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Significant Accounting Policies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2016
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Significant Accounting Policies
Significant Accounting Policies
 
Basis of Presentation
 
The condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and include the accounts of the Company, the operating partnership and its consolidated subsidiaries. Intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. The Company consolidates real estate partnerships and other entities that are not variable interest entities (“VIEs”) when it owns, directly or indirectly, a majority interest in the entity or is otherwise able to control the entity. The Company consolidates VIEs in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) No. 810, Consolidation, if it is the primary beneficiary of the VIE as determined by its power to direct the VIE’s activities and the obligation to absorb its losses or the right to receive its benefits, which are potentially significant to the VIE. Entities for which the Company owns an interest, but does not consolidate, are accounted for under the equity method of accounting as an investment in unconsolidated subsidiary and are included in escrow deposits, prepaid expenses and other assets within the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Ownership interests in certain consolidated subsidiaries of the Company held by outside parties are included in noncontrolling interest within the condensed consolidated financial statements.

The condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and in conjunction with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Certain information and footnote disclosures required for annual financial statements have been condensed or excluded pursuant to SEC rules and regulations. Accordingly, the condensed consolidated financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. In the opinion of management, all adjustments of a normal and recurring nature necessary for a fair presentation of the condensed consolidated financial statements for the interim periods have been made. The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the condensed consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Effective January 1, 2016, in accordance with Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2015-03, Interest-Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs, deferred financing costs, net of amortization, related to our asset-backed securitizations have been classified in asset-backed securitizations, net within the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Prior to January 1, 2016, these costs were included in deferred costs and other intangibles, net within the condensed consolidated balance sheets. All prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation. This resulted in the reclassification of $56.6 million of deferred financing costs, net of amortization, from deferred costs and other intangibles, net to asset-backed securitizations, net as of December 31, 2015, in the condensed consolidated balance sheets.

Effective January 1, 2016, due to the stabilization of our portfolio and the majority of our properties having been initially leased, vacant single-family properties and other expenses have been reclassified in the condensed consolidated statements of operations, with vacant single-family property operating expenses combined with leased single-family property operating expenses, which are both included in property operating expenses within the condensed consolidated statements of operations, and other expenses reclassified to other expenses within the condensed consolidated statements of operations. This resulted in the reclassification of the $4.5 million and $10.4 million, respectively, of vacant single-family properties and other expenses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015, with $3.6 million and $8.9 million, respectively, of vacant single-family property operating expenses reclassified to property operating expenses and $0.9 million and $1.5 million, respectively, of other expenses reclassified to other expenses in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.

There have been no other changes to our significant accounting policies that have had a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes, compared to those policies disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. Therefore, notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements that would substantially duplicate the disclosures contained in our most recent audited consolidated financial statements have been omitted.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326), to amend the accounting for credit losses for certain financial instruments by requiring companies to recognize an estimate of expected credit losses as an allowance in order to recognize such losses more timely than under previous guidance that had allowed companies to wait until it was probable such losses had been incurred. The guidance will be effective for the Company for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019, and for interim periods within those annual periods. Early adoption is permitted for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within those annual periods. The Company is currently assessing the impact of the guidance on our financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, Compensation — Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting (Topic 718), which simplifies several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. The guidance will be effective for the Company for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and for interim periods within those annual periods, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of the guidance on our financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which will require lessees to recognize assets and liabilities on the balance sheet for the rights and obligations created by all leases with terms of more than one year. Lessor accounting will remain similar to lessor accounting under previous GAAP, while aligning with the FASB's new revenue recognition guidance. The guidance will be effective for the Company for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and for interim periods within those annual periods, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of the guidance on our financial statements.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities, which amends certain aspects of recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of financial instruments, including the requirement to measure certain equity investments at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income. The guidance will be effective for the Company for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and for interim periods within those annual periods. The Company is currently assessing the impact of the guidance on our financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which provides guidance on revenue recognition and supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in Topic 605, Revenue Recognition, most industry-specific guidance and some cost guidance included in Subtopic 605-35, “Revenue Recognition—Construction-Type and Production-Type Contracts.” The standard’s core principle is that a company will recognize revenue when it transfers promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. In doing so, companies will need to use more judgment and make more estimates than under current guidance. These judgments may include identifying performance obligations in the contract, estimating the amount of variable consideration to include in the transaction price and allocating the transaction price to each separate performance obligation. The guidance will be effective for the Company for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and for interim periods within those annual periods. At that time, the Company may adopt the full retrospective approach or the modified retrospective approach. Early adoption is not permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the method of adoption of this guidance and does not anticipate that the adoption of this guidance will have a material impact on our financial statements.