BUSINESS, BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND LIQUIDITY (Details Textual) (USD $)	12 Months Ended			68 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2008	Dec. 31, 2010	Jun. 18, 2010	Dec. 31, 2013 Held For Sale [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Held For Sale [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Held For Sale [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Can Partners [Member]	Jun. 07, 2011 Convertible Senior Notes Payable [Member]	Jun. 07, 2011 Convertible Senior Notes Payable [Member] Nwra Ventures I Llc [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 IMH Holdings, LLC [Member] subsidiary
Business, Basis of Presentation and Liquidity [Line Items]
Amount of fund raised in equity capital				$ 875,000,000
Percentage of membership units of the Fund approved the Fund to be internally managed						89.00%
Number of wholly-owned subsidiaries													2
Accumulated deficit	619,147,000	592,942,000
Debt instrument, face amount											50,000,000	50,000,000.0
Secured debt	24,800,000									10,000,000
Mortgages loans held-for-sale	12,541,000	73,297,000
Real estate acquired through foreclosure	202,507,000	118,971,000	101,507,000				86,562,000	54,050,000	34,644,000
Proceeds from sale of certain loans and REO assets	11,284,000	11,778,000	9,729,000
Proceeds from sale of a joint venture investment	4,200,000
Mortgage loan paydowns	8,617,000	12,460,000	7,103,000
Cash and cash equivalents	7,875,000	3,084,000	1,168,000		831,000
Restricted cash	5,777,000	14,914,000
Funds Secured For Working Capital Purposes	$ 60,000,000.0