The Company uses SPEs to facilitate transactions that involve securitizing financial assets or re-securitizing previously securitized financial assets. The objective of such transactions may include obtaining non-recourse financing, obtaining liquidity or refinancing the underlying securitized financial assets on improved terms. Securitization involves transferring assets to an SPE to convert all or a portion of those assets into cash before they would have been realized in the normal course of business through the SPE’s issuance of debt or equity instruments. Investors in an SPE usually have recourse only to the assets in the SPE and depending on the overall structure of the transaction, may benefit from various forms of credit enhancement, such as over-collateralization in the form of excess assets in the SPE, priority with respect to receipt of cash flows relative to holders of other debt or equity instruments issued by the SPE, or a line of credit or other form of liquidity agreement that is designed with the objective of ensuring that investors receive principal and/or interest cash flow on the investment in accordance with the terms of their investment agreement.

The Company has entered into financing transactions, including residential loan securitizations and re-securitizations, which required the Company to analyze and determine whether the SPEs that were created to facilitate the transactions are VIEs in accordance with ASC 810 and if so, whether the Company is the primary beneficiary requiring consolidation.

During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company completed two securitizations of certain residential loans for which the Company received net proceeds of approximately $326.3 million after deducting expenses associated with the securitization transactions. The Company engaged in these transactions for the purpose of obtaining non-recourse, longer-term financing on a portion of its residential loan portfolio. The residential loans serving as collateral for the financings are comprised of performing, re-performing and non-performing and business purpose loans which are included in residential loans, at fair value on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets.

During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company exercised its right to an optional redemption of one of its residential loan securitizations with an outstanding principal balance of $54.4 million at the time of redemption and returned the assets held by the trust to the Company, recognizing no gain or loss on the extinguishment of the collateralized debt obligation.

During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company completed a re-securitization of its investment in certain subordinated securities issued by Consolidated SLST (see below), which the Company refers to as a non-Agency RMBS re-securitization. The Company engaged in the re-securitization transaction primarily for the purpose of obtaining non-recourse, longer-term financing on a portion of its investment in Consolidated SLST.

As of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the Company evaluated its residential loan securitizations and its non-Agency RMBS re-securitization and concluded that the entities created to facilitate each of the financing transactions are VIEs and that the Company is the primary beneficiary of these VIEs (each a “Financing VIE” and collectively, the “Financing VIEs”). Accordingly, the Company consolidated the then-outstanding Financing VIEs as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

The Company invests in subordinated securities that represent the first loss position of the Freddie Mac-sponsored residential loan securitizations from which they were issued and certain IOs issued from the securitizations. The Company has evaluated its investments in these securitization trusts to determine whether they are VIEs and if so, whether the Company is the primary beneficiary requiring consolidation. The Company has determined that the Freddie Mac-sponsored residential loan securitization trusts, which we collectively refer to as Consolidated SLST, are VIEs and that the Company is the primary beneficiary of the VIEs within Consolidated SLST. Accordingly, the Company consolidates the assets, liabilities, income and expenses of such VIEs in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements (see Notes 2, 3 and 14). The Company has elected the fair value option on the assets and liabilities held within Consolidated SLST, which requires that changes in valuations in the assets and liabilities of Consolidated SLST be reflected in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations. Consolidated SLST is comprised of two securitization trusts as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024.

As of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the Consolidated SLST securities owned by the Company had a fair value of $148.1 million and $148.5 million, respectively (see Note 17). The Company remains economically exposed to the subordinated positions in the portion of Consolidated SLST transferred to the non-Agency RMBS re-securitization and continues to consolidate Consolidated SLST.

The Company owns joint venture equity investments in entities that own multi-family apartment communities, which the Company determined to be VIEs and for which the Company is the primary beneficiary. Accordingly, the Company consolidates the assets, liabilities, income and expenses of these VIEs in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements with non-controlling interests or redeemable non-controlling interests for the third-party ownership of the joint ventures' membership interests.

The Company is also the primary beneficiary of a VIE that owns a multi-family apartment community and in which the Company holds a preferred equity investment. The Company determined that it has the power to direct the activities of the VIE and consolidates this VIE into its condensed consolidated financial statements.

The Company accounted for the initial consolidation of the Consolidated Real Estate VIEs in accordance with asset acquisition provisions of ASC 805, as substantially all of the fair value of the assets within the entities are concentrated in either a single identifiable asset or group of similar identifiable assets.

In analyzing whether the Company is the primary beneficiary of the Financing VIEs, Consolidated SLST and Consolidated Real Estate VIEs, the Company considered its involvement in each of the VIEs, including the design and purpose of each VIE, and whether its involvement reflected a controlling financial interest that resulted in the Company being deemed the primary beneficiary of the VIEs. In determining whether the Company would be considered the primary beneficiary, the following factors were assessed:

The following table presents a summary of the assets, liabilities and non-controlling interests of the Company's securitizations, Consolidated SLST and Consolidated Real Estate VIEs as of March 31, 2025 (dollar amounts in thousands). Intercompany balances have been eliminated for purposes of this presentation.


			Other VIEs
	Financing VIEs			Consolidated SLST		Consolidated Real Estate		Total
Cash and cash equivalents	$	—		$	—	$	3,929	$	3,929
Residential loans, at fair value	2,508,456			959,250		—		3,467,706
Real estate, net held in Consolidated VIEs (1)	—			—		477,189		477,189
Assets of disposal group held for sale (2)	—			—		113,406		113,406
Other assets	144,394			3,932		12,423		160,749
Total assets	$	2,652,850		$	963,182	$	606,947	$	4,222,979

Collateralized debt obligations ($2,429,141 at fair value and $757,673 at amortized cost, net)	$	2,381,541		$	805,273	$	—	$	3,186,814
Mortgages payable on real estate, net in Consolidated VIEs (3)	—			—		365,455		365,455
Liabilities of disposal group held for sale (2)	—			—		91,153		91,153
Other liabilities	21,158			8,543		5,969		35,670
Total liabilities	$	2,402,699		$	813,816	$	462,577	$	3,679,092
Redeemable non-controlling interest in Consolidated VIEs (4)	$	—		$	—	$	13,382	$	13,382
Non-controlling interest in Consolidated VIEs (5)	$	—		$	—	$	2,859	$	2,859
Net investment (6)	$	250,151		$	149,366	$	128,129	$	527,646

(6)The net investment amount is the maximum amount of the Company's investment that is at risk to loss and represents the difference between the carrying value of total assets and total liabilities held by VIEs, less non-controlling interests, if any.

The following table presents a summary of the assets, liabilities and non-controlling interests of the Company's securitizations, Consolidated SLST and Consolidated Real Estate VIEs as of December 31, 2024 (dollar amounts in thousands). Intercompany balances have been eliminated for purposes of this presentation.


			Other VIEs
	Financing VIEs		Consolidated SLST		Consolidated Real Estate		Total
Cash and cash equivalents	$	—	$	—	$	4,151	$	4,151
Residential loans, at fair value	2,243,800		965,672		—		3,209,472
Real estate, net held in Consolidated VIEs (1)	—		—		481,161		481,161
Assets of disposal group held for sale (2)	—		—		118,613		118,613
Other assets	154,426		4,065		16,696		175,187
Total assets	$	2,398,226	$	969,737	$	620,621	$	3,988,584

Collateralized debt obligations ($2,135,680 at fair value and $842,764 at amortized cost, net)	$	2,166,853	$	811,591	$	—	$	2,978,444
Mortgages payable on real estate, net in Consolidated VIEs (3)	—		—		366,606		366,606
Liabilities of disposal group held for sale (2)	—		—		97,065		97,065
Other liabilities	16,162		8,313		10,621		35,096
Total liabilities	$	2,183,015	$	819,904	$	474,292	$	3,477,211
Redeemable non-controlling interest in Consolidated VIEs (4)	$	—	$	—	$	12,359	$	12,359
Non-controlling interest in Consolidated VIEs (5)	$	—	$	—	$	3,930	$	3,930
Net investment (6)	$	215,211	$	149,833	$	130,040	$	495,084

The following table presents condensed statements of operations for non-Company-sponsored VIEs for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively (dollar amounts in thousands). The following table includes net (loss) income from assets and liabilities of disposal group held for sale and intercompany balances have been eliminated for purposes of this presentation.


	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2025						2024
	Consolidated SLST		Consolidated Real Estate		Total		Consolidated SLST		Consolidated Real Estate		Total
Interest income	$	10,740	$	—	$	10,740	$	8,127	$	—	$	8,127
Interest expense	6,964		—		6,964		5,801		—		5,801
Total net interest income	3,776		—		3,776		2,326		—		2,326

Income from real estate	—		18,486		18,486		—		35,093		35,093
Expenses related to real estate	—		20,027		20,027		—		51,761		51,761
Total net loss from real estate	—		(1,541)		(1,541)		—		(16,668)		(16,668)


Unrealized gains (losses), net	3,264		—		3,264		(36)		—		(36)
(Losses) gains on derivative instruments, net	—		(15)		(15)		—		2,518		2,518
Impairment of real estate	—		(3,565)		(3,565)		—		(32,214)		(32,214)
Loss on reclassification of disposal group	—		—		—		—		(14,636)		(14,636)
Other income	—		1		1		—		3		3
Total other income (loss)	3,264		(3,579)		(315)		(36)		(44,329)		(44,365)



Net income (loss)	7,040		(5,120)		1,920		2,290		(60,997)		(58,707)
Net loss attributable to non-controlling interest in Consolidated VIEs	—		5,090		5,090		—		22,158		22,158
Net income (loss) attributable to Company	$	7,040	$	(30)	$	7,010	$	2,290	$	(38,839)	$	(36,549)

The third-party owners of certain of the non-controlling interests in Consolidated VIEs have the ability to sell their ownership interests to the Company, at their election. The Company has classified these third-party ownership interests as redeemable non-controlling interests in Consolidated VIEs in mezzanine equity on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. The holders of the redeemable non-controlling interests may elect to sell their ownership interests to the Company at fair value once a year and the sales are subject to annual minimum and maximum amount limitations.


	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2025		2024
Beginning balance	$	12,359	$	28,061
Contributions	—		39
Distributions	(687)		—
Net loss attributable to redeemable non-controlling interest in Consolidated VIEs	(3,627)		(14,400)
Adjustment of redeemable non-controlling interest to estimated redemption value (1)	5,337		6,428
Ending balance	$	13,382	$	20,128

(1)The Company determines the fair value of the redeemable non-controlling interest utilizing market assumptions and discounted cash flows. The Company applies a discount rate to the estimated future cash flows from the multi-family apartment properties held by the applicable Consolidated VIEs that are allocatable to the redeemable non-controlling interest. This fair value measurement is generally based on unobservable inputs and, as such, is classified as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. Significant unobservable inputs utilized in the estimation of fair value of redeemable non-controlling interest as of March 31, 2025 include a weighted average capitalization rate of 5.6% (ranges from 5.0% to 6.3%) and a weighted average discount rate of 14.8% (ranges from 13.6% to 15.6%).

As of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the Company evaluated its investment securities available for sale and preferred equity, equity and other investments to determine whether they are VIEs and should be consolidated by the Company. Based on a number of factors, the Company determined that, as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, it does not have a controlling financial interest and is not the primary beneficiary of these VIEs. The following tables present the classification and carrying value of unconsolidated VIEs as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively (dollar amounts in thousands):


	March 31, 2025
	Multi-family loans		Investment securities available for sale, at fair value		Equity investments		Other assets		Total

Non-Agency RMBS	$	—	$	22,126	$	—	$	—	$	22,126
Preferred equity investments in multi-family properties	87,222		—		53,251		—		140,473
Joint venture equity investments in multi-family properties	—		—		1,111		—		1,111
Other investments	—		—		—		2,000		2,000
Maximum exposure	$	87,222	$	22,126	$	54,362	$	2,000	$	165,710


	December 31, 2024
	Multi-family loans		Investment securities available for sale, at fair value		Equity investments		Other assets		Total
Non-Agency RMBS	$	—	$	22,892	$	—	$	—	$	22,892
Preferred equity investments in multi-family properties	86,192		—		73,436		—		159,628
Joint venture equity investments in multi-family properties	—		—		1,338		—		1,338
Other investments	—		—		—		2,000		2,000
Maximum exposure	$	86,192	$	22,892	$	74,774	$	2,000	$	185,858