Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 8 – Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activity

The Company is exposed to certain risks arising from both its business operations and economic conditions. The Company principally manages its exposures to a wide variety of business and operational risks through management of its core business activities. The Company manages economic risk, including interest rate, liquidity and credit risk primarily by managing the amount, sources and duration of its debt funding and, to a limited extent, the use of derivative instruments.

The Company’s objective in using interest rate derivatives is to manage its exposure to interest rate movements and add stability to interest expense. To accomplish this objective, the Company uses interest rate swaps as part of its interest rate risk management strategy. Interest rate swaps designated as cash flow hedges involve the receipt of variable rate amounts from a counterparty in exchange for the Company making fixed rate payments over the life of the agreement without exchange of the underlying notional amount.

In April 2012, we entered into a forward starting interest rate swap agreement to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $22,300,000 in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreement, we receive from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one-month LIBOR and pay to the counterparty a fixed rate of 1.92%. This swap effectively converted $22,300,000 of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from July 1, 2013 to May 1, 2019. As of December 31, 2014, this interest rate swap was valued as a liability of $425,000.

In December 2012, we entered into interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $25,000,000 in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreement, we receive from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one-month LIBOR and pay to the counterparty a fixed rate of 0.89%. This swap effectively converted $25,000,000 of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from December 6, 2012 to April 4, 2018. As of December 31, 2014, this interest rate swap was valued as an asset of $274,000.

In September 2013, we entered into an interest rate swap agreement to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $35,000,000 in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreement, we receive from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one-month LIBOR and pay to the counterparty a fixed rate of 2.20%. This swap effectively converted $35,000,000 of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from October 3, 2013 to September 29, 2020. As of December 31, 2014, this interest rate swap was valued as a liability of $911,000.

In July 2014, we entered into interest rate swap agreements to hedge against changes in future cash flows resulting from changes in interest rates on $65,000,000 in variable-rate borrowings. Under the terms of the interest rate swap agreement, we receive from the counterparty interest on the notional amount based on one-month LIBOR and pay to the counterparty a fixed rate of 2.09%. This swap effectively converted $65,000,000 of variable-rate borrowings to fixed-rate borrowings from July 21, 2014 to July 21, 2021. As of December 31, 2014, this interest rate swap was valued as a liability of $1,047,000.

Companies are required to recognize all derivative instruments as either assets or liabilities at fair value on the balance sheet. The Company has designated these derivative instruments as cash flow hedges. As such, changes in the fair value of the derivative instrument are recorded as a component of other comprehensive income (loss) for the year ended December 31, 2014 to the extent of effectiveness. The ineffective portion of the change in fair value of the derivative instrument is recognized in interest expense. For the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company has determined these derivative instruments to be effective hedges.

The company had the following outstanding interest rate derivatives that were designated as cash flow hedges of interest rate risk:

	Number of Instruments				Notional
	December 31,		December 31,		December 31,		December 31,
Interest Rate Derivatives	2014		2013		2014		2013
Interest Rate Swap		4		3	$	146,398,078	$	82,017,758

The table below presents the estimated fair value of the Company’s derivative financial instruments as well as their classification in the consolidated balance sheets.

	Asset Derivatives
	December 31, 2014				December 31, 2013
	Balance Sheet Location		Fair Value		Balance Sheet Location		Fair Value
Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges:
Interest Rate Swaps		Other Assets	$	274,013		Other Assets	$	679,234

	Liability Derivatives
	December 31, 2014				December 31, 2013
	Balance Sheet Location		Fair Value		Balance Sheet Location		Fair Value
Derivatives designated as cash flow hedges:
Interest Rate Swaps		Other Liabilities	$	2,383,308		Other Liabilities	$	204,696

The table below presents the effect of the Company’s derivative financial instruments in the consolidated statements of operations and other comprehensive loss for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships	Amount of Income/(Loss) Recognized in OCI on Derivative (Effective Portion)				Location of Income/(Loss) Reclassifed from Accumulated OCI into Income (Effective Portion)	Amount of Income/(Loss) Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Expense (Effective Portion)				Location of Loss Recognized In Income of Derivative (Ineffective Portion and Amount Excluded from Effectiveness Testing)	Amount of Loss Recognized in Income on Derivative (Ineffective Portion and Amount Excluded from Effectiveness Testing and Missed Forecasted Transactions)
	2014		2013			2014		2013			2014		2013
Interest rate swaps	$	(2,583,832)	$	1,812,536	Interest Expense	$	(1,875,420)	$	(773,120)		$	-	$	-

The Company does not use derivative instruments for trading or other speculative purposes and did not have any other derivative instruments or hedging activities as of December 31, 2014.