NEW YORK CITY-Real estate professionals said yesterday that time management, sponsorship and practicality are key when it comes to refinancing, restructuring or recapping real estate deals. Unfortunately, for owners of lesser assets whose mortgages are coming due, none of this is might prove to be much help.

The remarks came during a panel discussion at the Urban Land Institute’s “Real Estate Finance and Investment 2011” conference.

A lot, panelists said, depends upon the nature of the asset being re-imagined. Alec Burger, president-North America at GE Capital Real Estate, said that there is currently a “feeding frenzy for both debt and equity for well-located, high quality assets,” but that there is not a lot of capital flowing for lower-tiered assets.

“Turning the corner now, into the second quarter of 2011, we are finding it a lot easier to collect than to originate, which is a pretty interesting thought in terms of the health of the liquidity in the sector,” Burger said. “We’ve restructured an enormous amount over the last two years.”

Time management is also key. “As an intermediary our job is to know how a deal gets done,” Craig Butchenhart, president of NorthMarq Capital said. “Time is money for us.” Butchenhart also emphasized the importance of the sponsor—one that “is distinguished by experience, liquidity and being able to put up capital.”

Jeff Friedman, co-founder of Mesa West Capital, urged practicality, especially for those who aren’t holding class A, trophy assets, in light of the fact that money isn’t flowing for these. “In 2007 you really didn’t have to be practical,” Friedman said. “Literally, the candy store was open--you didn’t even have to take the tops off the jars.”