Cash Equivalents

Cash equivalents include demand deposits with banks, money market accounts and highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less. As of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, approximately 75% and 67%, respectively, of the Company’s cash equivalents were invested in money market funds that invest primarily in U.S. Treasuries and other securities backed by the U.S. government.

Interest Income Recognition for Investments in Agency MBS and Mortgage Loans of Consolidated VIEs and Credit Securities of High Credit Quality

Interest Income Recognition for Investments in Agency MBS, Mortgage Loans of Consolidated VIEs and Credit Securities of High Credit Quality

The Company recognizes interest income for its investments in agency MBS, mortgage loans of consolidated variable interest entities (“VIEs”) and credit securities that are considered to be of high credit quality (that is, those with a Standard & Poor's rating of AA or higher or an equivalent rating from another rating agency) by applying the “interest method” permitted by GAAP, whereby purchase premiums and discounts are amortized and accreted, respectively, as an adjustment to contractual interest income accrued at each investment’s stated interest rate. The interest method is applied at the individual instrument level based upon each instrument’s effective interest rate. The Company calculates each instrument’s effective interest rate at the time of purchase or initial recognition by solving for the discount rate that equates the present value of that instrument's remaining contractual cash flows (assuming no principal prepayments) to its purchase cost. Because each instrument’s effective interest rate does not reflect an estimate of future prepayments, the Company refers to this manner of applying the interest method as the “contractual effective interest method.” When applying the contractual effective interest method, as principal prepayments occur, a proportional amount of the unamortized premium or unaccreted discount is recognized in interest income such that the contractual effective interest rate on any remaining security or loan balance is unaffected.

For mortgage loans of consolidated VIEs, the Company ceases the accrual of interest income (i.e., places the loan in non-accrual status) when it believes collectability of principal and interest in full is not reasonably assured, which generally occurs when a loan is three or more monthly payments past due, unless the loan is well secured and in the process of collection based upon an individual loan assessment. Upon placing a loan in non-accrual status, any previously accrued but uncollected interest is derecognized and a corresponding reduction to current period interest income is recorded. While a loan is in non-accrual status, the Company recognizes interest income only when interest payments occur.

Other Significant Accounting Policies

Certain of the Company’s other significant accounting policies are summarized in the following notes:


Investments in agency MBS, subsequent measurement	Note 3
Investments in credit securities, subsequent measurement Loans held for investment, subsequent measurement Investments in MSR financing receivables, subsequent measurement Investments in SFR properties	Note 4 Note 5 Note 6 Note 7
Consolidation of variable interest entities Borrowings	Note 8 Note 9
To-be-announced agency MBS transactions, including “dollar rolls”	Note 10
Derivative instruments	Note 10
Balance sheet offsetting	Note 11
Fair value measurements Income taxes	Note 12 Note 13
Stock-based compensation	Note 16

Refer to the Company’s 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K for a complete inventory and summary of the Company’s significant accounting policies.

Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities

The vehicles that issue the Company’s investments in securitized mortgage assets are considered VIEs. The Company is required to consolidate any VIE in which it holds a variable interest if it determines that it holds a controlling financial interest in the VIE and is, therefore, determined to be the primary beneficiary of the VIE. The Company is determined to be the primary beneficiary of a VIE in which it holds a variable interest if it both (i) holds the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance and (ii) has the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits that could potentially be significant to the VIE. The economic performance of the trusts that issue the Company’s investments in securitized mortgage assets is most significantly impacted by the performance of the mortgage loans that are held by the trusts. The party that is determined to have the most power to direct the loss mitigation actions that are taken with respect to delinquent or otherwise troubled mortgage loans held by the trust is, therefore, deemed to hold the most power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the trust’s economic performance. As a passive investor, the Company does not have the power to direct the loss mitigation activities of most of the trusts that have issued its securitized mortgage assets.

Derivative Instruments

In the normal course of its operations, the Company is a party to financial instruments that are accounted for as derivative instruments. Derivative instruments are recorded at fair value as either “other assets” or “other liabilities” in the consolidated balance sheets, with all periodic changes in fair value reflected as a component of “investment and derivative gain (loss), net” in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income. Cash receipts or payments related to derivative instruments are classified as investing activities within the consolidated statements of cash flows.

In addition to interest rate hedging instruments that are used for interest rate risk management, the Company is a party to derivative instruments that economically serve as investments, such as forward commitments to purchase fixed-rate “pass-through” agency MBS on a non-specified pool basis, which are known as to-be-announced (“TBA”) securities. A TBA security is a forward commitment for the purchase or sale of a fixed-rate agency MBS at a predetermined price, face amount, issuer, coupon, and stated maturity for settlement on an agreed upon future date. The specific agency MBS that will be delivered to satisfy the TBA trade is not known at the inception of the trade. The specific agency MBS to be delivered is determined 48 hours prior to the settlement date. The Company accounts for TBA securities as derivative instruments because the Company cannot assert that it is probable at inception and throughout the term of an individual TBA commitment that its settlement will result in physical delivery of the underlying agency MBS, or the individual TBA commitment will not settle in the shortest time period possible.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The accounting principles related to fair value measurements define fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, establishes a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three broad levels, giving the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3) as described below:


	Level 1 Inputs -	Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that are accessible by the Company at the measurement date;


	Level 2 Inputs -	Quoted prices in markets that are not active or financial instruments for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly; and


	Level 3 Inputs -	Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability, including significant judgments made by the Company about the assumptions that a market participant would use.

The Company measures the fair value of the following assets and liabilities:

Investment Security Purchases and Sales

The Company has elected to account for the mortgage loans and debt of its consolidated VIEs at fair value with changes in fair value that are not attributed to interest income or interest expense, respectively, recognized as a component of “investment and derivative gain (loss), net” in the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

Investment Security Purchases and Sales

The Company’s investments in SFR properties are initially recognized on the settlement date of their acquisition at cost. The Company allocates the initial acquisition cost of each property to land and building on the basis of their relative fair values at the time of acquisition. To determine the relative fair value of land and building at the time of acquisition, the Company uses available market data, such as property specific county tax assessment records.

Subsequent to the acquisition of a property, expenditures which improve or extend the life of the property are capitalized as a component of the property’s cost basis. Expenditures for ordinary maintenance and repairs are recognized as an expense as incurred and are reported as a component of “single-family property operating expenses” in the Company’s consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

The Company subsequently recognizes depreciation of each property’s buildings and capitalized improvements over the expected useful lives of those assets. The Company calculates depreciation on a straight-line basis over a useful life of 27.5 years for buildings and useful lives ranging from five to 27.5 years for capitalized improvements. The Company reports depreciation expense as a component of “single-family property operating expenses” in the Company’s consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

Investment Security Purchases and Sales

The Company has elected to classify its investments in agency MBS as trading securities. Accordingly, the Company’s investments in agency MBS are reported in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets at fair value. As of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the fair value of the Company’s investments in agency MBS was $445,122 and $483,927, respectively.

Investment Security Purchases and Sales

The Company has elected to classify its investments in credit securities as trading securities. Accordingly, the Company’s investments in credit securities are reported in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets at fair value. As of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the fair value of the Company’s investments in credit securities was $115,783 and $26,222, respectively.

Investment Security Purchases and Sales

The Company has elected to account for its loan held for investment at fair value on a recurring basis with periodic changes in fair value recognized as a component of “investment and derivative gain (loss), net” in the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

Investment Security Purchases and Sales

The Company accounts for transactions executed under its arrangement with the mortgage servicing counterparty as financing transactions and reflects the associated financing receivables in the line item “MSR financing receivables” on its consolidated balance sheets. The Company has elected to account for its MSR financing receivables at fair value with changes in fair value that are not attributed to interest income recognized as a component of “investment and derivative gain (loss), net” in the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive income. As described in further detail in “Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” the Company recognizes interest income for MSR financing receivables by applying the prospective level-yield methodology required by GAAP for financial assets that are either not of high credit quality at the time of acquisition or can be contractually prepaid or otherwise settled in such a way that the Company would not recover substantially all of its recorded investment.