NEW YORK CITY—If there was only one takeaway from Thursday morning's “Town Hall Panel” at the 13th annual RealShare Net Lease conference—and in fact, there were many such insights—it would be that although the net lease sector is attracting many more investors these days, it's not a turnkey business. “Putting money out the door is easy,” said Paul McDowell, president of the office and industrial group at American Realty Capital Properties. “Getting the money back is the challenge.”

Part of the RealShare Conference Series, the all-day conference was held at Convene in Midtown Manhattan and drew more than 300 industry professionals. Wayne D'Amico, president and principal of Wayne D'Amico & Co. Inc., moderated the Town Hall discussion.

Gino Sabatani, managing director with W. P. Carey, emphasized that “active asset management is very important.” Figuring out what to do with a property post-acquisition, and how to do it, “can really enhance your returns.” To that point, Richard Rouse, vice chairman and CIO at Lexington Realty Trust, observed that his REIT is “very aggressive” about finding properties that have expansion potential as the tenant's requirements grow over time.