ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Regulation S-X.  Accordingly, these financial statements do not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for complete consolidated financial statements.  In the opinion of management, the interim data includes all normal recurring adjustments considered necessary to fairly state the results for the interim periods presented.  The preparation of interim condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our interim condensed consolidated financial statements, as well as the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from these estimates.  All significant intercompany and inter-segment transactions and accounts have been eliminated in consolidation.

The Mortgage Partnership of America, L.L.C. (“MPA”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Altisource, serves as the manager of Best Partners Mortgage Cooperative, Inc. (“BPMC”) doing business as Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative (“Lenders One”).  MPA provides services to Lenders One under a management agreement that ends on December 31, 2025.  The management agreement between MPA and Lenders One® members, pursuant to which MPA is the management company of Lenders One, represents a variable interest in a variable interest entity.  MPA is the primary beneficiary of Lenders One as it has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact Lenders One’s economic performance and the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from Lenders One.  As a result, Lenders One is presented in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements on a consolidated basis with the interests of the members reflected as non-controlling interests.  As of March 31, 2014, Lenders One had total assets of $5.0 million and total liabilities of $4.1 million.  As of December 31, 2013, Lenders One had total assets of $4.6 million and total liabilities of $3.5 million.

These interim condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, filed with the SEC on February 13, 2014, which contains a summary of our significant accounting policies.  Certain footnote detail in the Form 10-K is omitted from the information included herein.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Our financial assets and liabilities primarily include cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, long-term debt and acquisition-related contingent consideration.  Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash are carried at amounts that approximate their fair value due to the short-term nature of these instruments.  The fair value was determined by level 1 of the three level hierarchy established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement, using quoted prices in active markets for identical assets. The carrying amount of the long-term debt approximates fair value due to the variable interest rate.  The fair value was determined by level 2 of the three level hierarchy in ASC Topic 820 using inputs other than quoted prices that are observable, either directly or indirectly.  The Company estimates the fair value of acquisition-related contingent consideration, related to the acquisition of Equator, LLC (“Equator”) on November 15, 2013, to be $46.0 million.  The fair value was determined by level 3 of the three level hierarchy in ASC Topic 820 using unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities using a discounted probability-weighted approach.