Consolidated Balance Sheets - USD ($)		Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
ASSETS
Available-for-sale securities, at fair value (includes pledged securities of $876,121,505 and $571,086,035 for December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively)	[1]	$ 870,929,601	$ 571,466,581
Mortgage loans held-for-sale, at fair value (includes pledged loans of $0 and $10,900,402 for December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively)	[1]	2,849,536	10,900,402
Multi-family loans held in securitization trusts, at fair value	[1]	1,222,905,433	1,449,774,383
Residential loans held in securitization trusts, at fair value	[1]	141,126,720	411,881,097
Mortgage servicing rights, at fair value	[1]	3,440,809	4,268,673
Cash and cash equivalents	[1]	27,534,374	26,140,718
Restricted cash	[1]	10,355,222	8,174,638
Deferred offering costs	[1]	96,489	0
Accrued interest receivable	[1]	7,619,717	8,650,986
Dividends receivable	[1]	122	26,022
Investment related receivable	[1]	3,914,458	1,591,343
Derivative assets, at fair value	[1]	8,053,813	2,558,350
FHLB stock	[1]	0	2,403,000
Other assets	[1]	774,909	530,468
Total assets	[1]	2,299,601,203	2,498,366,661
Repurchase agreements:
Available-for-sale securities	[1]	804,811,000	509,231,000
Mortgage loans held-for-sale	[1]	0	9,504,457
FHLB Advances	[1]	0	49,697,000
Multi-family securitized debt obligations	[1]	1,204,583,678	1,364,077,012
Residential securitized debt obligations	[1]	134,846,348	380,638,423
Accrued interest payable	[1]	5,467,916	6,574,699
Dividends payable	[1]	39,132	39,132
Deferred income	[1]	203,743	0
Due to broker	[1]	4,244,678	0
Fees and expenses payable to Manager	[1]	880,000	842,903
Other accounts payable and accrued expenses	[1]	2,057,843	267,507
Total liabilities	[1]	2,157,134,338	2,320,872,133
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY:
Preferred Stock: par value $0.01 per share; 50,000,000 shares authorized, 8.75% Series A cumulative redeemable, $25 liquidation preference, 1,610,000 and 1,610,000 issued and outstanding at December, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively	[1]	37,156,972	37,156,972
Common Stock: par value $0.01 per share; 450,000,000 shares authorized, 17,539,258 and 14,656,394 shares issued and outstanding, at December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively	[1]	175,348	146,409
Additional paid-in capital	[1]	204,264,868	189,037,702
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	[1]	(6,831,940)	(395,771)
Cumulative distributions to stockholders	[1]	(89,224,194)	(55,803,240)
Accumulated earnings (deficit)	[1]	(3,074,189)	7,352,456
Total stockholders' equity	[1]	142,466,865	177,494,528
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity	[1]	$ 2,299,601,203	$ 2,498,366,661

[1] Our consolidated balance sheets include assets and liabilities of consolidated variable interest entities (“VIE's) as the Company is the primary beneficiary of these VIEs. As of December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, assets of consolidated VIEs totaled $1,369,120,941 and $1,868,482,556, respectively, and the liabilities of consolidated VIEs totaled $1,344,404,080 and $1,750,916,265, respectively