Mortgage loans - Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2015	Dec. 31, 2015
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Amount accreted into interest	$ 35	$ 237	$ 72	$ 469
Performing financing receivable \| Residential mortgage \| Loans receivable
Mortgage Loans on Real Estate [Line Items]
Mortgage loans	6,000		6,000		$ 6,000
Mortgage loans held for sale	$ 4,100		$ 4,100		$ 4,000

Loans Receivable, Unpaid Principal Balance

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	aamc_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of decrease from accretion of the excess of a loan's cash flows expected to be collected over the investor's initial investment in acquired loans not accounted for as debt securities with evidence of deterioration of credit quality.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 30
-Section 15
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27045933&loc=d3e13503-111538

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6379141&loc=d3e15032-111544

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount, after allowance for bad debt, of mortgage loan receivables held-for-sale that are not part of a disposal group. Excludes loans and leases covered under loss sharing agreements and loans classified as debt securities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=28367877&loc=d3e4428-111522

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_ResidentialMortgageMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
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Period Type: