase from a year ago. Now Derek Klush will address our mortgage company results. Speaker 400:08:38Thanks, Phil. Our mortgage and title operations achieved Pre tax income of $11,200,000 a 29% increase from $8,700,000 in 20 22's 2nd quarter. Revenue increased 30% from last year to $25,300,000 due to higher margins on loans sold and an increase in the average loan amount. The average loan to value on our first mortgages 29% FHA or VA compared to 80% 20% respectively for 20 22's 2nd quarter. Our average mortgage amount increased to $402,000 in 2023 Q2 compared to $384,000 last year. Speaker 400:09:36Loans originated decreased to 1281, which was down 5% from last year, while the volume of loans sold increased by 4%. Our borrower profile remains solid with an average down payment of over 16% And an average credit score of 743 compared to 748 in 20 22's 2nd quarter. Our mortgage operation captured 81% of our business in the 2nd quarter compared to 77% last year. Also, we maintain warehouse facilities that provide us with funding for our mortgage originations. At June 30, we had $186,000,000 outstanding under these facilities. Speaker 400:10:22Now I'll turn the call back over to Phil. Speaker 100:10:25Thanks, Derek. For the balance sheet, we ended the 2nd quarter with a cash balance of $668,000,000 and no borrowings under our We have one of the lowest debt levels of the public homebuilders and are positioned well with our maturities. Our bank line matures in late 2026 and our public debt matures in 2028 and 2,030 And as interest rates below 5%. Our unsold land investment at June 30 is $1,300,000,000 Compared to $1,100,000,000 a year ago and at June 30, we had $673,000,000 of raw land and land under development and $587,000,000 of finished unsold lots. During the Q2, we spent $96,000,000 on land purchases And $109,000,000 on land development for a total of $205,000,000 And at June 30, we owned 23,000 lots And controlled 41,000 lots. Speaker 100:11:27At the end of the quarter, we had 303 completed inventory homes And 1737 total inventory homes. And of the total inventory homes, 827 are in the northern region 910 are in the southern region. And at June 30 last year, we had 91 completed inventory homes And 1732 total inventory homes. We spent $15,000,000 in the 2nd quarter repurchasing our stock And have $78,000,000 remaining under our current Board authorization. And since the start of 2022, we have repurchased 8% of our This completes our presentation. Speaker 100:12:12We will now open the call for any questions or comments. Operator00:12:17Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer Your first question will come from Alex Barron. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:12:52Yes. Thank you. And great job on the quarter, guys. Glad to see the market is starting to reward you finally. Yes. Speaker 300:13:03I was hoping you could walk us through the improvement sequentially in the gross margin. Anything that drove that? Was it just you started to raise prices or lumber costs were lower or anything that The big jump sequentially? Speaker 200:13:20Yes. I'll start that and maybe Phil will have some comments he'd like to add to it. Look at the beginning of the year, I think the entire industry was quite concerned with rapidly rising rates and how much pricing Leverage we might have and we had frankly expected our margins to be somewhat lower than they We have turned out to be quite the higher rates and has been quite solid and remain so today throughout almost all of our markets Act throughout all of our communities currently limiting sales And about 15% of our communities, which is an indication of the demand in various places. I think our communities are exceptionally well located, a very strong product offering. Smart Series It's exceptional in terms of its appeal to first time buyers, really good about our move up product as well as our attached townhomes. Speaker 200:14:29And the combination of all those things, including the level of demand, strength of our buyer profile, Given us ability to push margins where appropriate and as we've said Over the years, manage the company on a subdivision basis, A number of communities throughout our company where our margins are considerably higher than the 26 Also have some that are lower subdivision by subdivision basis. No one knows what the future will bring And continues to stay about where it is today, a fair amount of confidence that we'll continue to have margins That are at a very acceptable level. Bill, do you want to add anything to that? Speaker 300:15:24The only Speaker 100:15:25thing I would add Bob is that we talked about opening 15 stores In the Q2 and we had opened 19 the first. So the 34 new stores we've opened this year Are performing very well, even a little better than we thought they would. We also talked about Costs being flat and so forth. And again, just a lot of time as you said on product, Every subdivision is a little different, trying to open these new stores the right way, really trying to emphasize sales pace. So, we just continue to be focused on that. Speaker 300:16:03Okay, great. And then, obviously, your cash balance is pretty significant compared to any time in your history. I was curious, what you guys Have that invested in, because it looks like you generated almost $5,000,000 of interest, and I'm assuming that that's going to go higher unless you put the money work and if you are going to put the money to work, what's the most likely use? Is it buy more land? Is it just Pay down debt at some point, is it to buy back your stock, like how are you guys thinking about uses of that cash? Speaker 200:16:40I'll take the first part of that. Job 1 for us is to continue to grow our business. We think we have gained market share in nearly all of our markets over the last number of years and we expect To continue to growing market share, so Job 1 for us would be to invest in our divisions and that's how we'll likely be deploying most of the cash. You want to comment on the rest of that? Speaker 100:17:16Yes, I agree with that Bob. We do expect to spend more money on land In the second half, then we have the first half, we did push back a number of land transactions the second half Last year when the business slowed down. So we do expect land spend to accelerate. We feel very, very strong about our land position. As far as stock repurchase, we continue to look at that, what is the best use of our capital. Speaker 100:17:49As I mentioned, we did buy back $15,000,000 of stock in the quarter. And in the last few quarters, we bought back 8% of the outstanding shares. So we will continue to balance all those things. We do not have any debt due as far as the public debt until 2028 It's below 5%. So we'll still have some cash and we'll continue to put that to the best use we can, Alex. Speaker 300:18:18All right, guys. We'll keep it up and I'll get back in the queue. Thanks. Operator00:18:25Your next question comes from Jesse Lederman at Zelman and Associates. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:18:33Hi, congrats on the great quarter and thanks for taking my questions. Speaker 200:18:37Thanks, Jesse. Speaker 500:18:40I remember last quarter you talked about your expectations for closings through the year not to necessarily follow the typical Sequential increase through the year and your 2nd quarter closings were roughly flat from the Q1. Can you talk a little bit more about like how you see that cadence trending through the balance of the year given the deviation or at least the Stronger results in 2Q than at least we were expecting and maybe you were even expecting as well? Speaker 200:19:10Well, one thing I'd say That has, I think, helped our closings and I suspect will continue to is, as we noted, improvement in cycle time And that varies by division. We have a number of divisions where we've improved our cycle time by more than 30 days year over year. Some have improved by 15 to 20 days and we expect to continue to improve cycle time And hopefully get it back to those pre COVID levels that we were seeing The year 2019 and before and that will certainly contribute to getting the homes in the field closed at a more rapid pace. Phil, you want to add anything to that? Speaker 100:19:57Yes. As we disclosed, Jesse, we do have less house In the field at midyear than a year ago, we did start a lot of houses in the second quarter and we're pleased with that. Also about 50% of our business is specs and some of those houses do sell and close in the quarter. We were a little surprised pleasantly. We closed more houses in the Q1 than we thought we would and we had a similar good experience in the second quarter, Closing more houses than we thought. Speaker 100:20:31But again, we're trying to get all the good quality fully completed homes closed we can every quarter. But it is going to be a challenge for us to close as many houses in the second half as we did the first half, But we're doing all we can. Speaker 500:20:52Thanks. That's helpful. And as you mentioned was likely on last quarter's call, your land spend nearly doubled sequentially, but it's still a little bit below the run rate over the last couple of years. And The percentage of communities that you're limiting sales an inch a little higher to 15% of communities from 10% last quarter. What do you need to see for that percentage to trend lower here? Speaker 500:21:18And is there a risk that, that moves meaningfully higher Over the near term, at least until some of these recent deals end up being community openings. Speaker 200:21:30Jesse, could you sort of re clarify the question? I'm not sure I completely understood it. Speaker 500:21:37Yes. Just Recognizing that the percentage of communities that you had to limit sales and increase a little bit sequentially here, what do you Is there any risk to that percentage of communities that you're limiting sales and increasing in the near term As you wait for these more recent land deals to filter through to community openings? Speaker 200:22:00Well, first of all, the reason that we're limiting sales where we are It's simply to control the deliveries in a way that we think we can best We don't want to get too far out over our skis, so to speak. And in those communities where we are limiting sales, We're also getting very strong margins and we just think that's the smartest way to run the business. The decision to limit sales has little if anything to do with new communities coming on. Bill, I don't know if you want to add anything to that. And I don't know if that answers Speaker 100:22:40your question, Jeff. No, every community is different and It's a combination of the number of finished lots we have, the amount of times to get the houses built. When you lock a price into a customer today, you got to make sure you can get the house It's built on a timely basis at the cost you have kind of locked up. So it's kind of good news when we are having to limit sales That number kind of moves around every quarter based on what's going on in the local subdivisions, but that would be a really hard This last year and this year, we're very pleased with Speaker 400:23:27the way they are performing. Speaker 500:23:30Great. Thank you for clarifying that. I appreciate it. And just one last one on the cost side of the business. You've mentioned costs are stabilizing. Speaker 500:23:38They've been relatively flat the last Few quarters here and you are seeing some cycle time improvements, but you ramp starts pretty significantly and The industry broadly is also trying to increase their share of speculative starts. What are your expectations for Costs and even labor and material availability over the next couple of quarters, do you expect to see any hiccups as it pertains to supply chain just with the industry broadly ramping their start space or have you been relatively insulated from that just because of Your relatively larger size. Speaker 200:24:19Well, first of all, to know what's going to happen on the cost side is always a toughie, but I feel really good about the supply chain issues throughout nearly every one of our markets. And with regard to almost every part of our business, the one issue that continues to be The concern, I think, for all the builders is on the land development side and the time it takes To get all of the approvals and the entitlements to bring deals to market and even It's well documented the issues that a lot of the builders including us have had in certain markets with getting all the utilities place, particularly transformers. That continues to be somewhat of an issue. I think it's getting a little bit better. But I feel pretty good about the supply side of the business. Speaker 200:25:18And I think that we'll continue to see improvement in time across all the parts of our business. And I think that the cost side, I don't see a lot of risk in big cost increases right now. Bill, do you have anything you want to add to that? Speaker 100:25:38One thing I will add is we do when we build houses and develop land build in a certain contingency for cost That could be 2%, that could be 5%, but we are hopeful, like Bob said, of not having anything significant the Speaker 200:26:05Thanks. Operator00:26:08Your next question comes from Jay McCanless at Wedbush. Please go Speaker 600:26:14ahead. Hey, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. The first one I had, just wanted to Get your take on this, Shu, we've heard from a couple of your competitors that they think gross margins, at least in the back half of twenty twenty three, Maybe a little bit softer, just because they're finishing out the last of the closings, for homes that they sold back in the Q4 of 'twenty two when There's a lot of price competition. I'm just wondering how you're feeling about gross margins for the back half of the year and any commentary you could give around that? Speaker 200:26:51Bill? Speaker 100:26:55Jay, that's a hard estimate to give. As Bob said, our margins have been better the first two quarters than we thought. When you look at what's in our backlog, our backlog margins are relatively flat. Again, we're selling about 50% specs. We plan on opening more stores the second half than we did the first. Speaker 100:27:19So that's kind of a hard number to come at. But I would answer it the same way Bob did that we still think our margins will be good and respectable. It's just hard to pin down a number. We have a lot of emphasis and focus on margins because it's so important to us. So we'll continue All we can to keep those margins as strong as we can. Speaker 100:27:42It's just really hard to estimate what they'll be. Speaker 600:27:48And then could you talk about pricing power or maybe how many communities On a percentage basis, were you able to raise price or cut back on incentives this quarter? Speaker 300:28:02Bill? Speaker 100:28:06It's hard, Jay, to have that Exact number, what we tend to do more than anything and every subdivision is a little different Is help people with an interest rate. Again, even though we have strong down payments, we are still in the payment business. And buying the rate down a little bit is very effective to get those people's payment down. And even though rates have been a little bit sticky, It's still not that expensive to buy down rates 30, 45, 60 days prior to closing. In general, the incentives have lessened some, But again, every community is a little bit different. Speaker 100:28:53But I would say in general, incentives have come off a little bit. Speaker 200:28:57And the only thing I'd add to that is, obviously, we're in the time of the year where seasonally Ann typically falls off a little. We haven't seen much of that. And while we're no longer in the Spring selling season, the demand for these summer months has held up quite well and there's nothing happening right now Suggest that incentives are going to increase. Speaker 600:29:30You actually stole my next question, Bob. I was going to ask if there's any commentary Could offer us or offer up around July, which I've seen month to date? Speaker 200:29:38I mean, things are holding steady. Jay, you know as well as anyone, The inventory levels are atornearrecordlows Somewhere between 50% and I don't know maybe 75% of all the homeowners in this country are living in a home where their mortgage is Maybe 1.5% or lower, probably even lower than 4%. And likelihood that those homes are going to come to market anytime soon Is not great. And as a result, and that's out there It's largely buying new and I think that's going to continue for quite some time and I think that's very strong A win for our industry, which is why I think holders in general are producing much stronger results than anyone would have thought 8 months ago. Speaker 100:30:44That's for sure. Jay, we're really excited about the opportunity we have with all the stores that we are opening. We're obviously focusing on sales pace that really matters. Of course, if you look at comparables last year in the Q2, we sold 1800. 3rd quarter last year, we sold 1300. Speaker 100:31:05In the Q4 last year, we sold 1,000. So our sales decreased significantly last year. We are trying to catch up as far as houses in the field. We did start a lot of houses in the second quarter. You know Bob talked about cycle time. Speaker 100:31:22Cycle time is improving. Our spec level is about the same it was a year ago. We do have couple of 100 more finished specs than we did a year ago. We're obviously hoping to get the majority of those, the big majority of those Sold and closed the 3rd quarter, that's the big swing item on our closing. How many of those finished specs And specs that are almost finished today that we can get closed can we get through the Q3. Speaker 100:31:49And those are all the things that we're focused on. Speaker 600:31:53Great. And then the last one is kind of a 2 part question, I guess. Number 1, maybe for people Who are newer to the story, could you walk through the Smart Series and some of the pace and gross margin advantages Smart Series has versus Your traditional product, and then also as you think about the community, I mean, you talked about, Is there a path to getting Smart Series above 55% or getting to bigger percentage with the openings you're going to do through the rest of this year And into 24? Speaker 200:32:28Well, the Smart Series has been a grand slam home run for our company. Just opened it in Tampa in 2016, grown to over half of our business. I think that this that the 55% or so of our business that it represents today, It may go up a little, but I think it will hover between 50% 60% here for quite some time. It primarily caters to a first time buyer. It's a very well designed lineup of homes. Speaker 200:33:02It's a tight lineup. Not a lot of opportunity for, I'd call, non standard changes. The selection process It's very efficient. Smart Series buyers do not go through a design studio per se. They select their options Off of a predesigned menu, which gets homes from sale to start much quicker. Speaker 200:33:30And then once the home start because average square footage on a Smart Series home is probably around 2,000 square feet versus maybe 2 For 2,500 for the rest of our product line, we're able to build these homes quicker, which contributes to returns. And frankly, while we didn't expect it when we first designed it to sell for Better margins in many, many of our Smart Series communities, our margins are better. And I think Just because of the appeal and the quality of the product. And the other thing is we're getting better pace. So cycle time better, sale to start quicker, better pace, streamlined offerings, efficient way of running that part of our business, All of that is contributed to our top line and our bottom line. Speaker 600:34:35That's great. Thank you for taking my questions. Speaker 200:34:38Thanks, Jay. Operator00:34:42Your next question comes from Carl Reichardt at BTIG. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:34:49Thanks. Thanks for taking my questions, guys. Nice to talk to you. Jade just stole the one I was going to ask on Smart Series. So I want to ask another sort of one bigger picture one. Speaker 700:34:58So no maturities until 2028 And you're reasonably concentrated in some markets. As you look out at the opportunity set over the next 5 years to grow the business, Would we expect you to try to deepen share in existing markets or is new expansion to new markets on the table for you? And then how are you thinking about the acquisition environment right now of privates is really what I'm focused on, but even of public? I'm just curious your thoughts there. Thanks a Speaker 200:35:28bunch. Yes. No, good questions. First of all, we're just getting started in Nashville. We have a number of homes under construction and we will be generating our first sales in that market this year. Speaker 200:35:44We're in Nashville to grow over the next several years to 300 to 500 homes a year. Nashville is going to be a big contributor to growth As we move on down the line here over the next couple of years. Likewise in Fort Myers and Naples, we just got open there within the last We've got several communities and we expect to have a significant operation in Fort Myers, Naples as well. We're very bullish about that particular part of Florida and think it will be just a stronger contributor to Mi Homes as Tampa, Orlando and Sarasota have been. So in terms of expansion, we have a lot of work to do to get Scale and we're confident we'll be able to do so. Speaker 200:36:34A lot of work to get scale both Nashville and Fort Myers Naples. As far as additional expansion beyond that, no real plans at this point. But in 5 years, if we're in 17 markets today, I should Say in 5 years might we be in perhaps another one 2018 or maybe 2019. I think it's possible, but I also think that we have the ability and We've said this before, our current run rate is around 8,000 homes. Within the markets we're in, we think we can get to 12,000, 13,000, 14,000 homes And are poised to do so. Speaker 200:37:10And that is a very strong goal of our company. As far as the acquisition side, small privates or what have you, possible, It's not something that we're laser focused on. If an opportunity presented itself in a market that we're in or perhaps even a market that we're not, Always would look at it, but I think that in general organic growth rather than acquisition, we've done both, Had more success with organic very candidly. And we're really excited about the teams that we have on the field in both First of all, all of our markets, but in particular Nashville and Fort Myers Naples. And that's very exciting for the company as we go forward. Speaker 200:38:03Phil, I don't know if you have any Speaker 100:38:06That sounds great, Bob. Speaker 700:38:09Thank you, Bob, and thank you, Phil. Speaker 300:38:11Thank you, Carl. Operator00:38:15Your next question comes from Alex Barron at HRC. Please go ahead. Mr. Barron, your line is open. Did you have a question? Speaker 300:38:32Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. Sorry about that. Speaker 300:38:37Another call was trying to intercept my question. Yes, I wanted to focus on the Outside broker commissions, I think you mentioned they went up this quarter and I guess as a percentage of revenues it seems they were 5.3% versus 4.5% a year ago. Do you see this as just a temporary thing due to the slowdown that happened in the last At the end of 2022, in other words, is this percentage likely to trend back down or is this kind of a new normal for some reason? Speaker 200:39:16Bill, you want to take that? Speaker 100:39:20Alex, that's something we've worked very hard on the last few years And we had some divisions that got outside broker rates down to 2%, 2.5%, Especially with sales toughening, the last half of last year and The first of this year being a little slow also. So some of those rates have gone back up in certain markets where we're kind of getting Started up like Bob mentioned some of those realtor rates have moved up a little bit as far as percent of business. Very hard to predict what that's going to be. It is something we obviously focus on. It's a big item to us. Speaker 100:40:01But Now we try to manage that just like we do all of our other expenses. We think we're doing a pretty good job on SG and A. Today, we have about 9% less people than we did a year ago. So we focus always on our cost structure, including all those items. Another thing, of course, is having 15% more stores that's driving the non variable selling up. Speaker 100:40:26So we'll continue to focus on all those things. Speaker 300:40:31Okay, great. I guess on that same front, just wondering what percentage of your Sales generally come from brokers. And also, what are you guys doing in terms of digital marketing efforts? Can you Talk about that. Speaker 200:40:51Well, as far as the broker, Speaker 100:40:52if you look at the broker commission, The last few years, every market is a little different, but we've been in the 65% to 75% range. Speaker 200:41:03On the digital side, biggest part of our marketing, nothing even comes close, Formus area of emphasis for close to 4 years, 5 years now since that part of our business has changed so much. Everything that we can possibly do Speaker 300:41:31maximize sound Speaker 200:41:31online, search engine optimization and All the things associated with that, giant area of focus in every one of our divisions, there are people Exclusively dedicated to that, significant vintage of all of our leads are all start online, Very, mentally manage that online part of our business. It's as much a part of the blocking and tackling of our business, it's constructing a home as Net, marketing, online marketing, digital side of our business, That's a critical key part of our business. I can't emphasize it enough. Speaker 300:42:27Yes. And I'm sure it's only getting more competitive. All right. Well, thanks again and great job. Thanks. Operator00:42:36There are no further questions on the phone line. So I will turn the conference back to Phil Kreeck for any closing remarks. Speaker 100:42:43Thank you very much for joining us. Look forward to talking to you next quarter. Operator00:42:50Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for this morning. We would like to thank you all for participating and ask you to please disconnect your lines.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallM/I Homes Q2 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) M/I Homes Earnings HeadlinesAxalta Wins 2025 Automotive News PACE Pilot AwardApril 16 at 1:18 PM | finance.yahoo.comAxalta Coating price target lowered to $37 from $40 at MizuhoApril 15 at 10:16 PM | markets.businessinsider.comIs it CRAZY to still want reliable profits, despite this market?Larry Benedict, the acclaimed "Market Wizard," is calling an emergency briefing now... The same Larry who – while everyone else watched their retirement get cut in half in 2008... Performed 103% better than the market. And the one who crushed the market by 4X during the COVID meltdown.April 16, 2025 | Brownstone Research (Ad)Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) Stock Rating Upgraded by BNP ParibasApril 13 at 4:07 AM | americanbankingnews.comAn Intrinsic Calculation For Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Suggests It's 47% UndervaluedApril 12, 2025 | uk.finance.yahoo.comWells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) Stock PriceApril 12, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comSee More Axalta Coating Systems Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like M/I Homes? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on M/I Homes and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About M/I HomesM/I Homes (NYSE:MHO), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the construction and sale of single-family residential homes in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The company operates through Northern Homebuilding, Southern Homebuilding, and Financial Services segments. It also designs, constructs, markets, and sells single-family homes and attached townhomes to first-time, millennial, move-up, empty-nester, multi-generational, and luxury homebuyers under the M/I Homes brand name. In addition, the company purchases undeveloped land to develop into developed lots for the construction of single-family homes, as well as for sale to others. Further, the company originates and sells mortgages; and serves as a title insurance agent by providing title insurance policies, examination, and closing services to purchasers of its homes. M/I Homes, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.View M/I Homes ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Tesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? 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There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Mi Homes Inc. 2nd Quarter Earnings Webcast Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the conference over to Phil Krieg. Operator00:00:28Please go ahead, sir. Speaker 100:00:31Thank you for joining us today. On the call is Bob Schottenstein, our CEO and President and Derek Klutch, President of our Mortgage Company. First to address Regulation Fair Disclosure, we encourage you to ask any questions regarding issues that you consider material during this call Because we are prohibited from discussing significant non public items with you directly and as to forward looking statements, Want to remind everyone that the cautionary language about forward looking statements contained in today's press release Also, be advised that the company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements made during this call. I'll now turn the call over to Bob. Speaker 200:01:20Thanks, Phil, good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. Speaker 300:01:25We had Speaker 200:01:25a very strong second quarter. Despite higher interest rates and uncertain economic conditions, very pleased with our new contracts, Homes delivered margins and income, and we ended the quarter with our balance sheet in excellent shape. In terms of our new contracts, we sold 2,197 homes during the quarter, 21% better 18 20 homes that we sold during 2022 Q2. Smart Series, which is our most affordable line of homes, Continues to be an important contributor to our sales performance. During the quarter, our Smart Series sales comprised about 55% on average than we were a year ago. Speaker 200:02:25Our sales pace equaled 3.7 homes sold per community per month. We're on track to open a number of new communities this year. We expect to increase our community count for 2023 by 15% Speaker 300:02:44of the 196 communities that Speaker 200:02:44we had open at the end of 2022 Closed 19 90 homes in the quarter and continued to improve our construction cycle time throughout all of our divisions. Gross margins for the quarter were a very solid 26%, considerably better expected going into this year. Our pre tax income for the quarter was $155,000,000 down from last year's record level, still very pleased to produce pre tax results of 15.3 percent of revenue. Now I will provide some additional comments on our markets. Our division income contributions in the 2nd quarter were led by Dallas, Tampa, Columbus, Sarasota, Oli and Orlando. Speaker 200:03:39New contracts for the 2nd quarter in the Northern region increased by 31%. Contracts in our southern region increased by 14%. Our deliveries in the southern region by 7% from last year. Our deliveries in the northern region decreased by 22% from last year. 61% of our deliveries came out of the southern region and the balance of our deliveries 39% out of the northern region. Speaker 200:04:12Our owned and controlled lot position in the southern region decreased by 18% compared to last year, Increased by 4% from last year in the northern region. 36% of our owned and controlled lots are in the northern region, The other 64% are in our southern region. We have a very strong land position. Company wide, we own approximately 23,000 Single family lots, which is roughly a 3 year supply. To our balance sheet, we ended the Q2 of 2023 with an All time record $2,300,000,000 of equity, which equates to a book value per share of $83 We also ended the quarter with a cash balance of nearly $670,000,000 and 0 borrowings Under our $650,000,000 unsecured revolving credit facility. Speaker 200:05:11This resulted in a debt to capital ratio of 23%, Down from 28% a year ago and a net debt to capital ratio of just 1%. I conclude, let me just state that we are in the best financial condition in our company's history, very good about our business And are well positioned to have another year of very strong results. With that, I'll turn it over to Phil. Speaker 100:05:38Thanks, Bob. Our new contracts were up 6% in April, up 21% in May and up 46% in June. And our cancellation rate for the 2nd quarter was 10%. 58% of our 2nd quarter sales were to first time buyers 55% were inventory homes. Our community count was 195 at the end of the second quarter compared to 168 a year ago And the breakdown by region is 100 in the northern region and 95 in the southern region. Speaker 100:06:11During the quarter, we 15 new communities while closing 20. We currently estimate ending 2023 with about 2 25 communities. We delivered 19 90 homes in the 2nd quarter, delivering 60% of our backlog. And at June 30, we had 4,500 homes in the field versus 6,300 homes in the field a year ago. We started 2,400 Homes in the 2nd quarter and 1600 Homes in the 1st quarter. Speaker 100:06:44Revenue decreased 3% in the 2nd quarter And our average closing price for the 2nd quarter was a 2nd quarter record 493,000 Which was a 3% increase compared to last year's closing price of $4.77 Backlog average sale price is $507,000 down from $519,000 a year ago. Our 2nd quarter gross margin was 25.5%, Down 180 basis points year over year and up 200 basis points from our Q1. Our construction costs were flat in the 2nd quarter compared to the Q1 and we are starting to get some improvement in our building cycle time. Our 2nd quarter SG and A expenses were $10,600,000 of revenue compared to $9,700,000 a year ago. Our 2nd quarter SG and A expenses increased 6% versus a year ago, due primarily to higher third party broker cost and expenses related to our higher community count. Speaker 100:07:48Interest income for the quarter was 4,700,000 And our interest incurred was $9,400,000 We are pleased with our returns for the 2nd quarter. Our pre tax income was 15% And our return on equity was 23%. During the quarter, we generated $164,000,000 of EBITDA compared to $195,000,000 last year And our effective tax rate was 24% in the 2nd quarter compared to 25% a year ago. Our earnings per diluted share for the quarter decreased to $4.12 per share from $4.79 last year And our book value per share is now $83 a $17 per share increase from a year ago. Now Derek Klush will address our mortgage company results. Speaker 400:08:38Thanks, Phil. Our mortgage and title operations achieved Pre tax income of $11,200,000 a 29% increase from $8,700,000 in 20 22's 2nd quarter. Revenue increased 30% from last year to $25,300,000 due to higher margins on loans sold and an increase in the average loan amount. The average loan to value on our first mortgages 29% FHA or VA compared to 80% 20% respectively for 20 22's 2nd quarter. Our average mortgage amount increased to $402,000 in 2023 Q2 compared to $384,000 last year. Speaker 400:09:36Loans originated decreased to 1281, which was down 5% from last year, while the volume of loans sold increased by 4%. Our borrower profile remains solid with an average down payment of over 16% And an average credit score of 743 compared to 748 in 20 22's 2nd quarter. Our mortgage operation captured 81% of our business in the 2nd quarter compared to 77% last year. Also, we maintain warehouse facilities that provide us with funding for our mortgage originations. At June 30, we had $186,000,000 outstanding under these facilities. Speaker 400:10:22Now I'll turn the call back over to Phil. Speaker 100:10:25Thanks, Derek. For the balance sheet, we ended the 2nd quarter with a cash balance of $668,000,000 and no borrowings under our We have one of the lowest debt levels of the public homebuilders and are positioned well with our maturities. Our bank line matures in late 2026 and our public debt matures in 2028 and 2,030 And as interest rates below 5%. Our unsold land investment at June 30 is $1,300,000,000 Compared to $1,100,000,000 a year ago and at June 30, we had $673,000,000 of raw land and land under development and $587,000,000 of finished unsold lots. During the Q2, we spent $96,000,000 on land purchases And $109,000,000 on land development for a total of $205,000,000 And at June 30, we owned 23,000 lots And controlled 41,000 lots. Speaker 100:11:27At the end of the quarter, we had 303 completed inventory homes And 1737 total inventory homes. And of the total inventory homes, 827 are in the northern region 910 are in the southern region. And at June 30 last year, we had 91 completed inventory homes And 1732 total inventory homes. We spent $15,000,000 in the 2nd quarter repurchasing our stock And have $78,000,000 remaining under our current Board authorization. And since the start of 2022, we have repurchased 8% of our This completes our presentation. Speaker 100:12:12We will now open the call for any questions or comments. Operator00:12:17Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer Your first question will come from Alex Barron. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:12:52Yes. Thank you. And great job on the quarter, guys. Glad to see the market is starting to reward you finally. Yes. Speaker 300:13:03I was hoping you could walk us through the improvement sequentially in the gross margin. Anything that drove that? Was it just you started to raise prices or lumber costs were lower or anything that The big jump sequentially? Speaker 200:13:20Yes. I'll start that and maybe Phil will have some comments he'd like to add to it. Look at the beginning of the year, I think the entire industry was quite concerned with rapidly rising rates and how much pricing Leverage we might have and we had frankly expected our margins to be somewhat lower than they We have turned out to be quite the higher rates and has been quite solid and remain so today throughout almost all of our markets Act throughout all of our communities currently limiting sales And about 15% of our communities, which is an indication of the demand in various places. I think our communities are exceptionally well located, a very strong product offering. Smart Series It's exceptional in terms of its appeal to first time buyers, really good about our move up product as well as our attached townhomes. Speaker 200:14:29And the combination of all those things, including the level of demand, strength of our buyer profile, Given us ability to push margins where appropriate and as we've said Over the years, manage the company on a subdivision basis, A number of communities throughout our company where our margins are considerably higher than the 26 Also have some that are lower subdivision by subdivision basis. No one knows what the future will bring And continues to stay about where it is today, a fair amount of confidence that we'll continue to have margins That are at a very acceptable level. Bill, do you want to add anything to that? Speaker 300:15:24The only Speaker 100:15:25thing I would add Bob is that we talked about opening 15 stores In the Q2 and we had opened 19 the first. So the 34 new stores we've opened this year Are performing very well, even a little better than we thought they would. We also talked about Costs being flat and so forth. And again, just a lot of time as you said on product, Every subdivision is a little different, trying to open these new stores the right way, really trying to emphasize sales pace. So, we just continue to be focused on that. Speaker 300:16:03Okay, great. And then, obviously, your cash balance is pretty significant compared to any time in your history. I was curious, what you guys Have that invested in, because it looks like you generated almost $5,000,000 of interest, and I'm assuming that that's going to go higher unless you put the money work and if you are going to put the money to work, what's the most likely use? Is it buy more land? Is it just Pay down debt at some point, is it to buy back your stock, like how are you guys thinking about uses of that cash? Speaker 200:16:40I'll take the first part of that. Job 1 for us is to continue to grow our business. We think we have gained market share in nearly all of our markets over the last number of years and we expect To continue to growing market share, so Job 1 for us would be to invest in our divisions and that's how we'll likely be deploying most of the cash. You want to comment on the rest of that? Speaker 100:17:16Yes, I agree with that Bob. We do expect to spend more money on land In the second half, then we have the first half, we did push back a number of land transactions the second half Last year when the business slowed down. So we do expect land spend to accelerate. We feel very, very strong about our land position. As far as stock repurchase, we continue to look at that, what is the best use of our capital. Speaker 100:17:49As I mentioned, we did buy back $15,000,000 of stock in the quarter. And in the last few quarters, we bought back 8% of the outstanding shares. So we will continue to balance all those things. We do not have any debt due as far as the public debt until 2028 It's below 5%. So we'll still have some cash and we'll continue to put that to the best use we can, Alex. Speaker 300:18:18All right, guys. We'll keep it up and I'll get back in the queue. Thanks. Operator00:18:25Your next question comes from Jesse Lederman at Zelman and Associates. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:18:33Hi, congrats on the great quarter and thanks for taking my questions. Speaker 200:18:37Thanks, Jesse. Speaker 500:18:40I remember last quarter you talked about your expectations for closings through the year not to necessarily follow the typical Sequential increase through the year and your 2nd quarter closings were roughly flat from the Q1. Can you talk a little bit more about like how you see that cadence trending through the balance of the year given the deviation or at least the Stronger results in 2Q than at least we were expecting and maybe you were even expecting as well? Speaker 200:19:10Well, one thing I'd say That has, I think, helped our closings and I suspect will continue to is, as we noted, improvement in cycle time And that varies by division. We have a number of divisions where we've improved our cycle time by more than 30 days year over year. Some have improved by 15 to 20 days and we expect to continue to improve cycle time And hopefully get it back to those pre COVID levels that we were seeing The year 2019 and before and that will certainly contribute to getting the homes in the field closed at a more rapid pace. Phil, you want to add anything to that? Speaker 100:19:57Yes. As we disclosed, Jesse, we do have less house In the field at midyear than a year ago, we did start a lot of houses in the second quarter and we're pleased with that. Also about 50% of our business is specs and some of those houses do sell and close in the quarter. We were a little surprised pleasantly. We closed more houses in the Q1 than we thought we would and we had a similar good experience in the second quarter, Closing more houses than we thought. Speaker 100:20:31But again, we're trying to get all the good quality fully completed homes closed we can every quarter. But it is going to be a challenge for us to close as many houses in the second half as we did the first half, But we're doing all we can. Speaker 500:20:52Thanks. That's helpful. And as you mentioned was likely on last quarter's call, your land spend nearly doubled sequentially, but it's still a little bit below the run rate over the last couple of years. And The percentage of communities that you're limiting sales an inch a little higher to 15% of communities from 10% last quarter. What do you need to see for that percentage to trend lower here? Speaker 500:21:18And is there a risk that, that moves meaningfully higher Over the near term, at least until some of these recent deals end up being community openings. Speaker 200:21:30Jesse, could you sort of re clarify the question? I'm not sure I completely understood it. Speaker 500:21:37Yes. Just Recognizing that the percentage of communities that you had to limit sales and increase a little bit sequentially here, what do you Is there any risk to that percentage of communities that you're limiting sales and increasing in the near term As you wait for these more recent land deals to filter through to community openings? Speaker 200:22:00Well, first of all, the reason that we're limiting sales where we are It's simply to control the deliveries in a way that we think we can best We don't want to get too far out over our skis, so to speak. And in those communities where we are limiting sales, We're also getting very strong margins and we just think that's the smartest way to run the business. The decision to limit sales has little if anything to do with new communities coming on. Bill, I don't know if you want to add anything to that. And I don't know if that answers Speaker 100:22:40your question, Jeff. No, every community is different and It's a combination of the number of finished lots we have, the amount of times to get the houses built. When you lock a price into a customer today, you got to make sure you can get the house It's built on a timely basis at the cost you have kind of locked up. So it's kind of good news when we are having to limit sales That number kind of moves around every quarter based on what's going on in the local subdivisions, but that would be a really hard This last year and this year, we're very pleased with Speaker 400:23:27the way they are performing. Speaker 500:23:30Great. Thank you for clarifying that. I appreciate it. And just one last one on the cost side of the business. You've mentioned costs are stabilizing. Speaker 500:23:38They've been relatively flat the last Few quarters here and you are seeing some cycle time improvements, but you ramp starts pretty significantly and The industry broadly is also trying to increase their share of speculative starts. What are your expectations for Costs and even labor and material availability over the next couple of quarters, do you expect to see any hiccups as it pertains to supply chain just with the industry broadly ramping their start space or have you been relatively insulated from that just because of Your relatively larger size. Speaker 200:24:19Well, first of all, to know what's going to happen on the cost side is always a toughie, but I feel really good about the supply chain issues throughout nearly every one of our markets. And with regard to almost every part of our business, the one issue that continues to be The concern, I think, for all the builders is on the land development side and the time it takes To get all of the approvals and the entitlements to bring deals to market and even It's well documented the issues that a lot of the builders including us have had in certain markets with getting all the utilities place, particularly transformers. That continues to be somewhat of an issue. I think it's getting a little bit better. But I feel pretty good about the supply side of the business. Speaker 200:25:18And I think that we'll continue to see improvement in time across all the parts of our business. And I think that the cost side, I don't see a lot of risk in big cost increases right now. Bill, do you have anything you want to add to that? Speaker 100:25:38One thing I will add is we do when we build houses and develop land build in a certain contingency for cost That could be 2%, that could be 5%, but we are hopeful, like Bob said, of not having anything significant the Speaker 200:26:05Thanks. Operator00:26:08Your next question comes from Jay McCanless at Wedbush. Please go Speaker 600:26:14ahead. Hey, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. The first one I had, just wanted to Get your take on this, Shu, we've heard from a couple of your competitors that they think gross margins, at least in the back half of twenty twenty three, Maybe a little bit softer, just because they're finishing out the last of the closings, for homes that they sold back in the Q4 of 'twenty two when There's a lot of price competition. I'm just wondering how you're feeling about gross margins for the back half of the year and any commentary you could give around that? Speaker 200:26:51Bill? Speaker 100:26:55Jay, that's a hard estimate to give. As Bob said, our margins have been better the first two quarters than we thought. When you look at what's in our backlog, our backlog margins are relatively flat. Again, we're selling about 50% specs. We plan on opening more stores the second half than we did the first. Speaker 100:27:19So that's kind of a hard number to come at. But I would answer it the same way Bob did that we still think our margins will be good and respectable. It's just hard to pin down a number. We have a lot of emphasis and focus on margins because it's so important to us. So we'll continue All we can to keep those margins as strong as we can. Speaker 100:27:42It's just really hard to estimate what they'll be. Speaker 600:27:48And then could you talk about pricing power or maybe how many communities On a percentage basis, were you able to raise price or cut back on incentives this quarter? Speaker 300:28:02Bill? Speaker 100:28:06It's hard, Jay, to have that Exact number, what we tend to do more than anything and every subdivision is a little different Is help people with an interest rate. Again, even though we have strong down payments, we are still in the payment business. And buying the rate down a little bit is very effective to get those people's payment down. And even though rates have been a little bit sticky, It's still not that expensive to buy down rates 30, 45, 60 days prior to closing. In general, the incentives have lessened some, But again, every community is a little bit different. Speaker 100:28:53But I would say in general, incentives have come off a little bit. Speaker 200:28:57And the only thing I'd add to that is, obviously, we're in the time of the year where seasonally Ann typically falls off a little. We haven't seen much of that. And while we're no longer in the Spring selling season, the demand for these summer months has held up quite well and there's nothing happening right now Suggest that incentives are going to increase. Speaker 600:29:30You actually stole my next question, Bob. I was going to ask if there's any commentary Could offer us or offer up around July, which I've seen month to date? Speaker 200:29:38I mean, things are holding steady. Jay, you know as well as anyone, The inventory levels are atornearrecordlows Somewhere between 50% and I don't know maybe 75% of all the homeowners in this country are living in a home where their mortgage is Maybe 1.5% or lower, probably even lower than 4%. And likelihood that those homes are going to come to market anytime soon Is not great. And as a result, and that's out there It's largely buying new and I think that's going to continue for quite some time and I think that's very strong A win for our industry, which is why I think holders in general are producing much stronger results than anyone would have thought 8 months ago. Speaker 100:30:44That's for sure. Jay, we're really excited about the opportunity we have with all the stores that we are opening. We're obviously focusing on sales pace that really matters. Of course, if you look at comparables last year in the Q2, we sold 1800. 3rd quarter last year, we sold 1300. Speaker 100:31:05In the Q4 last year, we sold 1,000. So our sales decreased significantly last year. We are trying to catch up as far as houses in the field. We did start a lot of houses in the second quarter. You know Bob talked about cycle time. Speaker 100:31:22Cycle time is improving. Our spec level is about the same it was a year ago. We do have couple of 100 more finished specs than we did a year ago. We're obviously hoping to get the majority of those, the big majority of those Sold and closed the 3rd quarter, that's the big swing item on our closing. How many of those finished specs And specs that are almost finished today that we can get closed can we get through the Q3. Speaker 100:31:49And those are all the things that we're focused on. Speaker 600:31:53Great. And then the last one is kind of a 2 part question, I guess. Number 1, maybe for people Who are newer to the story, could you walk through the Smart Series and some of the pace and gross margin advantages Smart Series has versus Your traditional product, and then also as you think about the community, I mean, you talked about, Is there a path to getting Smart Series above 55% or getting to bigger percentage with the openings you're going to do through the rest of this year And into 24? Speaker 200:32:28Well, the Smart Series has been a grand slam home run for our company. Just opened it in Tampa in 2016, grown to over half of our business. I think that this that the 55% or so of our business that it represents today, It may go up a little, but I think it will hover between 50% 60% here for quite some time. It primarily caters to a first time buyer. It's a very well designed lineup of homes. Speaker 200:33:02It's a tight lineup. Not a lot of opportunity for, I'd call, non standard changes. The selection process It's very efficient. Smart Series buyers do not go through a design studio per se. They select their options Off of a predesigned menu, which gets homes from sale to start much quicker. Speaker 200:33:30And then once the home start because average square footage on a Smart Series home is probably around 2,000 square feet versus maybe 2 For 2,500 for the rest of our product line, we're able to build these homes quicker, which contributes to returns. And frankly, while we didn't expect it when we first designed it to sell for Better margins in many, many of our Smart Series communities, our margins are better. And I think Just because of the appeal and the quality of the product. And the other thing is we're getting better pace. So cycle time better, sale to start quicker, better pace, streamlined offerings, efficient way of running that part of our business, All of that is contributed to our top line and our bottom line. Speaker 600:34:35That's great. Thank you for taking my questions. Speaker 200:34:38Thanks, Jay. Operator00:34:42Your next question comes from Carl Reichardt at BTIG. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:34:49Thanks. Thanks for taking my questions, guys. Nice to talk to you. Jade just stole the one I was going to ask on Smart Series. So I want to ask another sort of one bigger picture one. Speaker 700:34:58So no maturities until 2028 And you're reasonably concentrated in some markets. As you look out at the opportunity set over the next 5 years to grow the business, Would we expect you to try to deepen share in existing markets or is new expansion to new markets on the table for you? And then how are you thinking about the acquisition environment right now of privates is really what I'm focused on, but even of public? I'm just curious your thoughts there. Thanks a Speaker 200:35:28bunch. Yes. No, good questions. First of all, we're just getting started in Nashville. We have a number of homes under construction and we will be generating our first sales in that market this year. Speaker 200:35:44We're in Nashville to grow over the next several years to 300 to 500 homes a year. Nashville is going to be a big contributor to growth As we move on down the line here over the next couple of years. Likewise in Fort Myers and Naples, we just got open there within the last We've got several communities and we expect to have a significant operation in Fort Myers, Naples as well. We're very bullish about that particular part of Florida and think it will be just a stronger contributor to Mi Homes as Tampa, Orlando and Sarasota have been. So in terms of expansion, we have a lot of work to do to get Scale and we're confident we'll be able to do so. Speaker 200:36:34A lot of work to get scale both Nashville and Fort Myers Naples. As far as additional expansion beyond that, no real plans at this point. But in 5 years, if we're in 17 markets today, I should Say in 5 years might we be in perhaps another one 2018 or maybe 2019. I think it's possible, but I also think that we have the ability and We've said this before, our current run rate is around 8,000 homes. Within the markets we're in, we think we can get to 12,000, 13,000, 14,000 homes And are poised to do so. Speaker 200:37:10And that is a very strong goal of our company. As far as the acquisition side, small privates or what have you, possible, It's not something that we're laser focused on. If an opportunity presented itself in a market that we're in or perhaps even a market that we're not, Always would look at it, but I think that in general organic growth rather than acquisition, we've done both, Had more success with organic very candidly. And we're really excited about the teams that we have on the field in both First of all, all of our markets, but in particular Nashville and Fort Myers Naples. And that's very exciting for the company as we go forward. Speaker 200:38:03Phil, I don't know if you have any Speaker 100:38:06That sounds great, Bob. Speaker 700:38:09Thank you, Bob, and thank you, Phil. Speaker 300:38:11Thank you, Carl. Operator00:38:15Your next question comes from Alex Barron at HRC. Please go ahead. Mr. Barron, your line is open. Did you have a question? Speaker 300:38:32Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. Sorry about that. Speaker 300:38:37Another call was trying to intercept my question. Yes, I wanted to focus on the Outside broker commissions, I think you mentioned they went up this quarter and I guess as a percentage of revenues it seems they were 5.3% versus 4.5% a year ago. Do you see this as just a temporary thing due to the slowdown that happened in the last At the end of 2022, in other words, is this percentage likely to trend back down or is this kind of a new normal for some reason? Speaker 200:39:16Bill, you want to take that? Speaker 100:39:20Alex, that's something we've worked very hard on the last few years And we had some divisions that got outside broker rates down to 2%, 2.5%, Especially with sales toughening, the last half of last year and The first of this year being a little slow also. So some of those rates have gone back up in certain markets where we're kind of getting Started up like Bob mentioned some of those realtor rates have moved up a little bit as far as percent of business. Very hard to predict what that's going to be. It is something we obviously focus on. It's a big item to us. Speaker 100:40:01But Now we try to manage that just like we do all of our other expenses. We think we're doing a pretty good job on SG and A. Today, we have about 9% less people than we did a year ago. So we focus always on our cost structure, including all those items. Another thing, of course, is having 15% more stores that's driving the non variable selling up. Speaker 100:40:26So we'll continue to focus on all those things. Speaker 300:40:31Okay, great. I guess on that same front, just wondering what percentage of your Sales generally come from brokers. And also, what are you guys doing in terms of digital marketing efforts? Can you Talk about that. Speaker 200:40:51Well, as far as the broker, Speaker 100:40:52if you look at the broker commission, The last few years, every market is a little different, but we've been in the 65% to 75% range. Speaker 200:41:03On the digital side, biggest part of our marketing, nothing even comes close, Formus area of emphasis for close to 4 years, 5 years now since that part of our business has changed so much. Everything that we can possibly do Speaker 300:41:31maximize sound Speaker 200:41:31online, search engine optimization and All the things associated with that, giant area of focus in every one of our divisions, there are people Exclusively dedicated to that, significant vintage of all of our leads are all start online, Very, mentally manage that online part of our business. It's as much a part of the blocking and tackling of our business, it's constructing a home as Net, marketing, online marketing, digital side of our business, That's a critical key part of our business. I can't emphasize it enough. Speaker 300:42:27Yes. And I'm sure it's only getting more competitive. All right. Well, thanks again and great job. Thanks. Operator00:42:36There are no further questions on the phone line. So I will turn the conference back to Phil Kreeck for any closing remarks. Speaker 100:42:43Thank you very much for joining us. Look forward to talking to you next quarter. Operator00:42:50Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for this morning. We would like to thank you all for participating and ask you to please disconnect your lines.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by