ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

NOTE 1. ORGANIZATION AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Organization

As used herein, the terms “IOT”, “the Company”, “we”, “our”, “us” refer to Income Opportunity Realty Investors, Inc., a Nevada corporation which was formed in 1984. The Company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and its common stock trades on the NYSE MKT under the symbol (“IOT”).

Transcontinental Realty Investors, Inc. (“TCI”) owns approximately 81.1% of the Company’s common stock. Accordingly, IOT’s financial results are consolidated with those of TCI and its subsidiaries. IOT is a “C” corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes and is included in the annual consolidated income tax return with of TCI’s parent American Realty Investors, Inc, (“ARL”) and its ultimate parent, May Realty Holdings, Inc. . We have no employees.

IOT invests in real estate through direct ownership, leases and partnerships and also invests in mortgage loans on real estate. Pillar Income Asset Management, Inc. (“Pillar”) is the Company’s external Advisor and Cash Manager. Although the Board of Directors is directly responsible for managing the affairs of IOT, and for setting the policies which guide it, the day-to-day operations of IOT are performed by Pillar, as the contractual Advisor, under the supervision of the Board.  Pillar’s duties include, but are not limited to, locating, evaluating and recommending real estate and real estate-related investment opportunities and arranging debt and equity financing for the Company with third party lenders and investors.  Additionally, Pillar serves as a consultant to the Board with regard to their decisions in connection with IOT’s business plan and investment policy.  Pillar also serves as an Advisor and Cash Manager to TCI and ARL.

Our primary business is investing in real estate and mortgage receivables. Land held for development or sale is our sole operating segment. At September 30, 2015, our land consisted of 184.7 acres of land held for future development or sale. All of our land holdings are located in Farmers Branch, Texas. The principal source of revenue for the Company is interest income on approximately $25.4 million of notes receivable due from related parties.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted in accordance with such rules and regulations, although management believes the disclosures are adequate to prevent the information presented from being misleading. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring matters) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. The results of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for other interim periods or for the full fiscal year.

The year-end Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2014, was derived from the audited Consolidated Financial Statements at that date, but does not include all of the information and disclosures required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. For further information, refer to the Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. Certain 2014 Consolidated Financial Statement amounts have been reclassified to conform to the 2015 presentation.

Principles of Consolidation

The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements include our accounts, our subsidiaries, generally all of which are wholly-owned, and all entities in which we have a controlling interest. Arrangements that are not controlled through voting or similar rights are accounted for as a Variable Interest Entity (“VIE”), in accordance with the provisions and guidance of ASC Topic 810 “Consolidation”, whereby we have determined that we are a primary beneficiary of the VIE and meet certain criteria of a sole general partner or managing member as identified in accordance with Emerging Issues Task Force (“EITF”) Issue 04-5, Investor’s Accounting for an Investment in a Limited Partnership when the Investor is the Sole General Partner and the Limited Partners have Certain Rights (“EITF 04-5”). VIEs are generally entities that lack sufficient equity to finance their activities without additional financial support from other parties or whose equity holders as a group lack adequate decision making ability, the obligation to absorb expected losses or residual returns of the entity, or have voting rights that are not proportional to their economic interests. The primary beneficiary generally is the entity that provides financial support and bears a majority of the financial risks, authorizes certain capital transactions, or makes operating decisions that materially affect the entity’s financial results. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

In determining whether we are the primary beneficiary of a VIE, we consider qualitative and quantitative factors, including, but not limited to: the amount and characteristics of our investment; the obligation or likelihood for us or other investors to provide financial support; our and the other investors’ ability to control or significantly influence key decisions for the VIE; and the similarity with and significance to the business activities of us and the other investors. Significant judgments related to these determinations include estimates about the current future fair values and performance of real estate held by these VIEs and general market conditions. As of September 30, 2015, IOT was not the primary beneficiary of a VIE.

Real Estate, Depreciation and Impairment

Real estate assets are stated at the lower of depreciated cost or fair value, if deemed impaired. Major replacements and betterments are capitalized and depreciated over their estimated useful lives. Depreciation is computed on a straight-line basis over the useful lives of the properties (buildings and improvements – 10-40 years; furniture, fixtures and equipment – 5-10 years). The Company continually evaluates the recoverability of the carrying value of our real estate assets using the methodology prescribed in ASC Topic 360 (“ASC 360”), “Property, Plant and Equipment”. Factors considered by management in evaluating impairment of our existing real estate assets held for investment include significant declines in property operating profits, annually recurring property operating losses and other significant adverse changes in general market conditions that are considered permanent in nature. Under ASC 360, a real estate asset held for investment is not considered impaired if the undiscounted, estimated future cash flows of an asset (both the annual estimated cash flow from future operations and the estimated cash flow from the theoretical sale of the asset) over its estimated holding period are in excess of the asset’s net book value at the balance sheet date. If any real estate asset held for investment is considered impaired, a loss is provided to reduce the carrying value of the asset to its estimated fair value.

Real Estate Held For Sale

We periodically classify real estate assets as “held for sale”. An asset is classified as held for sale after the approval of our Board of Directors, after an active program to sell the asset has commenced and if the sale is probable. One of the deciding factors in determining whether a sale is probable is whether the firm purchase commitment is obtained and whether the sale is probable within the year. Upon the classification of a real estate asset as held for sale, the carrying value of the asset is reduced to the lower of its net book value or its estimated fair value, less costs to sell the asset. Subsequent to the classification of assets as held for sale, no further depreciation expense is recorded. Real estate assets held for sale are stated separately on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets. Upon a decision that the sale is no longer probable, the asset is classified as an operating asset and depreciation expense is reinstated.

Prior to January 1, 2015, the operating results of real estate assets held for sale and sold are reported as discontinued operations in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations. Income from discontinued operations includes the revenues and expenses, including depreciation and interest expense, associated with the assets. Subsequent to January 1, 2015, Accounting Standards Update 2014-08, “Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity” (“ASU 2014-08”) substantially changed the criteria for determining whether a disposition qualifies for discontinued operations presentation. Adoption of this standard will result in substantially fewer of the Company’s dispositions meeting the discontinued operations criteria.

Cost Capitalization

Costs related to planning, developing, leasing and constructing a property are capitalized and classified as Real Estate in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. We capitalize interest to qualifying assets under development based on average accumulated expenditures outstanding during the period. In capitalizing interest to qualifying assets, we first use the interest incurred on specific project debt, if any, and next use the weighted average interest rate of non-project specific debt.

We capitalize interest, real estate taxes and certain operating expenses until building construction is substantially complete and the building is ready for its intended use, but no later than one year from the cessation of major construction activity.

We capitalize leasing costs, which include commissions paid to outside brokers, legal costs incurred to negotiate and document a lease agreement and any internal costs that may be applicable. We allocate these costs to individual tenant leases and amortize them over the related lease term.

Fair Value Measurement

We apply the guidance in ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures”, to the valuation of real estate assets. These provisions define fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in a transaction between market participants at the measurement date, establish a hierarchy that prioritizes the information used in developing fair value estimates and require disclosure of fair value measurements by level within the fair value hierarchy. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable data (Level 3 measurements), such as the reporting entity’s own data.

The valuation hierarchy is based upon the transparency of inputs to the valuation of an asset or liability as of the measurement date and includes three levels defined as follows:

Level 1 –	Unadjusted quoted prices for identical and unrestricted assets or liabilities in active markets.
Level 2 –	Quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets, and inputs that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the financial instrument.
Level 3 –	Unobservable inputs that are significant to the fair value measurement.

A financial instrument’s categorization within the valuation hierarchy is based upon the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

Related Parties

We apply ASC Topic 805, “Business Combinations”, to evaluate business relationships. Related parties are persons or entities who have one or more of the following characteristics, which include entities for which investments in their equity securities would be required, trust for the benefit of persons including principal owners of the entities and members of their immediate families, management personnel of the entity and members of their immediate families and other parties with which the entity may deal if one party controls or can significantly influence the decision making of the other to an extent that one of the transacting parties might be prevented from fully pursuing its own separate interests, or affiliates of the entity.

Newly Issued Accounting Pronouncements

In April 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-08, ”Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity”, which changes the criteria for determining which disposals qualify to be accounted for as discontinued operations and modifies related reporting and disclosure requirements.

Disposals representing a strategic shift in operations, such as change in a major line of business, a major geographical area or major equity investment, that have a major effect on a company’s operations and financial results will be presented as discontinued operations. If the disposal does qualify as a discontinued operation under ASU 2014-08, the company will be required to expand their disclosures about discontinued operations to provide more information on the assets, liabilities, income and expenses of the disposed of component. The classification of operating results as discontinued operations applied retroactively for all periods presented. The new standard was effective January 1, 2015. We adopted ASU 2014-08 as of January 1, 2015 and believe future sales of our individual operating properties will no longer qualify as discontinued operations. Adoption of this standard has resulted in substantially fewer of the Company’s dispositions meeting the discontinued operations criteria. See Note 7 below.

In May 2014, Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09 (“ASU 2014-09”), “Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” was issued. This new guidance established a new single comprehensive revenue recognition model and provides for enhanced disclosures. Under the new guidance, the nature, timing and amount of revenue recognized for certain transactions could differ from those recognized under existing accounting guidance. This new guidance does not affect revenue recognized under lease contracts. ASU 2014-09 is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. The Company is currently evaluating the impact the adoption of this guidance, if any, on its financial position and results of operations.

In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-03, ”Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs” (“ASU 2015-03”).  ASU 2015-03 requires debt issuance costs to be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying value of the associated debt liability, consistent with the presentation of a debt discount. Prior to the issuance of the standard, debt issuance costs were required to be presented in the balance sheet as an asset. The Company has adopted this standard effective June 30, 2015. The accompanying financials have been reclassified to reflect the adoption.