Indian Americans have been diving into the real estate business for the past few decades and excelled in it, too.

But Satya Voleti, has excelled in the field and his multi-million deals have made him Charlotte County's top commercial real estate salesman and won him the state's franchise from Sperry Van Ness Commercial Real Estate Advisors of Irvine, California, one of the leading real estate advisors in the country.

Perhaps no one in recent months, particularly in the hot Florida market, has acquired the kind of profile and been written up in several specialty real-estate magazines and newsletters as Satya 'Sath' Voleti, 57, of Port Charlotte, Florida.

Not only did SVN award Voleti the Florida franchise, but it also gave him the franchise for being their advisor for potential real estate purchases by their clients in India.

SVN, founded in 1987, is currently ranks third among US real estate agencies specialising in commercial properties, with about 180 regional offices.

Voleti, who is originally from Andhra Pradesh, told rediff India Abroad that once the agency opens its franchise in Florida, he hopes to have more than $80 million worth of listings for starters and would cover all of Charlotte, Sarasota and DeSoto counties.

While acknowledging that the current local real estate market -- like the market all across the country has been taking a beating -- Voleti predicted that the large territory he would cover would put his franchise in a good position to sprint out of the blocks as soon as the market recovers.

He said even in the current state of doldrums, commercial buildings are still holding their own and have market value and demand, although the trend for building sites continued to be lethargic.

But, he argued that "the real estate market has always been cyclical, and as much as we get excited when the market is booming, you cannot get too depressed when business is slow."

"You simply have got to keep at it and keep doing what you've been doing and in times like this wait out the cycle, because it is definitely going to break out of the cycle at one point or another -- it cannot be in the doldrums forever," he said.

Voleti said he expects a lot of foreign investment to flow in during the near future and was optimistic about many of Sperry's California clients and other out-of-state investors looking toward Florida and the territory he holds the franchise for when they realise they are "not getting enough bang for the buck in the highly overpriced Pacific Coast markets."

He said once the market recovers and gets into gear, he would be ready with a team of experienced agents that would ideally include specialists in commercial sales, commercial leading, land sales and property management.

Voleti, securing the SVN franchise and being written up in several Florida real estate publications followed a massive deal he put together last year for a group of Punta Gorda, Florida, investors which was the largest land deal in the history of Charlotte County. The Fitzgerald Group of Southwest Florida, Inc paid more than $25 million for 129 acres at the corner of Interstate 75 and Jones Loop Road.

His clients -- a group of physicians, including Indian Americans, thus turned a 600 percent profit on their investment.

This site was a tract that is strategically located near the Charlotte County airport and the planned Publix Super Markets Inc distribution center it was reported in the Sun Herald newspaper.

At the time, Voleti was working as a broker associate for Dynamic Reality in Florida.

He recalled that he had assembled a group of local investors to buy the tract of land for $3.9 million in 2004. The next year he met once again with the investors and urged them to list the property for $26 million.

Voleti acknowledged that "they were quite stunned by the price I wanted them to list the property at but I had done an analysis which helped me determine that the site had so much near-term potential for development, and hence could be listed at this figure."

"The investors had faith in my analysis and decided to go along with it and working with local brokers and some from Fort Myers, and doing all of the environmental reports preemptively, in 15 months, we were able to clinch a deal, after three deals had fallen through."

Voleti, who after this deal became almost a poster boy for commercial real estate brokers in Charlotte County, said, "I did not do anything that was completely beyond the traditional methods to market the property, except that it was hard work and some thinking outside the box, and using all of the skills I hard learnt in terms of commercial land sales over the years."

"It was also a case of aiming for the big leagues and using all of the strong negotiating skills, which is a winning combination," he added.

Voleti acknowledged he was also into networking and niche marketing to successful Indian-American specialty organisations like the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and the Telugu Association of North America, and had recently returned from a trip to India following the reputation he had earned after his multi-million dollar deal to investigate possible commercial real estate investments for a client list that comprised mostly Indian American physicians.

Now with the SVN franchise and his contacts in India and other Indian American businesspeople, he said he would begin to concentrate on investments in India's commercial real estate as much as he would in Florida for his solid group of clients.

Voleti said particularly with regard to land purchases, "I do precise studies and analysis on environmental and wetland issues." If any problem showed up, he would "play hardball in renegotiating and reduce the price if the final usage of the land doesn't reflect the purpose that it was originally proposed for."

"The bottom line is, doing one's homework and this is thanks to the training I got at my alma mater," he added. Voleti is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, from where he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. After coming to the US in 1982, after a few years of working as a chemical engineer, and moonlighting as a realtor after obtaining his first real estate license in New York in 1983, he completely switched to real estate.

After moving to Florida in 2002, he decided to "play in the big leagues, instead of the smaller, sub-$1 million transactions."

Voleti said, "I do a lot of research before introducing a property to a client," and of his mega deal, noted, "I knew this property had great potential. I had this instinct it was going to be a great deal- after all, it was on an interchange, and it was property near the airport."

"Next to Fort Myers, it was the best interchange in the area -- so what more could you ask for in terms of potential? It was simply huge," he added.

Veteran commercial realtor Lindsay Harrington, a veritable legend in Charlotte County, told the Herald Tribune Business Weekly, which featured the diminutive 5-foot-4 Voleti on the cover with the title 'The Dreamer,' that 'when Satya calls, I listen. I have to because he still has the Indian brogue in his voice. But it's also because he's the kind of guy you really need to listen to.'

 'Satya is the kind of guy that will always be successful because he's dogged, and he keeps looking for the best deals for clients and investors.

He's also a friend to everyone he meets. And that's the kind of person that I think you need to be in this business,' he said.

Harrington, a former state representative and erstwhile county commissioner, said, 'Educationally, he went out and broadened himself. He's done very well in that sense of getting accredited in many aspects of the business. He's even encouraged me to go out and broaden myself.'

'Satya has a tremendous sphere of influence, with his investors, his clients and his friends. He's the kind of guy that will share listings, and he's looking out for the best opportunity and what's best for the real estate community,' Harrington added.