VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES (Schedule of Carrying Value of Assets and Liabilities of Consolidated VIEs) (Details) RSO (RSO [Member], USD $)	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
ASSETS
Restricted cash	$ 113,362,000	$ 61,372,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	116,429,000	105,846,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	1,305,377,000	1,219,569,000
Loans held for sale	272,000	2,376,000
Interest receivable	6,626,000	5,627,000
Prepaid assets	163,000	247,000
Principal receivable	1,000	6,821,000
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	1,542,230,000	1,401,858,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	1,183,468,000	1,070,339,000
Accrued interest expense	1,356,000	918,000
Derivatives, at fair value	9,841,000	10,191,000
Accounts payable and other liabilities	4,150,000	1,604,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	1,198,815,000	1,083,052,000
RSO [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	113,362,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	116,429,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	1,305,377,000
Loans held for sale	272,000
Interest receivable	6,626,000
Prepaid assets	163,000
Principal receivable	1,000
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	1,542,230,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	1,183,468,000
Accrued interest expense	1,356,000
Derivatives, at fair value	9,841,000
Accounts payable and other liabilities	4,150,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	1,198,815,000
Restricted cash available for reinvestment in certain of the CDOs	51,300,000
RSO [Member] | Apidos CDO I Ltd. [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	11,951,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	7,250,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	70,988,000
Loans held for sale	97,000
Interest receivable	(193,000)
Prepaid assets	20,000
Principal receivable	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	90,113,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	73,815,000
Accrued interest expense	255,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	133,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	74,203,000
RSO [Member] | Apidos CDO III Ltd. [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	7,217,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	3,922,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	112,953,000
Loans held for sale	175,000
Interest receivable	513,000
Prepaid assets	20,000
Principal receivable	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	124,800,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	112,511,000
Accrued interest expense	56,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	18,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	112,585,000
RSO [Member] | Apidos Cinco CDO Ltd [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	48,362,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	13,940,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	284,373,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	1,044,000
Prepaid assets	36,000
Principal receivable	1,000
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	347,756,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	319,797,000
Accrued interest expense	299,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	22,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	320,118,000
RSO [Member] | Apidos CLO VIII Ltd. [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	134,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	0
Loans, pledged as collateral	0
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	0
Prepaid assets	0
Principal receivable	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	134,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	0
Accrued interest expense	0
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	284,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	284,000
RSO [Member] | Whitney CLO I, Ltd. [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	160,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	0
Loans, pledged as collateral	0
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	6,000
Prepaid assets	0
Principal receivable	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	166,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	133,000
Accrued interest expense	0
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	519,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	652,000
RSO [Member] | Resource Real Estate Funding CDO 2006-1 [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	18,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	9,996,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	159,797,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	1,825,000
Prepaid assets	50,000
Principal receivable	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	171,686,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	100,184,000
Accrued interest expense	48,000
Derivatives, at fair value	1,504,000
Accounts payable and other liabilities	4,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	101,740,000
RSO [Member] | Resource Real Estate Funding CDO 2007-1 [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	250,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	67,015,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	228,686,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	2,111,000
Prepaid assets	37,000
Principal receivable	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	298,099,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	147,866,000
Accrued interest expense	115,000
Derivatives, at fair value	8,337,000
Accounts payable and other liabilities	1,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	156,319,000
RSO [Member] | CRE Notes 2013 [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	4,805,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	0
Loans, pledged as collateral	298,575,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	1,320,000
Prepaid assets	0
Principal receivable	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	304,700,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	256,866,000
Accrued interest expense	205,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	0
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	257,071,000
RSO [Member] | Moselle [Member]
ASSETS
Restricted cash	40,465,000
Investment securities available-for-sale, pledged as collateral, at fair value	14,306,000
Loans, pledged as collateral	150,005,000
Loans held for sale	0
Interest receivable	0
Prepaid assets	0
Principal receivable	0
Total assets of consolidated VIE - RSO	204,776,000
LIABILITIES
Borrowings	172,296,000
Accrued interest expense	378,000
Derivatives, at fair value	0
Accounts payable and other liabilities	3,169,000
Total liabilities of consolidated VIE - RSO	$ 175,843,000