Consolidated Balance Sheets - USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Assets
Residential mortgage loans, at fair value -$31,031,107 and $50,686,922 pledged as collateral, respectively	$ 38,195,576	$ 57,080,227
Commercial loans, at fair value - $32,800,000 and $62,800,000 pledged as collateral, respectively	60,068,800	72,800,000
U.S. Treasury securities, at fair value - $0 and $203,520,859 pledged as collateral, respectively	0	223,434,922
Investments in debt and equity of affiliates	72,215,919	43,040,191
Excess mortgage servicing rights, at fair value	412,648	425,311
Cash and cash equivalents	52,469,891	46,253,291
Restricted cash	26,583,527	32,200,558
Interest receivable	8,570,383	11,154,785
Receivable on unsettled trades - $3,057,814 and $0 pledged as collateral, respectively	3,633,161	0
Receivable under reverse repurchase agreements	22,680,000	0
Derivative assets, at fair value	3,703,366	1,755,467
Other assets	5,600,341	16,064,115
Due from broker	945,304	24,904,168
Total Assets	2,628,644,566	3,164,076,232
Liabilities
Repurchase agreements	1,900,509,806	2,034,963,460
FHLBC advances	0	396,894,000
Securitized debt	21,491,710	30,046,861
Loan participation payable	1,800,000	0
Obligation to return securities borrowed under reverse repurchase agreements, at fair value	22,365,000	0
Payable on unsettled trades	0	1,198,587
Interest payable	2,570,854	2,731,846
Derivative liabilities, at fair value	2,907,255	6,863,770
Dividend payable	13,157,573	13,496,139
Due to affiliates	3,967,622	4,407,051
Accrued expenses	1,068,779	2,074,628
Taxes payable	1,717,883	1,714,716
Due to broker	1,211,694	2,740,461
Total Liabilities	1,972,768,176	2,497,131,519
Stockholders' Equity
Common stock, par value $0.01 per share; 450,000,000 shares of common stock authorized and 27,700,154 and 28,286,210 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively	277,002	282,863
Additional paid-in capital	576,276,322	584,581,995
Retained earnings/(deficit)	(81,890,939)	(79,134,150)
Total Stockholders' Equity	655,876,390	666,944,713
Total Liabilities & Stockholders' Equity	2,628,644,566	3,164,076,232
8.25% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock [Member]
Stockholders' Equity
Preferred stock - $0.01 par value; 50,000,000 shares authorized:	49,920,772	49,920,772
8.00% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock [Member]
Stockholders' Equity
Preferred stock - $0.01 par value; 50,000,000 shares authorized:	111,293,233	111,293,233
Agency [Member]
Assets
Real estate securities, at fair value:	1,057,663,726	1,201,441,652
Non-Agency [Member]
Assets
Real estate securities, at fair value:	1,043,017,308	1,229,811,018
ABS [Member]
Assets
Real estate securities, at fair value:	21,231,956	54,761,837
CMBS [Member]
Assets
Real estate securities, at fair value:	$ 211,652,660	$ 148,948,690