VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (Fair Value, by Balance Sheet Grouping) (Details) RSO (RSO [Member], USD $)	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Loans held-for-investment	$ 1,744,899,000	$ 1,369,526,000
Loans receivable-related party	4,172,000	6,966,000
Borrowings, at fair value	94,900,000	0
Loans, pledged as collateral, at fair value	83,000,000	0
Outstanding Borrowings	1,590,958,000	1,319,810,000
Carrying Amount [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Loans held-for-investment	1,744,899,000	1,369,526,000
Loans receivable-related party	4,172,000	6,966,000
CDO notes	1,213,852,000	1,070,339,000
Junior subordinated notes payable	51,154,000	51,005,000
Repurchase agreements	185,062,000	77,304,000
Outstanding Borrowings	32,911,000
Fair Value [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Loans held-for-investment	1,730,763,000	1,358,434,000
Loans receivable-related party	4,172,000	6,966,000
CDO notes	1,131,145,000	653,617,000
Junior subordinated notes payable	17,648,000	17,499,000
Repurchase agreements	185,062,000	77,304,000
Outstanding Borrowings	32,911,000
Level 1 [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Loans held-for-investment	0	0
Loans receivable-related party	0	0
CDO notes	0	0
Junior subordinated notes payable	0	0
Repurchase agreements	0	0
Outstanding Borrowings	0
Level 2 [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Loans held-for-investment	632,815,000	545,352,000
Loans receivable-related party	0	0
CDO notes	1,131,145,000	653,617,000
Junior subordinated notes payable	0	0
Repurchase agreements	0	0
Outstanding Borrowings	0
Level 3 [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Loans held-for-investment	1,097,948,000	813,082,000
Loans receivable-related party	4,172,000	6,966,000
CDO notes	0	0
Junior subordinated notes payable	17,648,000	17,499,000
Repurchase agreements	185,062,000	77,304,000
Outstanding Borrowings	32,911,000
Loans Receivable [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Loans held-for-investment	89,200,000
Loans, pledged as collateral, at fair value	83,000,000
Long-term Debt [Member]
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
CDO notes	95,000,000
Borrowings, at fair value	$ 92,500,000