Income Taxes - Reconciliation of Tax Rate (Details) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) item	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Reconciliation of statutory tax to effective tax
Federal statutory tax rate	$ 131,598	$ 164,286	$ 183,622
REIT and other non-taxable income	(123,209)	(148,514)	(160,745)
State income taxes	1,634	1,800	3,149
Federal benefit of state tax deduction	(572)	(630)	(1,102)
Valuation allowance	(2,966)	445	1,315
Other	1,859	(181)	(2,143)
Total	8,344	17,206	24,096
Income (Loss) from Continuing Operations before Income Taxes, Foreign	$ 14,100	$ 22,000	$ 13,500
Reconciliation of statutory tax rate to effective tax rate
Federal statutory tax rate (as a percent)	35.00%	35.00%	35.00%
REIT and other non-taxable income (as a percent)	(32.70%)	(31.60%)	(30.70%)
State income taxes (as a percent)	0.40%	0.40%	0.60%
Federal benefit of state tax deduction (as a percent)	(0.20%)	(0.10%)	(0.20%)
Valuation allowance (as a percent)	(0.80%)	0.10%	0.30%
Other (as a percent)	0.50%	(0.10%)	(0.40%)
Effective tax rate (as a percent)	2.20%	3.70%	4.60%
Change in the valuation allowance with deferred tax assets
Balance	$ 10,573	$ 11,200	$ 11,750
Additions (releases) to income tax provisions	(2,966)	445	1,315
Provision to return adjustments to deferred tax amounts		23	(822)
Foreign currency adjustments reflected in OCI	(417)	(770)	(1,086)
Release due to European servicing and advisory business divestiture	(1,585)
Other	(72)	(325)	43
Balance	$ 5,533	$ 10,573	$ 11,200
TRS entities
Reconciliation of statutory tax to effective tax
Number of entities merged | item	2
Net operating loss carryforwards previously subject to a full valuation that became realizable	$ 7,400
Reduction to income tax provision from reversal of valuation allowance	$ 3,000