Note 3. Fair Value Measurements and Other Financial Measurements

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

3. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS AND OTHER FINANCIAL MEASUREMENTS

The Trust has no financial instruments accounted for at fair value on a recurring or non-recurring basis. Fair value is the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. There are three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair values:

Level 1 – Quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets that the entity can access as of the measurement date.

Level 2 – Significant other observable inputs other than Level 1 prices such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data.

Level 3 – Significant unobservable inputs that reflect a company’s own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability.

The carrying values and fair values of the Trust’s other financial instruments were as follows:

			March 31, 2013				December 31, 2012
	Level		Carrying value		Fair value		Carrying value		Fair value
Cash		1	$	729,918	$	729,918	$	788,469	$	788,469
Accounts payable		2		12,019		12,019		1,303		1,303

There were no transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 during 2013 or 2012.

The following methods were used to estimate the fair values of other financial instruments:

Cash and accounts payable. The carrying amounts approximate fair value because of the short maturity of the instruments. The fair value amounts for Cash were classified in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy. The fair value amounts of Accounts payable were classified in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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USA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST /CA 10-Q