Real Estate Securities (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Schedule Of Real Estate Securities [Table Text Block]

The following table details the Company’s real estate securities portfolio as of December 31, 2016:

							Gross Unrealized (1)						Weighted Average
	Current Face		Premium / (Discount)		Amortized Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value		Coupon (2)			Yield
Agency RMBS:
30 Year Fixed Rate	$	713,234,586	$	28,338,222	$	741,572,808	$	3,672,057	$	(5,517,144)	$	739,727,721		3.64	%		2.99	%
Fixed Rate CMO		62,570,005		531,431		63,101,436		595,962		-		63,697,398		3.00	%		2.80	%
ARM		208,592,111		(1,633,175)		206,958,936		4,385,116		-		211,344,052		2.35	%		2.84	%
Interest Only		416,902,327		(375,843,483)		41,058,844		3,033,926		(1,198,215)		42,894,555		2.70	%		8.26	%
Credit Investments:
Non-Agency RMBS		1,255,224,713		(235,346,323)		1,019,878,390		28,705,591		(9,328,119)		1,039,255,862		4.31	%		6.03	%
Non-Agency RMBS Interest Only		449,759,113		(446,027,313)		3,731,800		33,512		(3,866)		3,761,446		0.25	%		12.47	%
ABS		22,025,000		(357,022)		21,667,978		100,247		(536,269)		21,231,956		5.43	%		6.32	%
CMBS		217,935,976		(56,549,776)		161,386,200		959,842		(2,830,108)		159,515,934		5.15	%		6.16	%
CMBS Interest Only		1,967,685,636		(1,916,198,928)		51,486,708		1,001,503		(351,485)		52,136,726		0.41	%		6.48	%
Total	$	5,313,929,467	$	(3,003,086,367)	$	2,310,843,100	$	42,487,756	$	(19,765,206)	$	2,333,565,650		2.18	%		4.76	%

(1) The Company has chosen to make a fair value election pursuant to ASC 825 for our real estate securities portfolio. Unrealized gains and losses are recognized in current period earnings in the unrealized gain/(loss) on real estate securities and loans, net line item in the consolidated statement of operations. The gross unrealized stated above represents inception to date unrealized gains/(losses).

(2) Equity residual investments and principal only securities with a zero coupon rate are excluded from this calculation.

The following table details the Company’s real estate securities portfolio as of December 31, 2015:

							Gross Unrealized (1)						Weighted Average
	Current Face		Premium / (Discount)		Amortized Cost		Gains		Losses		Fair Value		Coupon (2)			Yield
Agency RMBS:
20 Year Fixed Rate	$	782,276,607	$	34,905,903	$	817,182,510	$	6,674,932	$	(3,720,150)	$	820,137,292		3.76	%		3.10	%
30 Year Fixed Rate		76,098,478		672,376		76,770,854		1,254,658		-		78,025,512		3.00	%		2.81	%
Fixed Rate CMO		248,169,781		(2,658,877)		245,510,904		4,298,463		-		249,809,367		2.37	%		2.84	%
ARM		522,058,244		(468,676,886)		53,381,358		2,226,513		(2,138,390)		53,469,481		2.70	%		7.56	%
Interest Only
Credit Investments:		1,395,179,483		(183,015,256)		1,212,164,227		23,555,968		(11,462,911)		1,224,257,284		4.17	%		5.56	%
Non-Agency RMBS		465,387,354		(459,897,579)		5,489,775		351,842		(287,883)		5,553,734		0.12	%		11.05	%
ABS		56,264,253		(353,693)		55,910,560		236,424		(1,385,147)		54,761,837		5.26	%		5.62	%
CMBS		224,844,665		(89,380,593)		135,464,072		789,264		(1,382,362)		134,870,974		5.15	%		6.28	%
CMBS Interest Only		1,138,848,526		(1,124,644,529)		14,203,997		37,717		(163,998)		14,077,716		0.25	%		6.67	%
Total	$	4,909,127,391	$	(2,293,049,134)	$	2,616,078,257	$	39,425,781	$	(20,540,841)	$	2,634,963,197		2.52	%		4.55	%

(1) The Company has chosen to make a fair value election pursuant to ASC 825 for its real estate securities portfolio. Unrealized gains and losses are recognized in current period earnings in the unrealized gain/(loss) on real estate securities and loans, net line item in the consolidated statement of operations. The gross unrealized stated above represents inception to date unrealized gains/(losses).

(2) Equity residual investments and principal only securities with a zero coupon rate are excluded from this calculation.

Available-For-Sale Securities, Continuous Unrealized Loss Position, Fair Value [Table Text Block]

The following table presents the gross unrealized losses and fair value of the Company’s real estate securities by length of time that such securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position on December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015.

	Less than 12 months				Greater than 12 months
			Unrealized				Unrealized
As of	Fair Value		Losses		Fair Value		Losses
December 31, 2016	$	756,302,518	$	(12,017,743)	$	203,287,535	$	(7,747,463)
December 31, 2015		905,669,623		(13,906,215)		154,287,673		(6,634,626)

Weighted Average Life Of Real Estate Securities [Table Text Block]

The following table details weighted average life broken out by Agency RMBS, Agency Interest-Only (“IO”) and Credit Securities as of December 31, 2016:

	Agency RMBS (1)							Agency IO							Credit Investments (2)
					Weighted							Weighted							Weighted
					Average					Amortized		Average							Average
Weighted Average Life (3)	Fair Value		Amortized Cost		Coupon			Fair Value		Cost		Coupon			Fair Value		Amortized Cost		Coupon (4)
Less than or equal to 1 year	$	-	$	-		-		$	-	$	-		-		$	169,483,329	$	170,533,908		2.09	%
Greater than one year and less than or equal to five years		124,913,463		123,021,262		2.73	%		28,514,942		27,995,835		2.23	%		430,525,739		430,108,024		0.94	%
Greater than five years and less than or equal to ten years		808,271,767		806,474,038		3.44	%		14,379,613		13,063,009		5.14	%		425,043,315		418,094,774		2.30	%
Greater than ten years		81,583,941		82,137,880		3.10	%		-		-		-			250,849,541		239,414,370		5.88	%
Total	$	1,014,769,171	$	1,011,633,180		3.32	%	$	42,894,555	$	41,058,844		2.70	%	$	1,275,901,924	$	1,258,151,076		1.82	%

(1) For purposes of this table, Agency RMBS represent securities backed by Fixed Rate 30 Year mortgages, ARMs and Fixed Rate CMOs.

(2) For purposes of this table, Credit Investments represent Non-Agency RMBS, ABS, CMBS and Interest Only credit securities.

(3) Actual maturities of mortgage-backed securities are generally shorter than stated contractual maturities. Maturities are affected by the contractual lives of the underlying mortgages, periodic payments of principal and prepayments of principal.

(4) Equity residual investments and principal only securities with a zero coupon rate are excluded from this calculation.

The following table details weighted average life broken out by Agency RMBS, Agency IO and Credit Securities as of December 31, 2015:

	Agency RMBS (1)							Agency IO							Credit Investments (2)
					Weighted							Weighted							Weighted
					Average					Amortized		Average							Average
Weighted Average Life (3)	Fair Value		Amortized Cost		Coupon			Fair Value		Cost		Coupon			Fair Value		Amortized Cost		Coupon (4)
Less than or equal to 1 year	$	-	$	-		-		$	-	$	-		-		$	61,279,492	$	62,031,034		4.92	%
Greater than one year and less than or equal to five years		8,855,191		8,698,829		2.53	%		35,583,940		36,517,583		2.19	%		465,361,086		465,420,736		1.20	%
Greater than five years and less than or equal to ten years		1,130,350,078		1,122,059,484		3.39	%		17,885,541		16,863,775		5.33	%		602,483,200		599,969,280		2.21	%
Greater than ten years		8,766,902		8,705,955		4.11	%		-		-		-			304,397,767		295,811,581		5.71	%
Total	$	1,147,972,171	$	1,139,464,268		3.39	%	$	53,469,481	$	53,381,358		2.70	%	$	1,433,521,545	$	1,423,232,631		2.18	%

(1) For purposes of this table, Agency RMBS represent securities backed by Fixed Rate 20 Year and Fixed Rate 30 Year mortgages, ARMs and Fixed Rate CMOs.

(2) For purposes of this table, Credit Investments represent Non-Agency RMBS, ABS, CMBS and Interest Only credit securities.

(3) Actual maturities of mortgage-backed securities are generally shorter than stated contractual maturities. Maturities are affected by the contractual lives of the underlying mortgages, periodic payments of principal and prepayments of principal.

(4) Equity residual investments and principal only securities with a zero coupon rate are excluded from this calculation.